Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

, in the autonomous community of

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión Deportiva Almería''. The club currently plays in the , and plays their home games at the 17,400-seat capacity UD Almería Stadium.

History

The first football club in

was founded in 1909: el Almería Foot-Ball Club. Since then, several Almería football clubs appeared and disappeared. One of them was AD Almería, a team that played in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

between 1979 and 1981, but disappeared in 1982, and was arguably UD Almería's predecessor. In 1989, a club named ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' was born, but in 2001 was renamed ''Unión Deportiva Almería''. On 19 January 2001 the mayor of

Santiago Martínez Cabrejas announced in the city council that the new club UD Almería had been formed after the merger of two city teams - Polideportivo Almería and Almería CF. But UD Almería was not official until 28 June 2001, when Almería CF approved at the General Meeting of Shareholders the renaming. After playing one season in the second division, it was relegated to the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and the fourth divisions. After spending several seasons in the second level, Almería side was first promoted to the top flight after finishing runner-up in the 2006–07 season. After some outstanding performances, as the away win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

3–0 in the first

match, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08. At the club's helm was coach

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as o ...

, as striker

Álvaro Negredo Álvaro Negredo Sánchez (; born 20 August 1985) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''La fiera de Vallecas'' (The beast of Vallecas), he amassed totals of 361 matches and 128 goals over 12 La Liga s ...

finished team topscorer with 13 goals. After Emery left for

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in, but was sacked on 21 December 2008, after a string of poor results, albeit without ever reaching the last three. Mexican

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A prolific goalscorer known for ...

took the job, and fared slightly better, for a final mid-table position. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Almería reached the semifinals of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

for the first time ever. In the league, however, the club was finally relegated after a four-year spell in the top flight; in November 2010, coach Juan Manuel Lillo was fired after a 0–8 home loss against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

(precisely the team that ousted the Andalusians in the domestic cup's last-four, with the same score, but on aggregate), and his successor José Luis Oltra met the same fate, in April 2011. He was replaced by Roberto Olabe. After two seasons in the second level, Almería returned to the main category of Spanish football on 22 June 2013, after defeating

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

in the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. After the departure of manager Javi Gracia, the club appointed their former player and manager of the reserves at the time Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez; the team eventually managed to survive in 2013–14, finishing 16th. Francisco was sacked in December 2014, after only managing two points out of 24, and was later replaced by Juan Ignacio Martínez. "JIM" also only lasted until April of the following year, and even with new manager Sergi Barjuán, the club was relegated after finishing 19th. In the 2018–19 season, Almería finally escaped the tough fight for the permanence in Segunda División until the last matches as during 3 previous seasons. This time they were closer to the promotion play-offs to La Liga, and finished 10th from 22 teams participated.

On 2 August 2019, Turki Al-Sheikh became the owner of the club, replacing Alfonso García Gabarrón. He appointed Mohamed El Assy as

general director A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

, Dario Drudi as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

, who replaced Miguel Ángel Corona, and manager Óscar Fernández was replaced by

Pedro Emanuel Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva (born 11 February 1975), known as Pedro Emanuel, is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manag ...

. On 5 November 2019, it was announced Guti replaced Emanuel. On 26 June 2020, he was ceased and replaced by Mario Silva, who was himself replaced by José Gomes on 27 July. In August 2021, UD Almería (Mohamed El Assy) and the () agreed to a lease on the operation of the municipally-owned Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos for a 25-year period. In June 2022, the club achieved promotion to the first division by sealing a 1st position in the table, respectively, on the very last match day of the season, after spending seven years in the second tier. In the 2023–24 season, UD Almería started the season with record of 28 league games without a win between 11 August 2023 to 11 March 2024. At last, the club secured a victory against

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

οn 17 March 2024. However, they were relegated to second division after a 1–3 loss to

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

on 27 April 2024, ending their two-year stay in top tier. In May 2025, UD Almería underwent a significant ownership change, with Saudi investment consortium SMC Group, led by Mohammed Al-Khereiji, acquiring the club from Turki Al-Sheikh.

Season to season

---- *8 seasons in

*18 seasons in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

*6 seasons in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

*2 seasons in

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

*3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Players

Reserve team

Out on loan

Technical staff

Notable players

Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status. * Sofiane Feghouli * Hernán Bernardello * Pablo Piatti * Óscar Ustari * Diego Valeri * Diego Alves * Paulo Jamelli *

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer who played as a defensive midfielder or centre-back. He began his career with Brazilian teams Clube de Rega ...

* Michel Macedo * Jonathan Zongo * Modeste M'bami * Hans Martínez * Lorenzo Reyes * Fabián Vargas *

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

* Thievy Bifouma * Mate Bilić * Michael Jakobsen * Sena * Henok Goitom * Iddrisu Baba *

Ferenc Horváth Ferenc Horváth (born 6 May 1973) is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is now a manager, most recently coaching at Budapest Honvéd FC. He made his debut for the Hungary national team in 1996, and got 32 ...

* Tomer Hemed * Ibrahima Koné * Sander Westerveld * Ramon Azeez * Kalu Uche * Diego Barreto * Peque Benítez * Santiago Acasiete * Miguel Rebosio *

Hélder Barbosa Hélder Jorge Leal Rodrigues Barbosa (born 25 May 1987) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 148 matches and 19 goals, mainly for Braga (three seasons) and Académica (t ...

* Nélson Marcos *

Constantin Gâlcă Constantin "Costel" Gâlcă (born 8 March 1972) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club Rapid București. Equally at ease as a defensive or central midfielder and possessing an a ...

Veljko Paunović Veljko Paunović ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Пауновић, ; born 21 August 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is the head coach of Spanish club Real Oviedo. A versatile attacking unit, he could operate as an attacking m ...

* Dion Lopy * Srđan Babić *

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

* Álvaro Cervera * Juan Cervián *

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

* Albert Crusat *

Esteban Esteban () is a Spanish male given name, derived from Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos) and related to the English names Steven and Stephen. Although in its original pronunciation the accent is on the penultimate syllable, English-speakers tend ...

* Esteban Navarro *

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

* Carlos García *

Julio Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) * Julio (surname) * Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation al ...

* López Rekarte *

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin, Spanish and other languages * Luna (goddess) In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin ''Lūna'' ). She is often presented as t ...

* Mané *

* José Ortiz * Juanma Ortiz * Juan Portillo * Raúl Sánchez * Fernando Soriano * Ángel Trujillo * Verza * Aleix Vidal *

Teerasil Dangda Teerasil Dangda (, ; born 6 June 1988) is a Thai professional footballer who plays as a striker for Thai League club BG Pathum United and the Thailand national team. Teerasil has played his trade in England, Switzerland, Spain, and Japan dur ...

* Julio Álvarez * Darwin Núñez * Ivica Barbarić

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Finals, while playing for Almería. * Kalu Uche (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) * Ramon Azeez (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

) * Srđan Babić (

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

)

Uniform

¹ The shirt contained messages such as ''Isla del Fraile'' or ''Corredor de Vida''.

Honours

**Champions (1): 2021–22

References

External links

*
Futbolme team profile

Almeria on kouragoal site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeria Football clubs in Andalusia Segunda División clubs Association football clubs established in 1989 1989 establishments in Spain La Liga clubs