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 UD Almería Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Almería, Spain. It is the home ground of UD Almería, and holds 17,400 people. History Inaugurated on 31 July 2004 and originally built for the 2005 Mediterranean Games, the stadium cost around ...

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 Agrupación Deportiva Almería was a Spanish football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1971, it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Juan Rojas'', with a 13,468-seat capacity. History In only two y ...

, 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 In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, 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 Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

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 Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lillo Díez (born 3 November 1965) is a Spanish football manager. Having started coaching before his 20s, he was the youngest manager in charge of a La Liga club, having taken over Salamanca at not yet 30 years of age. He al ...

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 José Luis Oltra Castañer (born 24 March 1969) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. Playing career Born in Valencia, Oltra spend the vast majority of his 14-year senior career in the lower leagues, re ...

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 Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (; born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He totalled 430 matches across both major levels of Spanish football, in a 15-year professional career. Afte ...

, the club appointed their former player and manager of the reserves at the time

Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez (born 17 June 1978), known simply as Francisco, is a Spanish football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. He is the current head coach of Liga MX club Santos Laguna. His career was close ...

; 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 Juan Ignacio Martínez Jiménez (; born 23 June 1964), commonly known by his initials JIM, is a Spanish football coach and former player, who played as a left back. He last managed Foolad in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Having only played as h ...

. "JIM" also only lasted until April of the following year, and even with new manager

Sergi Barjuán Sergi Barjuán Esclusa (born 28 December 1971), known simply as Sergi as a player, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back, currently a manager. Best known for his Barcelona stint, he played for the first team for n ...

, 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 Turki bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Sheikh (; born August 4, 1981) is a Saudi Arabian adviser at the Royal Court under the rank of Minister and the current Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority. As chairman of the GEA, Alalshikh is credited with ...

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 es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium. The term may be applied to the following: * Estadio (magazine) ''Estadio'' was a sports magazine from Chile, that specialized in Chilean football and other sports. It was regarded as the "pr ...

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

Returning from loan

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 Sofiane Feghouli (; born 26 December 1989) is a professional footballer who plays for the Algeria national team. He mainly operates as a midfielder, but can also play as a winger and as an attacking midfielder. Feghouli made his senior interna ...

Hernán Bernardello Hernán Darío Bernardello (born 3 August 1986) is a former Argentine footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Newell's Old Boys Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Bernardello made his professional debuts in 2006 with Newell's Old B ...

Pablo Piatti Pablo Daniel Piatti (born 31 March 1989) is an Argentine former professional footballer. He operated mainly as a left winger, but could also play as a forward. He spent the vast majority of his career in Spain after starting out at Estudiantes, ...

Óscar Ustari Oscar Alfredo Ustari (born 3 July 1986) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. After starting out at Independiente, he spent most of his professional career in Spain, mainly ...

* 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 Jonathan Sundy Zongo (born 6 April 1989) is a Burkinabé former professional footballer who played as a winger or forward. He was a Burkina Faso international, appeared between 2013 and 2017. He spent the better part of his 11-year senior car ...

* Modeste M'bami * Hans Martínez *

Lorenzo Reyes Lorenzo Enrique Reyes Vicencio (born 13 June 1991) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Ñublense. He's a former Chilean international. Club career Huachipato Born in San ...

* 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 Michael Jakobsen (born 2 January 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a defender for National Premier Leagues South Australia club FK Beograd. He was named 2002 Danish ''Under-17 Player of the Year'', and has played five gam ...

Sena Sena may refer to: Places * Sanandaj or Sena, city in northwestern Iran * Sena (state constituency), represented in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly * Sena, a Medieval Catalan exonym for Siena, Italy * Sena, Dashtestan, village in Bushehr P ...

* 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 Tomer Hemed (; born 2 May 1987) is an Israeli professional footballer who played as a forward. Early and personal life Hemed was born and raised in Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel, to an Israeli-born father whose family is of Syrian Jewish descent, an ...

* Ibrahima Koné *

Sander Westerveld Sander Westerveld (born 23 October 1974) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He was the goalkeeping coach of South African Premier Soccer League club Ajax Cape Town. The highlight of his playing ...

Ramon Azeez Ramon Olamilekan Azeez (born 12 December 1992) is a Nigerian footballer who played as a central midfielder for Novelda. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Spain, starting at Almería B. In La Liga, he appeared for the fi ...

Kalu Uche Kalu Uche (born 15 November 1982) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent most of his career in Spain, mainly with Almería, with which he amassed La Liga totals of 117 matches and 27 goals (212 appearan ...

* 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 Nélson Augusto Tomar Marcos (born 10 June 1983), known simply as Nélson, is a former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. After making a name for himself at S.L. Benfica, Benf ...

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 Srđan Babić ( sr-cyr, Срђан Бабић; born 22 April 1996) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Russian Premier League club Spartak Moscow and the Serbia national team. Club career Vojvodina Babić started ...

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 Álvaro Cervera Díaz (born 20 September 1965) is a Spanish football coach and former player who is the manager of CD Tenerife. A winger, he played 261 matches in La Liga over 12 seasons for Racing de Santander (in two spells), Mallorca and V ...

* 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 Esteban Navarro Soriano (born 18 March 1965, in Moratalla, Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish novelist. He is known for being one of the pioneers in digital publishing. Was an agent of the national police from 1994 to 2018. Career In 2008 the novel ...

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 Fernando Soriano Marco (born 24 September 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He spent most of his 19-year career with Almería, totalling ten seasons in two different spells. In La Liga, where ...

Ángel Trujillo Ángel Trujillo Canorea (born 8 September 1987) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender. He spent the better part of his career with UD Alme ...

* Verza *

Aleix Vidal Aleix Vidal Parreu (; born 21 August 1989) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer. Mainly a right winger (association football), right winger and a player of great speed, he can also operate as a right-back. Having spent his ...

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 Julio Álvarez Mosquera (born 1 May 1981) is a Venezuelan retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He appeared in 98 La Liga games over five seasons (14 goals), representing Racing de Santander, Rayo Vallecano, Murcia, Almer ...

Darwin Núñez Darwin Gabriel Núñez Ribeiro (; born 24 June 1999) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and the Uruguay national football team ...

Ivica Barbarić Ivan "Ivica" Barbarić (; born 23 February 1962) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. As a player, he spent seven years at Velež Mostar with whom he won the 1985–86 Yugoslav Cup. Barbarić ended his playing career i ...

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. *

(

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 ...

) *

(

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 ...

) *

(

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