Granada CF

Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [gɾaˈnaða ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol]), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its main shareholder is the Chinese company Desport, and its president Jiang Lizhang. The football club was founded on 14 April 1931 with the name of Club Recreativo de Granada, it plays in La Liga. The club plays its home matches at the Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes.

Granada CF

Full name	Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Nazaríes (Nasrids), El Graná, Matagigantes, Rojiblancos
Short name	GRA
Founded	14 April 1931 as Club Recreativo Granada
Ground	Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium
Capacity	19,336 [1]
Owner	Desports
President	Rentao Yi
Head coach	Diego Martínez
League	La Liga
2019–20	La Liga, 7th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Since 17 July 2020 the Club is located at position 22 of the historical points classification of the First Division, and 20 of the historical First Division number of seasons classification, where it has participated in 25 seasons and finished in sixth place twice. The Granada was the Copa del Rey runner-up in 1959. During the 2019–20 season, Granada was a Copa del Rey semifinalist, knocking out the previous season champion Valencia CF among others. The club finished the 2019–20 season with a historic 4-0 win over Athletic Club which allowed its first time classification to play the UEFA Europa League in history.[2]

History

Foundation

Granada Club de Fútbol was founded on 14 April 1931,[3] originally as Recreativo de Granada; the first president was Julio López Fernández. It was him who registered the club in the Registry of Associations in the Civil Government and presented the first Board of Directors.[4]

The first football match was played against the Deportivo Jaén on 6 December 1931, which resulted in a 2–1 victory.[5] The first goal in the match, and in the club's history, was scored by Antonio Bombillar. The first home match was played against the U.D. Andújar two weeks later. Granada CF won it 1-0. It took place at Campo de Las Tablas stadium.[5] In the 1931–32 season, the club finished 2nd in the Tercera Regional – Región Sur championship.[5] 4 wins in 6 matches helped Granada CF to be promoted to the Segunda Regional. The club started the season in a new division with a new president, Gabriel Morcillo Raya.[6] During the 1932-33 season the club had the biggest win in its history, 11–0 against the Xerez FC on 23 April 1933.[7]

La Liga entry and peak

After several promotions, in 1941–42 the club made its La Liga debut. It was the match against the Celta on 28 September 1941. The game ended up in 1–1 draw.[8] The first Granada goal in the highest Spanish division was scored by César Rodríguez Álvarez.[9] During that season the Granada had some historical home wins, among them 8–0 against the Real Oviedo and 6–0 against the Barcelona.[5] The Granada finished the season in the 10th position among 14 teams.[10] From here until the 1980s, it alternated between that category and the Segunda División, with its golden age coming during the 1970s, with eight top flight seasons, which included a best-ever two sixth league places (1971–72, 1973–74). The Granada finished the 1971-72 season with 9 wins in the last 10 home games, among them wins against the Barcelona and the Real.[5]

In 1959 the Granada achieved its greatest sports landmark, being the runner-up of the Copa del Generalísimo (later Copa del Rey). In the final, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the team lost to the Barcelona 4–1. The only goal for the Granada was scored by the Argentinian forward Ramón Carranza.[11]

In the 1980s, the Granada had some brief appearances in the second division. In 1983–84, they finished 8th among 20 teams in the Segunda División, just 10 points away from the champion the Real Madrid Castilla and the runner-up the Bilbao Athletic.[12] In 1984–85, the Granada finished 18th and were relegated to the Segunda División B;[13] in the same season, the club was eliminated by the Estepona in the first round of the Copa del Rey.[14]

Decline and revival

Granada spent most of the following seasons in the Segunda División B, the dropping another level in 2002–03, due to non-payment to its players.[15] After four seasons in the fourth division, former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz, along with his son Paco, arrived at the club. With their help, the Andalusian side was again promoted to the third category but got itself into serious financial trouble. In the 2005–06 season the Granada became a champion of the Tercera División Group 9 and qualified for the promotional play-offs, where the first rival was the Linense. After the two games ended up in 1-1 draws, the Granada won in the penalty shootout.[16]

In 2006–07, the Granada played in Group IV of the third level after four seasons in the Tercera. The president Paco Sanz with the massive support of the fans continued to lead the project with the intention of bringing the team to the top division, but the lack of time after the promotion led to hasty actions.[17] In July 2009, the club was in such financial difficulty that it was on the brink of closing.[18] The solution to the crisis came with the signing of a partnership agreement with the Udinese Calcio, with the Spaniards incorporating large numbers of players contracted to the Italian club as well as receiving its youth players and reserves as part of the agreement.[18] At the end of the season, the Granada won its group then got promoted in the play-offs, returning to the second division after 22 years.

In 2010–11, the Granada finished in fifth position, with most of the players loaned by the Udinese still on board.[18] On 18 June 2011, the club became the first winner of the promotion play-offs – a different system was used from 1985 to 1999 – after successively defeating the Celta de Vigo (1–1, penalty shootout) and the Elche (1–1 on aggregate, away goals rule), thus returning to the top division after a 35-year absence.[19][20] In June 2016, Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang became the new owner of the club, buying the Pozzo family's controlling stake.[21] After surviving in the top flight for six seasons, the team was relegated in 2016–17 after being defeated by the Real Sociedad.[22]

Under new manager Diego Martínez, Granada returned to the top flight as runners-up to the CA Osasuna in the 2018–19 Segunda División.[23] The following season, the team finished in 7th in the top flight, qualifying for the first time to the UEFA Europa League.[24]

Seasons

Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium

Fuente de las Batallas in Granada, meeting point of the fans for the celebrations.

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1931–32 4 Regional 2nd 1932–33 4 Regional 2nd 1933–34 3 3ª 1st 1934–35 2 2ª 7th First round 1935–36 2 2ª 6th First round 1939–40 2 2ª 2nd 1940–41 2 2ª 1st Round of 16 1941–42 1 1ª 10th Quarter-finals 1942–43 1 1ª 12th First round 1943–44 1 1ª 8th Quarter-finals 1944–45 1 1ª 12th Semi-finals 1945–46 2 2ª 4th Quarter-finals 1946–47 2 2ª 7th First round 1947–48 2 2ª 7th Sixth round 1948–49 2 2ª 3rd Quarter-finals 1949–50 2 2ª 9th Second round 1950–51 2 2ª 7th 1951–52 2 2ª 13th 1952–53 2 2ª 9th Round of 16 1953–54 2 2ª 4th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1954–55 2 2ª 3rd 1955–56 2 2ª 8th 1956–57 2 2ª 1st 1957–58 1 1ª 13th Round of 16 1958–59 1 1ª 13th Runner-up 1959–60 1 1ª 12th Round of 32 1960–61 1 1ª 16th Round of 32 1961–62 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32 1962–63 2 2ª 6th Round of 32 1963–64 2 2ª 6th First round 1964–65 2 2ª 7th Round of 32 1965–66 2 2ª 2nd First round 1966–67 1 1ª 14th Quarter-finals 1967–68 2 2ª 1st First round 1968–69 1 1ª 8th Semi-finals 1969–70 1 1ª 12th Round of 16 1970–71 1 1ª 10th Round of 16 1971–72 1 1ª 6th Round of 16 1972–73 1 1ª 13th Quarter-finals 1973–74 1 1ª 6th Quarter-finals

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1974–75 1 1ª 15th Quarter-finals 1975–76 1 1ª 17th Round of 16 1976–77 2 2ª 10th Fourth round 1977–78 2 2ª 9th Fourth round 1978–79 2 2ª 6th Second round 1979–80 2 2ª 13th First round 1980–81 2 2ª 17th Round of 16 1981–82 3 2ªB 10th Second round 1982–83 3 2ªB 1st Second round 1983–84 2 2ª 8th Third round 1984–85 2 2ª 18th Second round 1985–86 3 2ªB 7th Third round 1986–87 3 2ªB 3rd First round 1987–88 2 2ª 19th First round 1988–89 3 2ªB 16th Second round 1989–90 3 2ªB 4th 1990–91 3 2ªB 5th First round 1991–92 3 2ªB 9th First round 1992–93 3 2ªB 3rd Third round 1993–94 3 2ªB 6th Second round

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1994–95 3 2ªB 13th Second round 1995–96 3 2ªB 2nd 1996–97 3 2ªB 6th Third round 1997–98 3 2ªB 4th 1998–99 3 2ªB 6th First round 1999–00 3 2ªB 1st 2000–01 3 2ªB 5th Quarter-finals 2001–02 3 2ªB 10th Preliminary 2002–03 4 3ª 4th 2003–04 4 3ª 1st 2004–05 4 3ª 5th First round 2005–06 4 3ª 1st 2006–07 3 2ªB 13th First round 2007–08 3 2ªB 5th 2008–09 3 2ªB 10th First round 2009–10 3 2ªB 1st 2010–11 2 2ª 5th Third round 2011–12 1 1ª 17th Round of 32 2012–13 1 1ª 15th Round of 32 2013–14 1 1ª 15th Round of 32

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 2014–15 1 1ª 17th Round of 16 2015–16 1 1ª 16th Round of 16 2016–17 1 1ª 20th Round of 32 2017–18 2 2ª 10th Second round 2018–19 2 2ª 2nd Second round 2019–20 1 1ª 7th Semi-finals 2020–21 1 1ª Qualified

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• 25 seasons in La Liga
• 33 seasons in the Segunda División
• 22 seasons in the Segunda División B
• 5 seasons in the Tercera División
• 2 seasons in the Categorías Regionales

Players

Current squad

As of 1 February 2021 [25]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  POR Rui Silva 2 DF  GLP Dimitri Foulquier 3 DF  ARG Nehuén Pérez (on loan from Atlético Madrid) 4 MF  FRA Maxime Gonalons 5 MF  ESP Luis Milla 6 DF  ESP Germán (vice-captain) 7 FW  COL Luis Suárez 8 MF  CMR Yan Eteki 9 FW  ESP Roberto Soldado (3rd captain) 10 FW  ESP Antonio Puertas 11 FW  VEN Darwin Machís 12 MF  POR Domingos Quina (on loan from Watford) 13 GK  ESP Aarón

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  ESP Fede Vico 15 DF  ESP Carlos Neva 16 DF  ESP Víctor Díaz (captain) 17 DF  ESP Quini 18 DF  ESP Adrián Marín 19 MF  ESP Ángel Montoro (4th captain) 20 DF  ESP Jesús Vallejo (on loan from Real Madrid) 21 MF  VEN Yangel Herrera (on loan from Manchester City) 22 DF  POR Domingos Duarte 23 FW  ESP Jorge Molina 24 MF  BRA Kenedy (on loan from Chelsea) 26 MF  ESP Alberto Soro

Reserve team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 MF  ESP Antonio Aranda 28 DF  ESP Pepe Sánchez 29 MF  ESP Isma Ruiz 30 DF  ESP Raúl Torrente 31 GK  ESP Arnau Fàbrega 33 FW  ESP Echu 35 GK  POR João Costa 36 MF  ARG Juan Ignacio Brunet

No. Pos. Nation Player 37 MF  ESP Álvaro Bravo 38 FW  ESP Dani Plomer 39 MF  KVX Eris Abedini 40 DF  ESP Carlos León 41 GK  ESP Ángel Jiménez 42 DF  ESP Sergio Barcia 43 GK  ESP Rafael Romero 44 DF  GHA Kingsley Fobi

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NGA Ramon Azeez (at Cartagena until 30 June 2021) — FW  ESP Antoñín (at Rayo Vallecano until 30 June 2021)

Current technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Diego Martínez
Assistant coach	Raúl Espínola
Fitness coach	Víctor Lafuente
Goalkeeping coach	Juan Carlos Fernández
Analyst	Jesús Roche
Analyst	Álvaro García

Last updated: October 2019
Source: Granada CF

Honours

National

• Segunda División (3): 1940–41, 1956–57, 1967–68
• Segunda División B (3): 1982–83, 1999–00, 2009–10
• Tercera División (3): 1933–34, 2003–04, 2005–06
• Copa del Rey

Runners-up: 1958–59

Semi-Finals: 2019-20

• La Liga

7th: 2019-2020

Regional tournaments

• Andalucia Cup : 1932–33
• Andalucia Championship reservations : 1971–72

Friendly

• Antonio Puerta Trophy: 2010

Pichichi Trophy

• La Liga: Enrique Porta (1971–72)
• Segunda División: Miguel (1964–65), Rafa (1955–56)

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	2QR	Teuta	N/A	4−0	N/A
		3QR	Locomotive Tbilisi	2−0	N/A	N/A
		PO	Malmö FF	N/A	3−1	N/A
		Group E	PSV Eindhoven	0–1	2–1	2nd
			PAOK	0–0	0–0
			Omonia	2–1	2–0
		R32	Napoli

Derby of eastern Andalusia

Updated to derby #86 played on 17th January 2021 (Copa del Rey, last 16)

Competition	Played	Granada wins	Draws	Málaga wins	Granada goals	Málaga goals
La Liga	24	8	8	8	22	29
La Liga Play-off	2	1	1	0	3	2
Segunda	38	12	10	16	42	58
Segunda Play-off	2	1	0	1	3	3
Segunda B	8	3	5	0	6	3
Tercera	2	2	0	0	5	2
Copa del Rey	10	6	1	3	17	11
Overall	86	32	25	28	98	108

Stadium

Granada playing at Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes against the Gimnàstic in 2010

After its foundation, the team played its home matches at the Campo de Las Tablas, inaugurated on 20 December 1931. On that day the Granada CF won the match against the U.D. Andújar 1-0 in the Tercera Regional.[26] The Granada's stay at this ground was a short one; on 23 December 1934, a new stadium, Estadio Los Cármenes, was opened.

The club played in this stadium until 1995 when a new facility, named Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium, took its place. It was inaugurated on 16 May 1995, with an original capacity of 16,212 seats. This was expanded to 22,524 after the final promotion to La Liga in the summer of 2011.

After achieving the promotion to the First Division in 2019, the stadium has been remodelled,[27] such as the replacement of the grass pitch, the repairment and painting of seats, the expansion of the official store (now located on the corner where was the old tickets office), and finally, the replacement of the illumination system in order to be adapted for the requirments of LaLiga. In addition, the club is working with the Granada's council so that get a deal for a long-lasting surrender of use with the aim of perform a serie of inversions[28] like build the stadium corners, establish shopping and entertainment areas or the expansion and refurbishment of the sponsors and advertising areas.

• Dimensions: 105 × 68 meters
• Address: C/ Pintor Manuel Maldonado s/n
• Inauguration date: 16 May 1995, Real Madrid–Bayer Leverkusen (1–0)
• First Granada CF match: 22 August 1995, Granada-Real Betis (4–1) XXIII Granada Trophy

Kit and colours

Upon its foundation, the club's kits were a shirt with blue and white vertical stripes and white shorts. After the Spanish Civil War the club owners went to Madrid to buy new ones, but they couldn't find other than red and white striped shirts. That became the official colour scheme from then on.

In the 1970s, the club changed the vertical stripes to horizontal. Since then, several changes (between horizontal and vertical) took place until 2004–05, when in a member assembly it was decided to use horizontal stripes definitively.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1984–87	Ressy	La General
1987–90	Umbro	Puleva
1990–92	Joma	Citroën
1992–93	Lotto	CC Neptuno
1993–94		None
1994–95		Sierra Nevada 95
1995–96		Cervezas Alhambra
1996–98	Kelme
1998–00	Joma	Jimesa
2000–03		La General
2003–04	Bemiser	Caja Rural
2004–05	Elements	Agua Sierra Cazorla
2005–06	Umbro	Puertas Castalla
2006–07		CajaSur
2007–09	Patrick
2009–10	Macron	Covirán
2010–12	Legea	Caja Granada
2012–14	Luanvi
2014–16	Joma	Solver
2016–18		Energy King
2018–19	Erreà	None
2019-23	Nike	Winamax

Coaches

Lippo Hertzka (1934–35) Gaspar Rubio (1939–40) Antonio Bonet Silvestre (1941–43) Francisco Bru (1941–43) István Plattkó (1943–45) Gaspar Rubio (1950) Alejandro Scopelli (1957–59) Jenő Kalmár (1958 – June 30, 1960) Argila (July 1, 1960 – Jan 2, 1961) Francisco Trinchant (Jan 7, 1961 – June 30, 1961) Heriberto Herrera (July 1, 1961 – June 30, 1962) Ignacio Eizaguirre (1963–64) Francisco Antúnez (1963–64) Jenő Kalmár (1965–66) Marcel Domingo (1968–69) Joseíto (1970–72) Pasieguito (1972–73) Joseíto (1973–75) Miguel Muñoz (1975–76) Héctor Núñez (1976)

Vavá (1977–78) Francisco Gento (1980–81) José Mingorance (1981) Antonio Ruiz (1981–82) Manuel Ruiz Sosa (1982–83) Felipe Mesones (July 1, 1983 – June 30, 1984) Nando Yosu (1984) Joaquín Peiró (1985 – June 30, 1988) Manuel Ruiz Sosa (1988) Pachín (1988–89) José Enrique Díaz (1989–90) Nando Yosu (1992–94) Lucas Alcaraz (July 1, 1995 – June 30, 1998) Paco Chaparro (1998–99) Felipe Mesones (2000) Ismael Díaz (2000) José Ángel Moreno (2001) Ramón Blanco (2001–02) Josip Višnjić (2006–07)

Óscar Cano (2007–09) Pedro Braojos (2008–09) Fabri (2010–12) Abel Resino (Jan 23, 2012 – June 30, 2012) Juan Antonio Anquela (July 1, 2012 – Jan 30, 2013) Lucas Alcaraz (Jan 30, 2013 – June 30, 2014) Joaquín Caparrós (July 1, 2014 – Jan 19, 2015) Joseba Aguado (interim) (2015) Abel Resino (2015) José Ramón Sandoval (2015–16) José González (2016) Paco Jémez (2016) Lucas Alcaraz (2016–2017) Tony Adams (2017) José Luis Oltra (2017–2018) Pedro Morilla Pineda (2018) Miguel Ángel Portugal (2018) Diego Martínez Penas (2018-)

References

1. "Los Cármenes no lucirá esquinas provisionales esta campaña". Ideal (in Spanish). 10 June 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
2. "Atlético finish third, Real Sociedad and Granada qualify for the Europa League". AS.com. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
3. Datos del club (Club data); Granada official website (in Spanish)
4. "Historia del Granada CF en ideal.es". Granada CF - Ideal (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 October 2019.
5. "Temporada 1931-32 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
6. "Temporada 1932-33 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
7. "Temporada 1932-33 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
8. "Se cumplen 75 años del primer partido y el primer gol del Granada CF en Primera División". GranadaDigital (in Spanish). 28 September 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
9. "César, un nueve revolucionario". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
10. "Temporada 1941-42 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
11. "Copa del Rey / Spanish Cup 1958-59". www.linguasport.com. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
12. "Temporada 1983-84 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
13. "Temporada 1984-85 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
14. "Temporada 1984-85 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
15. "22 años en el infierno" [Granada, 22 years in hell] (in Spanish). Granada Hoy. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
16. "Temporada 2005-06 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
17. "Temporada 2006-07 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
18. "How Udinese beat the system and stands at the gates of La Liga". A Football Report. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
19. "Granada promoted to La Liga". Sky Sports. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
20. "Granada, en Primera 35 años después" [Granada, to Primera after 35 years] (in Spanish). Marca. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
21. "Jiang Lizhang, nuevo propietario del Granada" [Jiang Lizhang, new owner of Granada]. ABC (in Spanish). 14 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
22. "Real Sociedad condemn Granada to Segunda División". Diario AS. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
23. "Granada back in Spanish top flight after draw with Mallorca". Reuters. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
24. Lowe, Sid (20 July 2020). "Silence, solitude and sadness for Leganés after desperate La Liga finale". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
25. "Plantilla Granada Club de Fútbol".
26. "Temporada 1931-32 - 14 Abril 1931. Historia del Granada C.F." www.14abril1931.tk. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
27. "Comienzan las obras de mejora en el Nuevo Los Cármenes, incluido el pintado de los asientos". www.ideal.es. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
28. "'Granada Sport Park', el macro proyecto que reformará por completo los alrededores de los Cármenes". www.ideal.es. Retrieved 21 September 2020.

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Official website (in English)
• Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)
• BDFutbol team profile
• Unofficial website (in Spanish)