Royal Sports Club of La Coruña

The Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña, S.A.D., better known as Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a Spanish football club from the city of La Coruña, in Galicia, which competes in the First Federation. It was founded on December 8, 1906. It plays its home games at the Riazor Stadium, which has a capacity of 32,490 spectators, being the stadium with the largest capacity in Galicia.

Deportivo is one of the nine clubs that have been proclaimed champions of the First Division National League Championship, a title won in the last season of the century XX, the 1999-2000. He has also achieved five runners-up and occupies the twelfth historical position. The club has won the Copa del Rey on two occasions (1995 and 2002), and has in turn been proclaimed super champion of Spain in 1995, 2000 and 2002. At the continental level, it has played five editions of the UEFA Cup, one of the European Cup Winners' Cup and five of the Champions League, consecutively between 2000 and 2005, reaching the semifinals in 2004 and being the sixth Spanish club with the most participations in the competition and the fourth with the most consecutive participations.

On a social level, it is the most popular team in Galicia since it has 24,006 subscribers, holding the all-time record for the bronze category, as well as the attendance record for a First Federation match. According to the CIS the club with the ninth highest percentage of fans in Spain. In addition, the club maintains a historic rivalry with Real Club Celta de Vigo, with whom it disputes the Galician derby, one of the most traditional derbies in Spain.

History

Beginnings

The Sports was founded in 1906.

The Club Deportivo de la Coruña was born on December 8, 1906, with the official name of Club Deportivo de la Sala Calvet. A group of athletes led by Federico Fernández-Amor Calvet decided to create Deportivo de La Coruña. The first President was Luis Cornide Quiroga and his first sports formation, against Coruña on December 8, 1906, was made up of Salvador Fojón, Venancio Deus, Juan Long, Ángel Rodríguez, Manuel Álvarez, Daniel Aler, Paco Martínez, Félix de Paz, Virgilio Rodríguez, Juan Manuel López and Martínez Urioste. The stake consisted of two parts of 40 minutes, but was suspended 15 minutes from the end due to lack of light. The captain was Manuel Álvarez and the scorers were Virgilio Rodríguez and the captain himself, to give Deportivo victory by two goals to one. The following day the contest resumed, with no more goals for either team. On July 21, 1907, the Sala Calvet team won (2-1), repeating their victory four days later (5-1). The next clash between the two dates from August 25, 1908, but there is no record of the result. On September 27 they repeat their duel and Deportivo win again (3-1). In later years these contests continued. It is therefore obvious that the first great rival was the other team from the city and, when it languished until it disappeared, the teams from Vigo took over in the rivalry: first Fortuna and Sporting and later, Celta from Vigo.

Three years after his birth, on February 4, 1909, King Alfonso XIII granted the club the title of Royal. At the meeting of the Board of Directors on October 1, 1908, it was agreed to "...work actively to ensure that His Majesty King Alfonso XIII grants the company the title of Royal Sports Club of La Coruña." It was four months later, on February 4, 1909, when the objective was achieved. That day a Royal Order addressed to the Presidency of the Sala Calvet Sports Club was promulgated in the Palace. It read like this: “The King (qdg.) His Majesty acceding to what was requested by v has deigned to grant the Club of his worthy Presidency the title of Royal, which he will be able to display in all his documents. At the same time, his Majesty has served to accept the honorary Presidency of the same, which they so attentively offer him." Three days later and at a meeting of the Board of Directors on February 7, 1909, in an extraordinary session, the Secretary of the Sports Club gave an account of the Royal Order sent by the Mayordomo Mayor of the Palace in which the concession of said honor. The minutes reflected the following: “...granting this company the title of Royal with authorization to use the royal coat of arms and arms in all its documents and announcing at the same time that His Majesty the King has deigned to accept the honorary presidency that this Club had offered him in supplication.” Thus, on February 4 the concession took place, being the 7th when the celebration of the extraordinary session made official for all intents and purposes the title in favor of the Sala Calvet Sports Club, which since then became "Real Club ”; a mere addendum to the name that had a great resonance in the city. In fact, the real document was exposed for a long time in the waiting room of the Club in the Plaza de Pontevedra.

Spanish Cup winning sports planner in 1912.

The club's first great success came in the 1910 Copa del Rey, a competition to which it qualified after beating Vigo Sporting 5-0. The rivals, the Spanish Club of Madrid and the Barcelona Football Club. Deportivo was in charge of opening the tournament against the Spanish Club of Madrid, a team that has since disappeared, but which was then disputing Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid for dominance in the capital. In this first clash, the sportsmen surprised in this their official presentation on the national scene. The people from Madrid, no matter how hard they tried, could not break the Galician goal, but, in the last minute of the game, the goalkeeper from Hercules, De Llano, launched himself to block a shot from the Madrid striker. At that moment, the crossbar collapsed on his head, and the ball meekly crossed the goal line. Incomprehensibly the goal was considered valid. Football things from those times. Luck seemed cast, because the next rival was going to be none other than Fútbol Club Barcelona. The Catalans, however, did not reach the capital on time due to problems already forgotten. The Spanish Federation, evidently, tried to disqualify the Catalans for non-appearance, which would have automatically given Deportivo the runner-up spot in Spain. But the spirit of football in those days was very different from today. What mattered, more than winning, was playing, and Deportivo declared that they were willing to wait for the arrival of the Barcelona fans to win the game on the pitch, and not in the offices. So it was expected, Barcelona arrived, and although they appreciated the noble gesture of the sportsmen, they made use of their superior experience and won the match 5-0, and since they later managed to beat the Spanish Club of Madrid 3-2, they carried the title. The sporting nobility, however, had its reward. The Spanish Federation created and awarded Deportivo with a "second bis prize" consisting of eleven medals equal to those awarded to the Spanish Club of Madrid as second prize. Among the men who have gone down in history as protagonists of the feat, mention must be made of the named De Llano, Martínez, Long, Ancos, Rajoy, Álvarez, Rodríguez, Paz, Portela... The president was José Longueira Díaz.

Foundation of the National League Championship (1929)

Sports Template in 1927.

And Deportivo is framed, in the first National League Championship held in 1929 in group I of the Second Division by failing the previous qualifying round that gave access to one of the positions in the First Division. Their rivals are: Sevilla, Iberia Sport Club, Alavés, Real Sporting de Gijón, Valencia, Betis, Real Oviedo, Real Club Celta de Vigo and Racing Club de Madrid. The wickers with which the promotion to First Division was faced were by no means bad: Isidro, Rey, Otero, Lameiro, Guerra, Antoñito, Fariña, Torres, Pérez, Pereiro, Hilario, Alfredín, Basterrechea, Chacho, Mourelle, Plaice, Pinilla... That first campaign was not as good as could be expected. The team finishes eighth, just 3 points above the relegation to the Third Division with 16 points (6 wins, 4 draws and eight losses), ahead of Racing Club de Madrid and they conceded big wins (7-0 in Gijón and 8- 0 against Betis).

It was not until the 1941/42 season that they entered the gold category of Spanish football for the first time in the club's history, while their eternal rival, Celta de Vigo, was already a respected team in the First Division. Deportivo faces Valencia CF, Real Madrid, Atlético Aviación, Celta de Vigo, Sevilla CF, Atlético de Bilbao, CD Castellón, RCD Espanyol, Granada CF, Real Oviedo, CF Barcelona, Alicante CD and Real Sociedad. Deportivo, evidently, did not face their first campaign among the greats with euphoria, but with confidence. Celso Mariño was the substitute on the bench for Hilario, who preferred to dress short again, and the incorporation of Bienzobas from Navarre was achieved to provide experience to the squad and strengthen coverage. Acuña, moreover, begins to pleasantly surprise everyone and when he has played very few games in the First Division, he is called up for a tryout for the national team. Together with him, Pedrito and the ill-fated Víctor (he would die in 1943 due to hemoptysis), also recently signed, they form a very solid defensive tandem that will give ample evidence of their competence throughout the campaign. The winger Cuca and the veteran ex-Bético Caballero were the latest additions to a squad that wanted to stay out of trouble. Club Deportivo Castellón was the first touchstone on October 28, 1941. 2-1 was the result that sealed Deportivo's first victory in the Gold Division, and Elícegui the first scorer. The fact is that the first campaign takes place according to the most optimistic expectations. No points are taken away until they visit Atlético Aviación on matchday eleven (0-0), but Riazor is impregnable. Real Madrid, Real Sociedad (3-0), Athletic (2-1) fell there... What's more, after matchday sixteen (1-2 against Espanyol, first away win), Deportivo is sixth, but two untimely defeats occurred against Sevilla (0-3) and Granada (1-4). A draw in Bilbao (0-0) and a win against Barcelona (1-0) save the pothole, but the opportunities to get closer to the lead have been lost. In any case, when the League ended on April 5, 1942, Deportivo occupies fourth place, which not even the most optimistic thought of. It is true, only 36 goals have been scored (the lowest mark in the First Division except for the bottom team, Real Sociedad), but in return only 37 have been conceded, which is the best mark in the category. An exceptional campaign for the best rookie in the history of the category.

The Golden Decade (1948-1957)

Statue of Juan Acuña, player of the Deportivo between 1940 and 1959. He made four Zamora trophies.

The first great streak of results in the club's history occurred between the 1948-49 and 1956-57 seasons, with nine consecutive years in the top flight, which was then called the golden decade. But it is worth noting the First Division of the 49-50 season.

On September 4, 1949, Deportivo began the 49/50 League with a 3-2 defeat in Tarragona. The bad start would be more than compensated by defeating Real Madrid 3 goals to 0 on the 11th, goals scored by Marquínez on two occasions and by Cheché Martín, who would score with his back to goal and after a great foreshortening in the air. Barcelona would also succumb to the Riazor that year, with another 3-0 win in which the winger from A Coruña would stand out, Tino, who scored one of the goals. Dépor would finish fifth in the first round, but a draw in Chamartín against Madrid augured better wishes for the second round. With Juan Acuña unjustly penalized after a fortuitous encounter with a Valladolid player from whom he would be seriously injured, Pita would occupy the sports goal. That season Riazor will be the scene of a brilliant 5-1 win over Valencia, with goals from Tino, Ponce on two occasions, Guimeráns and Franco. It is worth noting the South American component of that Dépor. The coach, Alejandro Scopelli, had been international with Argentina. The also Argentine Rafael Franco was a prodigy in handling the ball, and the Uruguayan striker Dagoberto Moll drove the opposing defenders crazy with his mobility. Franco would precisely score, with eight minutes remaining, the winning goal 3-2 against Celta in Balaídos, which placed the team second in the table, a few days before the end of the League. The last league game pitted Dépor against Athletic at San Mamés. Atlético received Valencia, and if they tied or lost and Dépor won, the League would go to the people of A Coruña. Deportivo were league champions for a good part of the day, as they were winning, and Atlético was not able to beat Valencia. But Athletic ended up equalizing, and, suspiciously, Atlético de Madrid would also manage to tie thanks to two too rigorous penalties. Deportivo would achieve in the 49/50 season its greatest achievement until the nineties, with the second place in the League, accompanied by the Zamora trophy for Acuña. The Franco, Pedrito, Botana, Dagoberto Moll, Ponte, Guimeráns, Dieste, Ponce, Tino, Cheché Martín or Acuña himself, were the precursors of the Super Dépor.

The most discreet years (1958-1991)

Amancio Amaro, a sportsman between 1958 and 1962.

From the 57/58 season to the 61/62 season, the club remained in the Second Division, bordering on relegation first (in 57/58 it was saved from relegation to the Third Division by defeating Club Deportivo Ourense in the promotion) and fighting for the promotion later (he remains 2 places behind the promotion promotion in 59/60 and only one in 60/61, to end up ascending in 61/62 as champion of the Second Division). During this time the club's golden wedding anniversary is celebrated and players like Amancio (signed by Real Madrid a few years after his debut with Deportivo), Reija and Veloso make their debut. The role in the Copa del Rey would be quite discreet, because the team does not reach significant rounds.

In the subsequent years from 1961 to 1973, it would garner a reputation as an "elevator" for its continuous ascents and descents. From the 1972/73 season to 1991/92, Deportivo did not know what it was like to play in the First Division. In the 1970s, rock bottom was reached when they were relegated to the Third Division in the 1973/74 season, which at that time was the bronze category of Spanish football since there was no Second Division B, currently the First Federation. There was resignation of the president, dismissal of three coaches and failed signings. Nobody could believe that the team that two years before had been with the best of Spanish football was going to have to face Turón or Guernica. The downward curve of social and sporting prestige was accentuated by the constant increase in economic debt. In the eighties the descent to Second Division B occurs in the 1980/81 season. During this decade, captained on the field of play by José Luis Vara and where Agulló, Ballesta, Traba, Castro and Brizzola among others also stand out, uncertainty remained in the obsession with recovering the category lost in the season 72/73 and return to the First Division as soon as possible, something that will be achieved in 1991.

The Super Depor (1992-1997)

Beverage, symbol of Super Dépor.

October 3, 1992, Deportivo is the sole leader of the First Division by winning the first five games of the competition (something unimaginable since only a few months ago the category was saved in a heart-stopping promotion against Betis) and faces the almighty Real Madrid in the Riazor. Minute 25, 0-2 on the scoreboard. When everything indicated an easy victory for the Merengue team, just 10 minutes later a skilful and small striker, unknown in Spain but a star in his native country, Brazil, scored 1-2 on the scoreboard. His name, José Roberto Gama De Oliveira, Bebeto. Insurmountable in the middle, another Brazilian unknown to the A Coruña public, Mauro Silva. In the second half, an own goal and another goal by the Brazilian striker culminated the blue and white comeback. Real Madrid would not win at the Riazor for the next 16 seasons either. The Super Dépor was born, as it was called, a team coached by Arsenio Iglesias, who with his characteristic 1-5-3-2 had props in each line: Paco Liaño in goal, Djukic in defense, Mauro Silva and Fran in the middle of the field and Bebeto up front. To them we had to add great players, discarded for one reason or another by teams of more substance than Deportivo, who formed a historic bloc for several seasons. This is how players like Voro and Nando from Valencia, Alfredo or Donato from Atlético de Madrid, López Rekarte from Fútbol Club Barcelona or Adolfo Aldana from Real Madrid, among others, arrived. Super Dépor was the second team for many Spaniards at this time.

After finishing the 92-93 season in third position, the following season they debuted in Europe, endorsing Danish Aalborg 5-0 and eliminating Aston Villa with a goal from Manjarín at Villa Park. The German Eintracht would leave Dépor in the gutter, but Europe was beginning to hear the name of Deportivo. In the League, Arsenio Iglesias's men walked steadily at home (a 4-0 win against Real Madrid stands out) and taking the occasional victory away from home. Precisely Dépor would close the first round as leader, after defeating Valencia 1-3. In the second round, the defeats at the Santiago Bernabéu and the Camp Nou did not allow Dépor to distance themselves from their rivals. Despite everything, with four games to go, Dépor led Barcelona by three points. Two goalless draws against Lleida and Rayo by a masterful Wilfred, who stopped everything, were offset with a 0-2 victory in Logroño. This is how the last day of the League was reached, with Dépor leading, with a point difference over Barcelona. The particular goal average benefited Cruyff's men, so the only thing Dépor was worth was the victory against Valencia in the Riazor. But the Valencianistas, strongly favored as some of their players recognized afterwards, played the game as if they were playing something else. Barcelona, which days later would play the European Cup final against Milan, received Sevilla at the Camp Nou. Despite the iron pressure from Valencia, joy was jumping in the Riazor stands when Simeone overtook Sevilla in Barcelona. But soon Cruyff's men were going to turn the score around, putting pressure on a Deportivo who couldn't get past the goal defended by González. The goals were arriving at the Camp Nou, until scoring the final 5-2. Deportivo needed a goal to be champion. And it did not arrive. Then the play that was to enter the black history of sportsmanship took place. The 89th minute was running, and Nando was knocked down in the Valencia area by Serer. López Nieto, the match official, did not hesitate to whistle a penalty. Riazor was crazy, the League was within Deportivo's reach, but Donato, the specialist, had been replaced minutes before. All eyes were on Bebeto, but the Brazilian did not gather enough courage. Djukic had it, who that same season and in previous ones had already taken a maximum penalty, with mixed success. So the Serbian was in charge of putting Deportivo in the history of the League. Djukic took a deep breath, overwhelmed by responsibility, and fired loosely to the right of González, who saved the shot without trouble.

Initial alignment at the end of the King's Cup (above). Initial alignment at the resumption of the party (below).

What came after was left over. The goalkeeper, celebrated the action by raising his fist angrily, in an excessive, unnecessary, painful gesture. Djukic was stunned, buried his head in his arms, suddenly coming face to face with reality, just like the Coruña fans, who took the title for granted. Lendoiro cried in the box, and Arsenio Iglesias was speechless at a press conference. La Liga eluded Deportivo. Barcelona celebrated a title that it no longer expected. Paco Liaño, who would win the Zamora trophy for the second year in a row as the least beaten goalkeeper (Depor became the best defensive team in a league season, conceding just 18 goals in the 38 league games - he only conceded goals in 12 games-, which makes an average of 0.474 goals/game.), after the match he would leave a phrase dedicated to Valencia and the fate of the sports team: "We are muleteers and we will meet along the way," said the Cantabrian.

And he was right, only one season later the first title was achieved. The Copa del Rey, was achieved in Madrid on June 27, 1995 against Valencia with goals from Manjarín and Alfredo, so much so that it will be stored in the retinas of all sportsmen after a great center, jumping and finishing off with a header before a stunned Zubizarreta who saw how the player anticipated his jump, in a match played in two acts (on Saturday June 24 and Tuesday June 27), due to a large downpour of water falling on Madrid that Saturday. The game resumed in the 35th minute of the second half and it only took Alfredo 56 seconds to score the winning goal.

Euro Depor (1998-2005)

Image of the main trophies of the Sports in the Riazor bench: the 99/00 League, the Copa del Rey 94/95 and the Copa del Rey 01/02.

Mauro Silva, Deportivo player between 1992 and 2005. He achieved all the titles of the entity's history and proclaimed himself world champion in 1994 along with his fellow Bebeto, both of whom were headlines in the final.

Javier Irureta, a coach from Celta de Vigo, arrived at the club in the 1998/99 season, leaving it in sixth position, qualifying the team in UEFA and reaching the semifinals of the Copa del Rey. The 99/00 season began shortly after Deportivo lost to Celta de Vigo in the Teresa Herrera Trophy. A mirage, since the first day of the League would open up the hopes of the blue and white parish, winning by 4 goals to 1 against Alavés, with a hat trick from the Dutchman Makaay. The same Makaay who would score at home and against Valladolid the fastest goal in the history of the Herculean team, after 16 seconds. The same Makaay who would score a double to defeat Barça 2 goals to 1, confirming a spectacular start to the League in his first year with the team. Deportivo take the lead on matchday 12, a position they will grow fond of, and go on a streak of seven straight victories, which were cut short with a weak first-round finish, drawing 0-0 against RCD Espanyol. Of course, the derby of the first round, tense and intense, ended with a one-nil score for Dépor, with a goal from Turu Flores. In the second round, Deportivo, little by little, is leaving points away from Riazor. Of course, at home, those from Irureta embroider it. Like the day of Real Madrid (which months later would be European Champion and would sign the sportsman Flávio Conceição paying his 24 million euro release clause), where Djalminha dazzled the world with his lambretta and Makaay and Turu with their goals, until putting the final 5 to 2 on the scoreboard. The negative note came in UEFA, in the quarterfinals, where Arsenal endorsed Dépor 5 to 1 with a spectacular Kanu, a game marked by the expulsion of Djalminha. Although in the League, where the people from A Coruña were still leaders, they had not just struck a blow on the table. The 2-1 defeats at the Camp Nou and 2-0 in Vallecas began to revive the ghosts of 1994. Irureta himself was in charge of reassuring the blue and white parish, saying that by winning the home games, Dépor would come out champion for the first time in its almost hundred-year history. The final stretch of the League was agonizing. Deportivo had it in their hands at the Riazor, against Real Zaragoza, on May 7, three days before the end of the Championship. The Aragonese took the lead, but Dépor equalized and shortly after the end, Djalminha made it two to one. In the excitement, he forgot that he had a yellow and received the second after taking off his shirt in celebration. Zaragoza ended up drawing. There were two days left, Dépor was playing in Santander, and a victory was worth it to be champion. Without Djalminha, but with 7,000 people from A Coruña in El Sardinero, those from Irureta did not go beyond a 0-0 draw. The League was going to be decided on the last day, between Deportivo and Fútbol Club Barcelona, six years and five days after Djukic's fateful penalty. Zaragoza also had a remote chance of being champion, but history reserved the duel that it owed to culés and Galicians. The draw in Santander and the fate of risking everything for everything again in the Riazor and with Barcelona on the prowl, once again revived the fears of 1994. Deportivo was worth the draw, Barça, the victory and the Coruña prick. But history owed us. On May 19, 2000, RCD Espanyol visited a Riazor up to the flag, full of colour, of contained euphoria. Contained until minute 3, when Donato headed into the back of the net a corner thrown at the near post by Víctor. Riazor jumped, vibrated, sighed, celebrated, could not escape.

Diego Tristan, sports player between 2000 and 2006.

Celta helped by winning at the Camp Nou, and Zaragoza burned their cartridges beating Valencia, but there was a lot left. Naybet and Donato brought fear to the stands, risking too much in a cross inside the area with Tamudo's fall included. The culmination came in the 34th minute, when a wall between Víctor and Manuel Pablo ended with a cross from the canary to the area and a shot from Roy Makaay into the back of the net, anticipating his pair. More and more delirium in Riazor. RCD Espanyol, Barça's eternal rival, tried it, and Naybet had to take an acrobatic shot from Tamudo off the goal line. But Dépor held on. Donato, left the field laughing, relieved, satisfied, honored by Riazor. Víctor almost sentenced with a shot to the crosshead. Barça, who would eventually tie with Celta, and Zaragoza, who would lose at Mestalla, made the party easier. Riazor spent the entire second half chanting their players and rehearsing the champions, champions, which would fill the streets of La Coruña with joy and happiness for hours and hours. Not surprisingly, 50,000 people from A Coruña celebrated the title achieved in the city and some 20,000 people filled the Plaza de María Pita the next day to receive the champions. There were a few minutes left to go, and Irureta, the great Jabo, He complained with the game and the League in his pocket, about a gap in defense in RCD Espanyol's last attack. Full Time. Deportivo are League champions. Invasion on the Riazor pitch. The players give away their shirts, their pants, like Fran, who was left in her underwear. The occasion deserved it. The Plaza de Cuatro Caminos was a hive, a madness of people, of uproar, of an explosion of emotions. The players toured La Coruña by bus, showing off their newly released look, with hair dyed bright yellow. The celebrations continued for days not in vain, the League was won on a Friday, curiously, with the refereeing of García Aranda, the same one who refereed the 95 Cup final against Valencia.

Detail of the Sports T-shirt in the Champions League.

The great success of the League was followed by four consecutive seasons without coming down from the League podium (2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd) and five consecutive appearances in the Champions League, highlighting historic victories in Historic fields: Parc des Princes (1-3), Old Trafford (2-3), Highbury (0-2), Munich Olympic Stadium (2-3), San Siro (1-2) and Stadio delle Alpi (0-1). But without a doubt, the most remembered victory for sportsmanship in the best soccer club competition in the world came in the quarterfinals, at the Riazor, against Milan. After eliminating Juventus FC in the round of 16, they will face each other in rooms against the current champion and favorite to retain the title, AC Milan. The result in Italian territory (4-1) could not have been worse, but in the second leg one of those miracles that football promotes from time to time would take place and Milan fell overwhelmed in the Riazor before the gale of Galician football (4-0), moving on to the semifinals after a historic comeback. One of the games most remembered by the blue and white fans is also one of the 10 games of the decade and one of the 50 best games in the history of the football for Marca and the third best match in the history of the Champions League for the English newspaper The Guardian.

But even more historic was a party popularly known as the «centenariazo». On March 6, 2002, Real Madrid, the most successful club in Europe and recently named Club of the Century by FIFA, celebrated its centenary. For this reason, the Spanish Football Federation designated the venue for the final of the King's Cup of 2002, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, as a tribute to the birthday of the white team. Real Madrid, with figures like Raúl Figo or Zidane in their ranks, reached the Cup final, and their rival, invited to the Madrid party, as the national press insisted on implying, was going to be Deportivo de la coruña. The coach of the Coruña, Javier Irureta, claimed in the press conference the day before the final that Deportivo was also playing, making it clear that Real Madrid would have to win the party on the field. On the day of the final, the Bernabéu was packed, people were excited, ready to live a great celebration, one hundred years are not so often. Before the players went out to warm up, there were several performances by artists of some renown at the time, to give it the air of a show that Chamartín likes so much. In the stands, some 26,000 people from A Coruña were in charge of reminding the madridistas that the game still had to be played. Six minutes into the game, a good pass from Diego Tristán left Sergio very close to the white area. He got rid of Hierro and before César left, he beat him from below with a subtle shot that slipped between the goalkeeper's legs. In minute 38, it was 0 to 2. A cross from Valerón from the right was finished off by Diego Tristán at the bottom of the net. In the second half, Deportivo kept order, but a goal from Raúl in the 58th minute brought excitement to a final that would end with that result.

During this stage in which the club ranked third in the UEFA coefficient classification in 2004, achievements such as being, along with Real Madrid, the only Spanish teams that beat Bayern Munich away in competition international, being the first Spanish team to do so and the only one to achieve it at the Munich Olympics. Also, along with Real Madrid, are the only Spanish teams to beat Manchester United away from home in international competition, being the sixth foreign team to win at Old Trafford in all of history. The IFFHS placed the club as the 19th in Europe and 24th in the world in the first decade of the XXI century.

Transition and decline (2006-2014)

Sports alignment during a UEFA Cup 2008-09 match.

After the Irureta era, coach of «Euro Dépor», the club coinciding with the celebration of its centenary in 2006, enters a transition stage characterized by a serious economic crisis and debts. After two transitional seasons under the orders of Joaquín Caparrós, Miguel Ángel Lotina arrived on the bench, with whom qualification was achieved in the Intertoto Cup to play the UEFA Cup for the fifth time and a new sports restructuring project began that necessarily passed for the improvement of the quarry (more than 15 youth squad players made their debut under his tenure).

After 20 consecutive years in the highest category of national football, in the 2010/11 season it was relegated to the Second Division after losing the last game 0-2 against Valencia, becoming the team that was relegated to the second division with the most scoring points. the history of the league (43). In this same season, Aranzubia scored a header from a corner kick at the last minute that would lead to the tie (Almería 1-1 Deportivo), becoming the first goalkeeper in the history of the Spanish League to score with a header.

In the following campaign in the Segunda, Deportivo overcame an irregular start to end up winning promotion and the Segunda championship on May 27, 2012 after beating Huesca 2-1, and a week later with the record for points in a season in the silver category, accumulating 91 points in the 42 days played.

The president of the club also proposed the removal of the number 12 shirt in a symbolic way in honor of the fans.

In the 12/13 season, upon reaching the Christmas break, the Galician team is bottom of the First Division with only 12 points to their credit and the club decides to fire José Luis Oltra, who was replaced by Domingos Paciência. On 11th February 2013, Domingos Paciência leaves the position of coach after just a month and a half, and getting only 4 points in 6 games, he leaves the position after not seeing himself with the strength to remove the team from the last position in the championship. His replacement on the bench is Fernando Vázquez Pena, who despite managing to recover 9 points from behind with the save positions, fails to complete the comeback.

Changes in the management of the club (2014-2019)

Sports players in a season 2014-2015 that ended the salvation at Camp Nou in the last day.

Despite being relegated to Segunda, Fernando Vázquez remained, who managed to promote the team again, finishing in second place, only behind the rookie Éibar. With this, it was planned that Fernando Vázquez would stay the following season, but due to some controversial statements in preseason, the new board of directors chaired by Constantino Fernández Pico and his sports director Fernando Vidal chose to dismiss him and replace him with Víctor Fernández. Víctor's season did not go as expected and after several rounds without winning, he came dangerously close to the relegation places and was replaced by Víctor Sánchez del Amo. They started with 4 draws and 2 losses, on the penultimate date they defeated Levante in a day in which the club had a chance of staying in the First Division but the results were not given, playing it on the last date against an FC Barcelona already champion of the season. Deportivo began losing 2-0 with goals from Messi and Neymar, but in the end an epic comeback was made with goals from Lucas Pérez and Diogo Salomão, managing to tie the game and avoiding a return to Segunda.

Due to the salvation of the team, Víctor Sánchez del Amo stayed for another season, and the club was reinforced with players like Fernando Navarro, Cani, Alejandro Arribas, Pedro Mosquera, Fayçal Fajr, Luis Alberto or Fede Cartabia, and achieved the transfer by Lucas Perez. In the 2015/16 season, Deportivo had a great first round in which they finished ninth, reaching positions in the Europa League for nine days. However, they carried out a disastrous second round with only two wins, the second of them in the penultimate day against Villarreal CF by 0-2, with which they mathematically ensured their permanence in the highest national category. This season the record for ties was broken, by achieving 18. Something that according to coach Víctor Sánchez del Amo was not valued enough.

Álex Bergantiños, a sports player between 2011-2017 and 2018 to the present.

The following season, the club decides to dismiss Víctor after a tenure. Gaizka Garitano arrives, the one who was the coach of the local team from Ipurúa after a month of rumors in which Paco Jémez was linked to the A Coruña team.

The season starts well for Deportivo, with a home win against Éibar and a draw at Benito Villamarín. However, the game of the Galicians is not good enough and, also, the lack of a goal after the departure of Lucas Pérez, weighed down the Galician team, which would not win again until matchday 7, against Sporting in Riazor. Several days later, however, Dépor gains confidence and fixes their lack of goals. He loses at home against Sevilla and away against Malaga, but scoring 5 goals between the two games. From then on, Dépor achieved very good feelings with a 5-1 defeat of Real Sociedad in Riazor (which at that time was one of the best teams in La Liga Santander in terms of play); a 3-2 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu, although it deserved more and with unfair refereeing, and a victory (2-0) against Osasuna at Riazor, which gives the team courage after the bad start to the season.

Already entered the year 2017 without Ryan Babel and after dragging a streak of bad results, the most momentous being the defeats against Alavés (0-1) and Leganés (4-0) in matchdays 23 and 24 respectively, Deportivo decided to terminate Gaizka Garitano's contract as coach on February 26, being replaced by Pepe Mel on the 28th of the same month. The Madrid coach achieved the goal of permanence, highlighting the 2-1 victory at Riazor against Barça who had a streak of 19 games without losing in the League.

On June 29 of that same year, Deportivo managed to settle its privileged debt with the Treasury thanks to a bank loan from Abanca, and therefore it will recover to a large extent from the bad economic situation it suffered, having entered 43 million €. This also means that RC Deportivo's transfer budget increases and is on a par with teams like Celta or Málaga.

In the 2017/18 season and with 3 days to go, on April 29, 2018, the team certifies its relegation to the Second Division in the same match in which Barcelona won the championship.

In 2018/19, they started drawing 1-1 against Albacete on a visit, to then win 0-1 against Extremadura UD and lost on matchday 5 1-0 against A.D. Alcorcón, from days 15 and 16 and 18 Depor was in direct promotion but finished the first round as fourth place, in the second round they beat Albacete 2-0, but then from 26 to 35 they had a streak of 10 games without winning and caused the dismissal of Natxo González, but Depor won 2-0 against Córdoba C.F. relegated, already in the playoff they faced Málaga C.F. In Riazor Depor started losing but in the second half the Galician team improved and won with a resounding 4-2, already in the second leg at La Rosaleda Depor started badly but won 0-1 and advanced to the final with a global score of 2 -5, already in the final they faced R. C. D. Mallorca who eliminated Albacete Balompié with a 1-2 aggregate, in Riazor Depor won 2-0 in the first leg, and in the return of Son Moix, Depor started badly and lost 3-0, and with this result R. C. D. Mallorca returned to the First Division 6 years later while Depor lost promotion to the first division

Fall and sale of the club (2020-present)

Lucas Pérez paid €493,000 to play in the Sports in Primera RFEF (third category) from Cadiz CF of First Division, awakening admiration in the middle of the world.

In the 2019/20 season, again in the second season, Depor hired Juan Antonio Anquela as coach of the Galician club, signings such as Aketxe, Shibasaki, Nolaskain, Lamproupoulos, Beto Da Silva, among others. The competition began with a victory on matchday 1 against Real Oviedo in Riazor by 3-2 with Anquela at the controls, however in a climate of social war that moved onto the pitch, Depor chained the worst streak of results in their history with 19 games in a row without knowing victory until they beat Tenerife in Riazor 2-1 on matchday 21 with a goal in the last minute by Peru Nolaskoain. This disastrous streak would cost the two coaches, the sports director Carmelo del Pozo and the president of the entity Paco Zas, their jobs.

Following this series of events, Fernando Vidal will become president through an agreement with the main creditor of the ABANCA club to date, through which this entity granted a new loan that would allow the team to be strengthened in the winter market, but which would in exchange, it meant the capitalization in several phases of up to 35 million euros of the debt that the club had with the bank, making ABANCA the new owner of the club. This operation, which at the time was criticized by numerous sports personalities such as the lawyer and former legal director of the club Germán Conchado and the Association of Small Shareholders, meant in practice the end of "popular capitalism" with which the former president Augusto César Lendoiro referred to the singular composition of the sportsmanship shareholder but with which it was possible to save the club from disappearance. Thanks to a climate of social peace and a fans dedicated to the project of the new coach Fernando Vázquez, the team achieves an incredible streak of 7 consecutive victories that restores the hopes of sportsmanship to save the category. During the second round, 36 points were achieved, being insufficient to achieve salvation due to sporting merits, being tied with Ponferradina at 51 points and being relegated to relegation due to the "goal average" particular. On the last day, CF Fuenlabrada arrived in La Coruña with a covid outbreak, so the game was suspended but the rest of the day was played unified. This fact would be described by the RFEF president Luis Rubiales de la as follows: "We have adulterated the competition". In this way, Deportivo played the postponed match against CF Fuenlabrada mathematically relegated despite the 2-1 victory. Captain Álex Bergantiños described the match as "paripé" in an audio from a WhatsApp group for which he was arrested.

The club competed in the 2020/21 season with the largest budget in the history of Second Division B in a new competitive Kafkaesque league format with Galician and Castilian-Leonese teams. With all this, the A Coruña team did not achieve its only objective: the return to the Second Division despite dismissing Fernando Vázquez and hiring Rubén de la Barrera, the team was eliminated in the first phase that gave access to the qualifying phase for the playoff of ascent. Finally, despite a disastrous season, the team avoids a new relegation and maintains the category in the newly created First Federation, thanks to a victory over Langreo in the last game of the league.

After the resounding failure of the 2020/21 season, the new owners of the club take over from Fernando Vidal's board of directors. In addition, the club decides not to continue counting on the services of sports director Richard Barral, nor coach Rubén de la Barrera, since they did not reach an economic agreement, hiring Borja Jiménez for said position.

The 21/22 season ends with another failure, after an irregular season the team would end up qualifying for the playoffs for promotion to the Second Division. In the first game of the playoffs, they defeated Linares Deportivo 4-0, qualifying for the final for promotion. However, in the last game of the playoffs with a Riazor full to the brim, they were defeated in extra time by Albacete Balompié, a team coached precisely by Rubén de la Barrera, who had not been renewed by the club's management at the end of the season. former.

Symbols

Shield

The flag of Galicia appears on the deportivist shield.

The official emblem of the club consists of a gentleman's belt that surrounds the purple banner of the Sala Calvet and the flag of Galicia. Royal Crown in the center of the banner and on the shield. Their official colors are as follows:

• Dorado Pantone 872
• Morado Pantone 255
• Blue Pantone 299
• Red Pantone 179

Anthem

Although Deportivo had a more traditional anthem than the current one (composed in 1924 by Maximiliano Svarmanoff), the appearance of "Super Dépor" and the image of the club's renewal led the board to replace the historic anthem with a more modern one, composed by the group Cacahué from A Coruña. Said hymn, in rock style, would later be covered by the Galician Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, La Banda del Camión composed the centenary anthem, which included the names of the great figures that have passed through the club.

Uniform

• First Uniform Season 20/21 (La Coruña): The first outfit for the 20/21 season refers to the t-shirt with which the Sportsman won the King's Cup. The t-shirt has vertical stripes, at the height of the shield has horizontal stripes that form a peak towards the mouth of the stomach. The sponsors present this year are: Estrella Galicia (on the front), Kappa (mark) (on the left chest) and Luckia (on the left sleeve).
• Second Uniform: is all marine blue except a vertical yellow strip on the left side of the kit.
• Third uniform: White t-shirt with the strip of the flag of Galicia formed by a diagonal line that on the ends is degraded the sky of the Galician flag.

Infrastructure

Stadium

Stadium of Riazor after his last reform.

The Riazor Stadium is located a few meters from the beach of the same name in the city of La Coruña. It is the usual headquarters of Deportivo de La Coruña. The address of the stadium is Calle Manuel Murguía, s/n 15011 La Coruña. Its first construction dates back to 1909 on the land now occupied by the Iglesia de las Esclavas, a few meters from its current location. Its second construction, already in its current location, is in 1944, being the architect D. Santiago Rey. The stadium has undergone several renovations, such as the one in 1982 on the occasion of the 1982 Soccer World Cup, and the last one, started in 1996 with the construction of the pavilion back and finished in 1997 with the remodeling of the marathon back. Currently its capacity is 34,889 spectators, all seated, and the dimensions of the pitch are 105 x 68 meters. The stadium has a furancho^{[citation required]} for members' recreation. During the summer of 2015, improvements were made such as new larger markers located in the two funds, the presence of seats that form a mosaic on which you can read "Dépor" and "1906" and the artificial grass covering of the remains of the old athletics tracks to enable a correct warm-up area, which contributed to an improvement in the visual aspect of the Riazor complex. On June 29, 2017, it was added to the name of the stadium is sponsored by the Galician bank Abanca.

Sports facilities

The Ciudad Deportiva de Abegondo, called El mundo del fútbol, is a sports complex of the Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña, inaugurated in 2003. Located in Abegondo and with an area of 90,000 m², it hosts the training sessions of the first, second team and the lower teams of the club.

The club also has an official store called Deportienda. The main one is located in a spacious and bright premises in the Riazor Stadium itself, with large shop windows, which bring the club and all its merchandising closer to the general public. It was inaugurated in August 2001. In August 2014 a second store was opened in the Marineda City shopping center and in July 2019 a third was opened on Calle Real in La Coruña.

Similarly, it has the Deporclínica, a physiotherapy center where Club members and the general public can access 400 m² of facilities equipped with the best resources in hydrotherapy, physiotherapy and two gyms, and the ZonaFit, a 2,500 m² gym in the Riazor stadium itself.

Club details

For statistical details of the club see Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña

Honours of Prizes

The Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña has been proclaimed champion of the three main Spanish competitions: the Primera División, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España, as well as national promotion championships and several regional titles; the foregoing has made it one of the traditional and successful clubs in Spain and the only one in Galicia that holds first-class national titles. At the international level, their greatest successes were reaching the semifinal of the European Cup Winners' Cup in the 1995-96 season and the semifinal of the Champions League in the 2003-04 season.

Note: in bold, current competitions.

National tournaments (7)

National competition		Titles	Subcamponatos
First Division of Spain	1	1999-2000.	1949-1950, 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 2000-2001, 2001-2002. (5)
Copa del Rey	2	1994-1995, 2001-2002.
Supercopa de España	3	1995, 2000.
Copa España	1	1912.
Second Division of Spain	5	1961-1962, 1963-1964, 1965-1966, 1967-1968, 2011-2012.	1939-1940, 1945-1946, 1947-1948, 1990-1991, 2013-2014. (5)
Third Division of Spain	1	1974-1975.

Regional tournaments (7)

Regional competition		Titles	Subcamponatos
Galician Championship	6	1926-1927, 1927-1928, 1930-1931, 1932-1933, 1936-1937, 1939-1940.	1919-1920, 1924-1925, 1925-1926, 1929-1930, 1931-1932, 1933-1934, 1938-1939. (7)
Copa Galicia	1	1945-1946.	1935-1936, 1964-1965. (2)

Trajectory

For more details, consult Trayectoria del Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña and Statistics del Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña

Historically, Deportivo has had two most successful periods, the one known as "Super Dépor" between 1992 and 1997, and the "Euro Dépor" between 1999 and 2004.

Note: in bold, active competitions.

Sports organization chart

Template

Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña in the season 2022/23

Players	Technical body		More used tactical scheme
N.o Nac. Pass. Pos. Name Age Eq. provenance Cont. INT. Porteros 1 ESP! 0BY Ian Mackay 2nd 36 years CE Sabadell 2023 13 ESP! 0BY Pablo Brea 21 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2024 24 ESP! 0BY Edu Sousa 31 years CF Talavera 2023 Defense 2 ESP! 1DEF Antoñito Regal 35 years FC Cartagena 2023 3 ESP! 1DEF Adrian Lapeña 26 years CD Castellón 2023 5 ESP! 1DEF Pepe Sánchez 22 years Granada CF 2023 12 UKR! 1DEF Orest Lebedenko 24 years CD Lugo 2025 Sub 21 15 ESP! 1DEF Raúl Carnero 33 years Real Valladolid CF 2023 16 FRA! 1DEF Pablo Martínez 34 years Nîmes Olympique 2024 18 ESP! 1DEF Alvaro Trilli 19 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2024 Sub 19 19 ESP! 1DEF Jaime Sánchez 27 years CE Sabadell 2024 Sub 21 Campers 4 ESP! 2MED Alex Bergantiños 1o 37 years Real Sporting de Gijón 2022 6 ESP! 2MED Isi Gómez 27 years CD Badajoz 2023 8 ESP! 2MED Roberto Olabe 26 years AD Alcorcón 2024 Sub 17 10 ESP! 2MED Mario Soriano 20 years Atletico de Madrid 2024 Sub 18 21 ESP! 2MED Rubén Díez 29 years CD Tenerife 2023 22 ESP! 2MED Diego Villares 26 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2025 23 ESP! 2MED Yeremay Hernández 20 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2024 Delanteros 7 ESP! 3OF THE Lucas Pérez 3o 34 years Cadiz CF 2024 9 ESP! 3OF THE Alberto Quiles 27 years Recreative of Huelva 2023 11 ECU! 3OF THE Kike Saverio 23 years CA Osasuna 2024 Sub 20 14 Spain! 3OF THE Arturo Rodríguez 33 years UD Sanse 2023 17 URU! 3OF THE Kuki Zalazar 24 years SD Ponferradina 2024 Sub 21 20 ESP! 3OF THE Max Svensson 21 years RCD Espanyol 2023 Filials 25 ESP! 0BY Hugo Ríos 19 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 26 ESP! 2MED Jairo Noriega 19 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 27 ESP! 3OF THE David Mella 17 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 Sub 17 28 ESP! 1DEF Dani Barcia 20 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 Sub 19 29 ESP! 1DEF Angel Port 20 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2024 30 ESP! 2MED Brais Val 20 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 31 ESP! 3OF THE Mario Nájera 20 years RC Deportivo Fabril 2023 Grants 13 ESP! 0BY Alberto Sánchez 21 years → CF Unionists 2025 Sub16 16 ESP! 1DEF Alberto Retuerta 21 years → Hercules CF 2024 19 ESP! 3OF THE Victor Narro 23 years → Atletico Baleares 2024 Sub 17	Coach(s) Óscar Cano Moreno Deputy(s) Álex Martínez Physical Preparer(s) Luís Fandiño Sergio Roca Coach(s) of porters Alberto Casal Assistant(s) / Analyst(s) Nacho Lourido Asier Marote Alejandro Antón Delegate(s) Pablo Barros Suso Méndez (utilero) Physical therapist(s) Daniel Varela Ruben Barreiro Alex Canosa Doctor(s) José Ramón Barral Carlos Lariño Legend Captain Mission quarry (club-trained) Training (association-trained) European passport Aliens Extracommunity without restriction Lost to the club Granted to another club Discarded / No chip Updated on January 31, 2023 Official web template		4-3-3 ESP! BY 1 DEF 2 DEF 3 DEF 16 DEF 12 MED 22 MED 8 MED 21 OF THE 9 OF THE 10 OF THE 7 Incorporation 2022-23 Isi Gómez ( CD Badajoz) Edu Sousa ( CF Talavera) Victor Narro ( Real Valladolid CF) Raúl Carnero ( Real Valladolid CF) Roberto Olabe ( AD Alcorcón) Rubén Díez ( CD Tenerife) Kuki Zalazar ( SD Ponferradina) Max Svensson ( RCD Espanyol) Pablo Martínez ( Nîmes Olympique) Lucas Pérez ( Cadiz CF) Orest Lebedenko ( CD Lugo) Kike Saverio ( CA Osasuna) Pepe Sánchez ( Grenada CF) Arturo Rodríguez ( UD Sanse) Filials with participation Jairo Noriega (convened 1 October 2022) Dani Barcia (convened 29 October 2022) David Mella (convened 12 November 2022) Mario Nájera (convened 12 November 2022) Angel Port (convened 21 January 2023) Brais Val (convened 21 January 2023) Hugo Ríos (convened 21 January 2023)

As required by the regulations of the Spanish Football Federation, the numbers of the soccer players will be between numbers 1 and 24, reserving numbers 1 and 13 for the goalkeepers. If a third licensed goalkeeper in the first team is necessary, the number 24 number will be reserved for him. 24 in each of the parties involved.

Technical staff

Arsenio Iglesias, coach of the known as "Super Dépor".

A multitude of coaches have passed through the blue and white bench, but among all of them the most outstanding has undoubtedly been Arsenio Iglesias, a native of Arteijo and who had been a player of the team in the 1950s. With Arsenio on the bench Deportivo rose to the First Division and won its first Copa del Rey as well as two runner-up finishes in the League and the club's first appearances in European Competitions. This endearing and charismatic coach was known as "o zorro de Arteixo".

Another of the team's illustrious coaches was Javier Irureta, who won the only league championship in blue and white history, the Copa del Rey remembered as "El Centenariazo" against Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, in their stadium the day he was a hundred years old. The Gipuzkoan coach also got the team to participate in five consecutive editions of the Champions League.

The coaches with the most games managed are Javier Irureta, Arsenio Iglesias, Miguel Ángel Lotina, Fernando Vázquez and Joaquín Caparrós, with 266, 190, 152, 92 and 76 games respectively. Also noteworthy is Helenio Herrera, one of the illustrious of world football, who coached Deportivo for just a few months in the 1950s, enough time to save the club from relegation.

The current coach is Oscar Cano, who took over the team after the dismissal of Borja Jiménez on October 11, 2022. The disappointment for not having been promoted to the Second Division in the playoff final against Albacete Balompié, trained by the former blue and white coach Rubén de la Barrera, and especially the poor results at the start of the 22/23 season led to the dismissal of the coach from Avila.

Directive

Deportivo has had 48 presidents throughout its 117-year history, including the second terms of Virgilio Rodríguez, Carlos Allones and Aurelio Ruenes.

The most important president in the club's history has been Augusto César Lendoiro, who took office on June 13, 1988, and led the transition to a Sports Public Limited Company, avoiding the disappearance of the club. During the 90s he created a team that mixed discards from the great Spanish teams and foreign stars such as Bebeto, Mauro Silva, Rivaldo, Djalminha or Roy Makaay, which made him win several titles at the national level and be a fixture in competitions. European until the mid-00s. The last stage of his mandate was clouded by major economic problems, disagreements with the Treasury and with various media. Finally, on December 24, 2013, Lendoiro ended his 25-year uninterrupted mandate, the longest in the history of Spanish football.

His replacement was Tino Fernández, elected by the shareholders on January 21, 2014 and who held the position for a little over 5 years, until his resignation in April 2019 after poor results that year in the Second Division. On January 14, 2020, Fernando Vidal replaced Paco Zas, who had taken over the position at the end of the 2018-2019 season after being elected at the shareholders' meeting to take over from Tino Fernández. Vidal obtained 72.09% of the votes, thus beating Manuel López Cascallar with 4.87%, who was the other candidate in the elections.

The current president is Antonio Couceiro, who was appointed by the company's majority shareholder (ABANCA) to replace Fernando Vidal, whose board of directors resigned en bloc after relegation to Segunda B and the poor results of the first season in that category.

Organizational information

• Chairman
  • Antonio Couceiro

• Counsellors
  • Eduardo Balnco Pereira
  • Carlos Cantó Navés
  • Emma Lustres Gómez
  • David Villasuso Castaño

• Technical Secretary of Football
  • Carlos Rosende Mosquera

• Corporate management
  • David Villasuso Castaño

• Organization
  • Albert Gil Gálvez

• Operations Manager
  • Pablo Pereiro González

• Communication Directorate
  • Gabriel Barrós Blanco

• Commercial Directorate
  • Ignacio Martínez Dopico

• Security Directorate
  • Vicente M. Aparicio Cañadas

• Social Directorate
  • Gelines Romero Díaz

• Legal Counseling
  • Oscar Rama Penas

Lower Categories

Fabril players in 2016.

Affiliate Team

Deportivo's subsidiary is Deportivo Fabril, founded in 1963. Fabril S.D., born in 1914, in 1948 became a club associated with Deportivo and in 1963 merged with Club Deportivo Juvenil, taking the resulting team the name of Sports Factory. In 1993 its name was changed to Deportivo de La Coruña B. In 2017 it recovered the name of Fabril. Some of the first team players came from the Fabril youth academy, such as captain Álex Bergantiños. He currently plays in Group I of the Tercera División RFEF.

Youth Team

The youth team A plays in group 1C of the Division of Honor. It has won the Youth Division of Honor Champions Cup in the 1995-96 and 2020-21 seasons, therefore it was proclaimed youth champion of Spain in twice. The victory in the championship of the 2020-21 season qualified him for the Youth League of the 2021-22 season.

Other sports sections

At the sports center level, throughout its history Deportivo has had other sports sections, such as indoor soccer (winner of the League and Cup double in 2008 and 2010) or athletics (with more than 125 trophies). The roller hockey team, Deportivo Liceo, is the most successful team in Galicia, with 7 OK Liga, 10 Roller Hockey King's Cup, 3 Roller Hockey Spanish Super Cup, 6 Roller Hockey European Cup, 2 Recopa European Roller Hockey Cup, 3 CERS Cup, 6 Roller Hockey Continental Cup and 5 Roller Hockey Intercontinental Cup.

Women's soccer team

Deportivo had a women's soccer team in the eighties: Karbo Deportivo, which was proclaimed champion of Spain several times. The women's team returned in the 2016-2017 season and played in group A of the Second Spanish Division. In the 2018/19 season, they were promoted to the Spanish Women's First Division. In March 2020, they were in fourth position in the Primera División standings when the competition had to be suspended due to COVID-19.

Among the achievements of the section stands out a Reina Reina Cup in 1981, not recognized, and three Reina Cups recognized in 1983, 1984 and 1985. All of them achieved as Karbo Deportivo.

Teresa Herrera Trophy

The Teresa Herrera Trophy is a summer soccer tournament that has been held since 1946 in La Coruña, Galicia (Spain). It is the dean of the summer trophies held in Spanish territory. After several years in which the trophy was organized by the City Council of La Coruña, in 2000 Deportivo de La Coruña took over the organization.

Great teams have participated in its history such as Pelé's Santos FC, Garrincha's Botafogo FR, Eusébio's SL Benfica, Di Stéfano's Real Madrid C. F., Cruyff's F. C. Barcelona or Kaká's AC Milan.

Centenary

The centenary of Deportivo refers to the set of events held throughout 2006 to celebrate the century of history of the Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña, one hundred years exactly on December 8 of that year.

The central act of the anniversary took place on September 3 with the match corresponding to the Juan Acuña Trophy played in the Riazor between two teams of players and former players from the Herculean team. On the one hand, they faced members of the mythical Super Dépor, which received a well-deserved tribute ten years later, and, on the other hand, a selection of players who, from the 1960s until now, had defended the blue and white colors On the benches were respectively Arsenio Iglesias and Amancio Amaro. Among the absences to highlight those of Miroslav Đukić, Alfredo Santaelena, Luis Suárez or Mauro Silva.

In addition, other events were carried out, such as the issuance by the Post Office of a commemorative stamp for the Centenary, or the sale of a special commemorative T-shirt. Between October 12 and 14, Deporsaúde 2006 took place, a congress doctor who brought together more than 200 sports medicine specialists, while on Friday, December 15, ONCE dedicated that day's El Cuponazo to the Centenary of Deportivo.

Hobby

Deportivo was the ninth team in number of fans in Spain, with 2.2% of the total, according to a CIS survey in May 2007. The club also has a stable social mass of between 15 and 20 thousand members and 179 supporters clubs.

The sports fans were awarded "Player number 12" by the Professional Soccer League on two occasions, coinciding with the seasons that the club recently spent in the Second Division (2011/2012) and (2013/2014), in which the fans did not abandon the team (increased attendance at stadium compared to previous years in Primera) and encouraged him to achieve the respective promotions.

It has 22,364 subscribers, an all-time record in the Second Division B and First Federation, with more members than 12 First Division teams and record attendance at a First Federation match. In 2022, with the team In the First Federation, a match was followed on the internet by a million fans. In that same season, a match in the Riazor presented one of the best entries in all of Spanish football. Only five other games played this weekend had a greater presence of fans in the First and Second Division.

Soccers

Deportivo has numerous supporters clubs both in the city of La Coruña, as well as in Galicia, in the rest of Spain and also abroad, being the Galician team with the most members, supporters clubs and representatives worldwide. In 2014 it had 178 supporters clubs: 150 in Galicia (124 in the province of La Coruña), 20 in the rest of Spain, 4 in the rest of Europe, 3 in America and 1 in Oceania (Australia). The number of supporters clubs has increased notably since 1952 when the first one was founded. Above all, it is worth noting the increase at the end of the 20th century, since in 1988 there were 7 supporters clubs, in 1995 there were already 118, and in the year 2000 there were more than 200 until reaching 287 in 2003. These are distributed from the as follows: 179 in Spain, 37 in Argentina, 2 in Switzerland and Venezuela, and one in Australia, the United Kingdom and France.

Since 1998, the group of supporters clubs have been organized in the Federation of Sports Supporters Supporters Clubs, which usually organizes an annual fair dedicated to events related to the club.

Riazor Blues

It is the liveliest supporters club in the Riazor Stadium and with its songs, flags and other acts it always manages to pull the rest of the stands in all matches. It was formed in 1987, being considered an ultra group by the Ministry of the Interior of Spain. It displays a left-wing ideology, fundamentally anti-fascist, and on many occasions it was involved in incidents, even resulting in death. It is one of the largest clubs in Spain, with more than 2,000 members.

Assistance to Riazor

The capacity of the Riazor Stadium has varied over the years. From the 33,500 of its inauguration in 1944 (although officially there was talk of 40,000 spectators to be able to host international matches) going through the 28,000 after the renovations necessary to play the 1982 Soccer World Cup in the city, to Today's 33,639 after another series of reforms, carried out in this case at the end of the 1990s.

The average attendance at Riazor during the last 10 seasons is:

Rivalries

The Galician derby

Celebration of the goal of the sport in the Celta-Dépor match of 27 October 2012.

The classic Galician derby is played by Deportivo de La Coruña and Celta de Vigo. They have met 173 times in official matches, with Celta being the team with the highest number of victories, 69 to 64 of the people from A Coruña. The first clashes date back to the Galician championship of 1923, once Real Fortuna FC and Real Vigo Sporting Club, teams against which Deportivo had already faced each other, came together as one team, Celta. The first confrontation was won by the A Coruña club by 3 goals to 0. From 1923 to 1940, the year in which the last Galician championship was held, Deportivo achieved 6 titles and 6 runners-up.

The first Galician derby in the League was played in a Vigo fiefdom on October 19, 1941 (4th matchday of the League), with the Vigo team winning by 2 goals to 1. Agustín for Celta de Vigo twice and Chacho They were the scorers. Dépor would avenge this defeat in the second round of the championship, defeating Vigo by four goals to nil at the Riazor stadium, with Chao and Guimerans being the scorers, both twice.

At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the XXI century, some of the most remembered derbies between both entities were experienced. In the seasons that covered that period (1997-2004) Celta and Deportivo had the most powerful squads in their respective histories and were settled in the high positions of the qualifying table, their presence also being common in European competitions.

Filmography

• Documentary TVE (6-4-1970), "Histores del balompié - Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña" in rtve.es
• Documentary Canal+ (11-4-2012), «Club de Fútbol: Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña» on Youtube