Recreativo de Huelva

Recreativo de Huelva

Full name	Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Recre Decano (Dean) Abuelo (Grandfather) Los blanquiazules (The Blue and Whites)
Founded	23 December 1889; 135 years ago (1889-12-23) as Huelva Recreation Club
Ground	Nuevo Colombino
Capacity	21,670
President	Jesús Vázquez
Head coach	Abel Gómez
League	Primera Federación – Group 2
2023–24	Primera Federación – Group 2, 6th of 20
Website	https://recreativohuelva.com
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal ˈkluβ rekɾeaˈtiβo ðe ˈwelβa]) is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in Primera Federación – Group 2, holding home games at Estadio Nuevo Colombino, which has a 21,670 seating-capacity.

Team colours are white shirts with blue vertical stripes and white shorts.

History

Foundation/Early years

Two Scots, Alexander Mackay and Robert Russell Ross, overseas workers at the Rio Tinto mines, founded Huelva Recreation Club to provide their employees with physical recreation. Then they were invited by Sevilla F.C. to play their first football match.

During the 1910s, the club won three non-official Andalusian regional cups, and became the first Spanish side to defeat a Portuguese team, winning against Sporting Clube de Portugal. In 1940, it first reached Segunda División, only lasting however one year and not returning until 1957. Since 1965, the team also began hosting the Trofeo Colombino.

Later years

In 1977–78, led by, amongst others, former Real Madrid youth graduate Hipólito Rincón, Recreativo first gained promotion to the top flight. After just one season, it returned to level two, staying there until 1990, the year of a Segunda División B relegation.

In 1999–2000, Recreativo were due to be relegated to the third division, but were redeemed when Atlético Madrid descended into the second and thus their reserves were ejected.^[1] With a new stadium and the appointment of Luis Alcaraz as manager, and the club returned to the top flight for the first time in 23 years on 19 May 2002 with a 2–1 home win over fellow Andalusians Xerez CD.^[2] After this one season at the top, the team was immediately relegated back. However, in the same campaign, it reached the final of the Copa del Rey for the first time, being defeated by Mallorca 0–3 in Elche.^[2]

In 2005–06, after beating Numancia on 4 June 2006, Marcelino García Toral's Recreativo mathematically secured promotion with two matches left to be played. Ahead of the new season, the club bought players including France youth international striker Florent Sinama Pongolle from Liverpool,^[3] and young winger Santi Cazorla from Villarreal CF, with a budget of only €15 million.^[4] The club finished eighth in the table, at 54 points, a best-ever, and made headlines with a 3–0 win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.^[4] The club's leading goalscorer was Sinama Pongolle with 12 goals to his name, while García Toral left at its conclusion for Racing de Santander.^[5]

Recre players greeting the fans before a 2008–09 La Liga fixture against Athletic.

Recre narrowly avoided relegation the following season, and in 2008–09, one win in its last 15 matches led to it coming in last place and returning to Segunda after three years. Overspending in aim of returning to the top flight led to debts.^[2] At the end of the 2014–15 season, the team fell into Segunda B for the first time in 18 years.^[1] A year later, the club was nearing extinction due to financial problems.^[6] In May 2021, due to restructuring of the Spanish football league system, the club was relegated two tiers to the fifth level for the first time in its history.^[7] Journalist Damián Ortiz of the Diario de Huelva called the entire squad "bastards without honour" and "a black mark on the history of Recreativo de Huelva".^[8] In April 2022, Recre achieved promoted back to fourth division. In June 2023, Recre achieved second consecutive promoted to third division after beating Cacereño in last playoff.

Season-by-season record

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1939–40 2 2ª 6th 1940–41 3 3ª 2nd 1941–42 3 1ª Reg. 1st 1942–43 3 1ª Reg. 2nd 1943–44 3 3ª 6th 1944–45 3 3ª 6th 1945–46 3 3ª 6th 1946–47 3 3ª 1st 1947–48 3 3ª 2nd 1948–49 3 3ª 4th 1949–50 3 3ª 4th 1950–51 3 3ª 1st 1951–52 3 3ª 6th 1952–53 3 3ª 8th 1953–54 3 3ª 10th 1954–55 3 3ª 5th 1955–56 3 3ª 7th 1956–57 3 3ª 1st 1957–58 2 2ª 15th 1958–59 3 3ª 1st

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1959–60 2 2ª 13th 1960–61 3 3ª 1st 1961–62 2 2ª 5th 1962–63 2 2ª 5th 1963–64 2 2ª 11th 1964–65 2 2ª 9th 1965–66 2 2ª 11th 1966–67 2 2ª 11th 1967–68 2 2ª 13th 1968–69 3 3ª 1st 1969–70 3 3ª 4th 1970–71 3 3ª 3rd 1971–72 3 3ª 13th 1972–73 3 3ª 8th 1973–74 3 3ª 1st 1974–75 2 2ª 14th 1975–76 2 2ª 10th 1976–77 2 2ª 9th 1977–78 2 2ª 2nd 1978–79 1 1ª 18th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1979–80 2 2ª 12th 1980–81 2 2ª 16th 1981–82 2 2ª 14th 1982–83 2 2ª 10th 1983–84 2 2ª 12th 1984–85 2 2ª 10th 1985–86 2 2ª 9th 1986–87 2 2ª 3rd 1987–88 2 2ª 15th 1988–89 2 2ª 5th 1989–90 2 2ª 19th 1990–91 3 2ª B 2nd 1991–92 3 2ª B 6th 1992–93 3 2ª B 8th 1993–94 3 2ª B 3rd 1994–95 3 2ª B 14th 1995–96 3 2ª B 8th 1996–97 3 2ª B 4th 1997–98 3 2ª B 2nd 1998–99 2 2ª 12th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1999–2000 2 2ª 21st 2000–01 2 2ª 6th 2001–02 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32 2002–03 1 1ª 18th Runners-up 2003–04 2 2ª 6th Second round 2004–05 2 2ª 5th Round of 16 2005–06 2 2ª 1st Second round 2006–07 1 1ª 8th Round of 32 2007–08 1 1ª 16th Round of 16 2008–09 1 1ª 20th Round of 32 2009–10 2 2ª 9th Round of 16 2010–11 2 2ª 12th Second round 2011–12 2 2ª 17th Second round 2012–13 2 2ª 13th Second round 2013–14 2 2ª 8th Round of 32 2014–15 2 2ª 20th Third round 2015–16 3 2ª B 13th First round 2016–17 3 2ª B 12th 2017–18 3 2ª B 15th 2018–19 3 2ª B 1st

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 2019–20 3 2ª B 13th Round of 32 2020–21 3 2ª B 8th / 6th 2021–22 5 3ª RFEF 1st 2022–23 4 2ª Fed. 2nd First round 2023–24 3 1ª Fed. 6th First round 2024–25 3 1ª Fed.

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• 5 seasons in La Liga
• 38 seasons in Segunda División
• 2 seasons in Primera Federación
• 14 seasons in Segunda División B
• 1 season in Segunda Federación
• 23 seasons in Tercera División
• 1 season in Tercera División RFEF
• 2 seasons in Divisiones Regionales

Current squad

As of 9 September 2024.^[9]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Rubén Gálvez (captain) 2 DF  URU Juan Pablo Pereira 3 DF  ESP Alberto López 4 DF  ESP Rubén Serrano 5 DF  ESP Álex Gálvez 6 MF  SEN Boubacar Keita 7 MF  ESP Paolo Romero 8 MF  ESP Luis Alcalde 9 FW  ESP Caye Quintana 10 MF  ESP Antonio Domínguez 11 MF  ALG Chemseddine Bekkouche (loan from Levante) 12 MF  CMR Nico Njalla (loan from Cádiz) 13 GK  URU Guillermo Centurión

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  ESP David del Pozo 15 FW  ESP Sergi Armero (loan from Huesca) 16 FW  ARG Pablo Caballero 17 MF  ARG Juan Cruz Cerrudo (loan from Rosario Central) 18 DF  ESP Dani Perejón 19 MF  ESP Zelu 20 DF  ESP Carlos Becken 21 MF  GNB Malam Camará 22 DF  ESP Raúl Navas 23 MF  ESP David Soto 24 MF  ESP César Moreno (loan from Hércules) 30 GK  FRA Theo Folgado (loan from Real Sociedad C)

Youth players in use 2024/25

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 DF  ESP Davinchi

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Youth players

Main article: Recreativo de Huelva B

Honours

• Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup): Runners-up: 2003, Semi-finals: 1906, 1918
• Campeonato Regional Sur (Andalusia Championship): 1918
• Segunda División: 2005–06

International players

Marco Ruben Hubert Baumgartner Edwin Congo Kanga Akalé Rodolfo Bodipo Juan Cuyami Juan Epitié Juvenal Yago Yao Florent Sinama Pongolle Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu Ferenc Plattkó Ikechukwu Uche Virgilio Ferreira Herminio Toñánez Nelson Zelaya Paweł Brożek

Beto Carlos Martins Mário Silva Silvestre Varela Laurențiu Roșu Nasief Morris Luis Aragonés Santi Cazorla Gerard Daniel Güiza Julio Alberto Juanito José María Maguregui Manolin Manu Enrique Mateos Mariano Pernía

Poli Rincon Curro Torres Alain Nef Ersen Martin Martín Cáceres Víctor Espárrago Arsenio Luzardo Andreé González Josmar Zambrano

References

1. "El Decano se vuelve a estrellar en El Sadar como hace 15 años" ["The Dean" crashes again in El Sadar just like 15 years ago]. Marca (in Spanish). 1 June 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
2. Stevens, Tom (23 February 2016). "'It's a real matter of faith:' Life as a Recreativo Huelva supporter". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
3. "Recreativo land Sinama-Pongolle". BBC Sport. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
4. Lowe, Sid (21 December 2006). "Recreativo rip up the form book, and Real with it". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
5. "Marcelino, nuevo entrenador del Racing de Santander" [Marcelino, new Racing de Santander manager] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
6. Farni, Azi (23 March 2016). "Recreativo de Huelva: Spain's oldest club on the brink of extinction". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
7. Núñez, Manuel S. (9 May 2021). "El Recreativo de Huelva desciende sin jugar" [Recreativo go down without playing] (in Spanish). Huelva Información. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
8. Ortiz, Damián (9 May 2021). "¡Bajad, bastardos sin honor! (1-2)" [Go down, you bstards without honour!]. Diario de Huelva (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 May 2021.
9. "Plantilla" [Template]. Recreativo de Huelva. Retrieved 5 October 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Futbolme team profile
• BDFutbol team profile