UE Lleida

Lleida
Full name Unió Esportiva Lleida
Nickname(s) Els Blaus (The Blues)
Els de la Terra Ferma (Firmlanders)
Founded 1939
(as Lérida Balompié-AEM)
1947
(as Unión Deportiva Lérida)
Dissolved 10 May 2011
Ground Camp d´Esports, Lleida,
Catalonia, Spain
Ground Capacity 13,500

Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Originally founded as Lérida Balompié-AEM on 30 October 1939, it became Unión Deportiva Lérida in 1947, after a merger with CD Leridano. Dissolved in 2011, it held home matches at Camp d´Esports, with a 13,500-seat capacity. The soul of the club was reformed as Lleida Esportiu.

Lleida adopted the Catalan version of its name in 1978. The club spent most of its history in the lower divisions, but in the early 1950s and early 1990s, the club won promotion to La Liga.

During the 1990s the club was managed by Mané, Juande Ramos and Víctor Muñoz, all of whom subsequently became successful managers with other clubs. From 1987 the club organised its own summer trophy, the Ciutat de Lleida Trophy.

History

Early Lleida football clubs

Football was first introduced to Lleida in 1910 by Manuel Azoz, a Barcelona business man. Among the earliest clubs in the city were Montserrat, founded in 1913 by Marist Brothers, and FC Lleida founded in 1914. Both played their early games in the district of Pla d’en Gardeny. In 1915, the Associació Cultural Lleidatana was founded by Catalan nationalists.

By 1917 two other clubs, Club Colonial and Athlètic Metalúrgic, began playing at the Camp de Mart. In 1918 FC Joventut was formed by left-wing Catalan republicans and during the 1920s they emerged as the city’s strongest side.

In 1919, Lleida became the first club to use the Camp d´Esports, but this team was dissolved in 1927. Other clubs of the 1920s included AE Lleida Calaveres, Lleida Sport Club and AEM Lleida, all of which disappeared during the 1930s.

Lérida Balompié and CD Leridano

After the Spanish Civil War, former members of AE Lleida Calaveres, Lleida Sport Club and AEM Lleida formed Lérida Balompié-AEM. After playing in regional leagues for four seasons they made their debut in the fourth division in 1943. The following year, the club split into two separate clubs, Lérida Balompié and AEM.

Meanwhile, in 1941 Spanish nationalists formed CD Leridano, and a local rivalry developed between that club and Lérida Balompié. On March 9, 1947, these two sides merged to become Unión Deportiva Lérida. The new team retained both the blue and white colours and club shield of Lérida Balompié, the first president of the new club being Eduard Estadella.

First golden era

UD Lérida enjoyed a golden age in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when they progressed from the third to the first division in just three seasons. In 1949, they won the third-tier and, the following season, 1949–50, they made their debut in Segunda División.

The season saw the club achieve their biggest league in history, 9–2 win against CD Lugo, as it also finished runner-up in the league, which meant promotion to the topflight for the first time ever. However, during its debut season, it was heavily defeated on several occasions: 9–0 to CD Málaga, 10–1 to Deportivo de La Coruña and 10–0 to Athletic Bilbao, being ultimately relegated back. Lleida's first eleven in the first division was: Rivero, Rigau, Telechea, Carrillo, Esquerda, Roca, Gausí, Pellicer, Ramón, Bidegain and Fustero.

The Mané era

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lleida enjoyed a second solid moment, under coach Mané. He joined the club in 1988 and took it from Segunda División B to La Liga.

1993–94 was the second topflight experience for the club; in spite of a 1–0 win over the FC Barcelona Dream Team at the Camp Nou, and another against Real Madrid, 2–1 at home, Lleida only won seven times altogether and was relegated once again.

The 1994–95 season saw the club finish third in the second division, with a subsequent promotion play-off defeat against Sporting de Gijón. In 2001, the team returned to level three and, in 2004–05 and the following campaign, played again in the second division. From 1996 and during an entire decade (with some interruptions), legendary player Miguel Ángel Rubio served as its manager.

Liquidation

On 10 May 2011, Lleida was placed in a liquidation auction due to a 28.000.000 debt.[1] On 12 July, the team's seat was acquired by local entrepreneur Sisco Pujol,[2] with the new club being named Lleida Esportiu.

Season to season

Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1939–43 Regional DNP
1943/44 9th Fourth round
1944/45 9th DNP
1945/46 10th DNP
1946/47 3rd DNP
1947/48 4th Fifth round
1948/49 1st Second round
1949/50 2nd First round
1950/51 16th DNP
1951/52 7th DNP
1952/53 6th Second round
1953/54 3rd DNP
1954/55 10th DNP
1955/56 12th DNP
1956/57 20th DNP
1957/58 2nd DNP
1958/59 7th DNP
1959/60 6th DNP

Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1960/61 6th DNP
1961/62 6th DNP
1962/63 4th DNP
1963/64 2nd DNP
1964/65 2nd DNP
1965/66 11th Round of 32
1966/67 12th Round of 32
1967/68 12th First round
1968/69 5th DNP
1969/70 10th First round
1970–71 Regional DNP
1971/72 5th Second round
1972/73 4th Second round
1973/74 11th Third round
1974/75 15th DNP
1975/76 5th DNP
1976/77 9th Third round
1977/78 2ªB 16th Second round

Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1978/79 2ªB 11th Third round
1979/80 2ªB 6th Third round
1980/81 2ªB 10th Second round
1981/82 2ªB 14th First round
1982/83 2ªB 10th DNP
1983/84 2ªB 8th First round
1984/85 2ªB 6th Second round
1985/86 2ªB 4th Round of 16
1986/87 2ªB 2nd First round
1987/88 6th Third round
1988/89 19th Round of 32
1989/90 2ªB 1st First round
1990/91 6th Third round
1991/92 5th Fourth round
1992/93 1st Round of 16
1993/94 19th Fifth round
1994/95 3rd Round of 16
1995/96 11th Second round

Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1996/97 11th Round of 16
1997/98 5th Second round
1998/99 11th Third round
1999/00 5th Round of 16
2000/01 22nd Second round
2001/02 2ªB 9th Round of 32
2002/03 2ªB 8th First round
2003/04 2ªB 1st DNP
2004/05 15th Round of 16
2005/06 19th Fourth round
2006/07 2ªB 14th Second round
2007/08 2ªB 13th DNP
2008/09 2ªB 8th DNP
2009/10 2ªB 11th DNP
2010/11 2ªB 5th DNP

Honours

Official

Friendly

Records

Club

Player

Main article: UE Lleida statistics

Selected former players

Only international players or UEFA Champions League winners. Flags represent national teams player appeared for.

Selected former managers

Presidents

  • Spain Sebastià Tàpies: 1939–40
  • Spain Joan Porta: 1941–47
  • Spain Eduard Estadella: 1947–51
  • Spain Llorenç Agustí: 1951–54
  • Spain Josep Servat: 1954–57
  • Spain Antoni Rocafort: 1957
  • Spain Laureà Torres: 1957–60
  • Spain Antoni Teixidó: 1960–62
  • Spain Ramon Vilaltella: 1962–67
  • Spain Josep Jové: 1967–68
  • Spain Pere Roig: 1968–69
  • Spain Manel Rosell: 1969–70
  • Spain Miquel Martínez: 1970–72
  • Spain Josep Montañola: 1972–74
  • Spain Lluís Nadal: 1974–77
  • Spain Josep Esteve: 1977–79
  • Spain Joan Planes: 1979–82
  • Spain Antoni Gausí: 1982–86
  • Spain Màrius Durán: 1986–96
  • Spain Josep Lluís González: 1996–97
  • Spain Màrius Durán: 1997–98
  • Spain Antoni Gausí: 1998–2002
  • Spain Miquel Pons: 2002–06
  • Spain Xavier Massana: 2006–07
  • Spain Ignasi Rivadulla: 2007–10
  • Spain Anabel Junyent: 2010–11

See also

References

External links

Coordinates: 41°37′17″N 0°36′51″E / 41.621386°N 0.614033°E / 41.621386; 0.614033

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