UD Las Palmas

Las Palmas
Full name Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D.
Nickname(s) Los Amarillos (The Yellows)
Founded 1949
Ground Estadio Gran Canaria
Las Palmas, Canary Islands
Ground Capacity 32,150
Chairman Miguel Ángel Ramírez
Manager Quique Setien
League La Liga
2014–15 Segunda División, 4th (Promoted via play-offs)
Website Club home page

Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949 it plays in La Liga, holding home games at the Estadio de Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 32,150 seats.

The club remains the only one in Spanish football to achieve back-to-back promotions to La Liga in its first two seasons. It had a 19-year run in the competition, ending in 1982–83.

History

Foundation and early years

Even though the club registered with the Royal Spanish Football Federation on 6 June 1949, UD Las Palmas was officially founded on 22 August of that year, as the result of a merger between all five clubs on the island: Club Deportivo Gran Canaria, Atlético Club de Fútbol, Real Club Victoria, Arenas Club and Marino Fútbol Club. The union was to create a club strong enough to keep Canarian players on the island and not to seek a better career on the mainland.

Debate was held on the name of the club, which it was agreed would not include the names of any of its predecessors. An early option, Deportivo Canarias, was scrapped due to referring to the Canary Islands on a whole rather than the island of Gran Canaria. The name Las Palmas by itself was also put forward, and then rejected due to the name having already been taken by a defunct club in the city; Unión Deportiva Las Palmas was finally chosen due to its connection to the union which created the team, and its home city of Las Palmas. The first training session at the new club was held on 16 September 1949.[1]

Las Palmas finished second in their first season in the Tercera División (1949–50), ranking third in the following year's Segunda División to reach La Liga for the first time ever, and became the first Spanish club to achieve consecutive promotions in its first two years of existence. The first season in the top flight ended, however, in relegation, but the team returned to the category in 1954, going on to enjoy a six-year spell.

Top-flight success

After Las Palmas returned to La Liga at the end of the 1963–64 season, again as champions, the club went on to have their most successful spell in the competition. Managed by Vicente Dauder, they finished third in 1967–68 behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and four club players made the Spain squad which hosted and won the UEFA Euro 1968 tournament; the following season the team fared even better and only lost the league to Real Madrid, and thus qualified for European competition for the first time in its history, appearing in the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and being knocked out in the first round by Germany's Hertha BSC (0–0 home draw, 0–1 away loss).

Las Palmas player Juan Guedes died suddenly on 9 March 1971 at the age of 28. The next season, French coach Pierre Sinibaldi led the club to the fifth place, with subsequent qualification for the UEFA Cup: after disposing of Torino F.C. and ŠK Slovan Bratislava, the Spaniards bowed out to Dutch club FC Twente; at the end of 1974–75 another team player, Tonono – a defender who played with Guedes – died of a liver infection.

Las Palmas' third appearance in European competition came with the 1977–78 UEFA Cup, where they defeated FK Sloboda Tuzla of Yugoslavia in the first round before falling to eventual champions Ipswich Town.[2] Under the management of Miguel Muñoz, and with players such as Argentines Miguel Ángel Brindisi, Daniel Carnevali (the first to arrive in 1973), Carlos Morete and Quique Wolff, the club also reached their first final of the Copa del Rey in that year, losing on 19 April to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (1–3).[3]

From the 1990s onwards, Las Palmas played mainly in the Segunda División, but also spent six years in Segunda División B – the new third level created in 1977 – and, from 2000–02, competed in the top flight. On 3 October 2001 the side managed a 4–2 home win against Real Madrid, with youth product Rubén Castro scoring two goals for the hosts, but the season ended nonetheless in relegation.[4] On 21 June 2015 Las Palmas was promoted back to La Liga after defeating Real Zaragoza on the away goals rule.

Seasons

Season to season

Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1949/50 2nd Did Not Play
1950/51 3rd DNP
1951/52 15th DNP
1952/53 4th 3rd round
1953/54 1st Round of 16
1954/55 12th Round of 16
1955/56 11th Round of 16
1956/57 10th Round of 16
1957/58 11th Quarterfinals
1958/59 14th Round of 32
1959/60 16th Round of 32
1960/61 5th Round of 16
1961/62 4th 1st round
1962/63 3rd Round of 16
1963/64 1st 1st round
1964/65 9th Round of 16
1965/66 10th Round of 16
1966/67 11th Round of 16
1967/68 3rd Round of 16
1968/69 2nd Round of 16
1969/70 9th Round of 16
1970/71 14th Round of 16
1971/72 5th Round of 16
1972/73 11th 5th round
Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1973/74 11th Semifinals
1974/75 13th Quarterfinals
1975/76 13th Quarterfinals
1976/77 4th Round of 16
1977/78 7th Runner-up
1978/79 6th 4th round
1979/80 12th 3rd round
1980/81 15th 1st round
1981/82 15th Round of 16
1982/83 16th 3rd round
1983/84 11th Semifinals
1984/85 1st 4th round
1985/86 13th 4th round
1986/87 14th 4th round
1987/88 20th Round of 16
1988/89 11th Round of 32
1989/90 6th 1st round
1990/91 15th Round of 16
1991/92 20th 4th round
1992/93 2ªB 1st 4th round
1993/94 2ªB 2nd 3rd round
1994/95 2ªB 3rd 4th round
1995/96 2ªB 1st 2nd round
1996/97 7th Semifinals
Season Division Place Copa del Rey
1997/98 3rd 3rd round
1998/99 6th 4th round
1999/00 1st 2nd round
2000/01 11th Round of 32
2001/02 18th Round of 32
2002/03 5th Round of 64
2003/04 20th Round of 64
2004/05 2ªB 7th Round of 64
2005/06 2ªB 3rd 3rd round
2006/07 18th 3rd round
2007/08 8th Round of 32
2008/09 18th 2nd round
2009/10 17th 3rd round
2010/11 15th 2nd round
2011/12 9th 2nd round
2012/13 6th Round of 16
2013/14 6th Round of 32
2014/15 4th Round of 32
2015/16 Quarterfinals

Recent seasons

Season Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Notes
1999–00 2D 1 42201210 604172 Promoted
2000–01 1D 11 3813718 426246
2001–02 1D 18 3891316 405040 Relegated
2002–03 2D 5 42161610 534364
2003–04 2D 20 42101418 466844 Relegated
2004–05 2DB 7 3817912 503360
2005–06 2DB 3 3818137 452467 Promoted
2006–07 2D 18 42131217 515951
2007–08 2D 8 42151215 515557
2008–09 2D 18 42101715 465147
2009–10 2D 17 42121515 494951
2010–11 2D 15 42131514 567154
2011–12 2D 9 42161016 585958
2012–13 2D 6 42181212 625566
2013–14 2D 6 4218915 515063
2014–15 2D 4 4222128 734778 Promoted

Current squad

As of 1 February 2016[5]

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

No. Position Player
1 Spain GK Raúl Lizoain
2 Spain DF David Simón
3 Uruguay DF Mauricio Lemos (on loan from Rubin Kazan)
4 Spain MF Vicente Gómez
5 Spain DF David García (captain)
6 Spain DF Ángel López (3rd captain)
7 Spain MF Nauzet Alemán
8 Brazil FW Willian José
10 Argentina FW Sergio Araujo
11 Spain MF Momo
12 Ghana MF Wakaso Mubarak (on loan from Rubin Kazan)
13 Spain GK Javi Varas
No. Position Player
14 Spain MF Hernán
15 Spain MF Roque Mesa
16 Spain DF Aythami Artiles (4th captain)
17 Spain DF Pedro Bigas
18 Spain MF Ángel Montoro
20 Spain MF Jonathan Viera
21 Spain MF Juan Carlos Valerón (vice-captain)
22 Spain DF Javier Garrido
23 Spain DF Dani Castellano
24 Spain MF Tana
25 Morocco MF Nabil El Zhar
29 Spain MF Nili
Spain MF Javi Castellano

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player
Kenya DF Ismael Athuman (on loan at Cacereño)
Spain DF Carlos Gutiérrez (on loan at Burgos)
Spain DF Christian Fernández (on loan at Huesca)
Spain DF Jesús Valentín (on loan at Huesca)
Spain MF Leo (on loan at Cacereño)
No. Position Player
Spain FW Asdrúbal (on loan at Leganés)
Spain FW Artiles (on loan at Racing Santander)
Spain FW Héctor Figueroa (on loan at Huesca)
Spain FW Tyronne del Pino (on loan at Huesca)
Spain FW Alfredo Ortuño (on loan at RCD Mallorca)

Honours

Runners-up (1): 1968–69
Third place (1): 1967–68
Runners-up (1): 1978
Semi-finals (3): 1974, 1984, 1997
Quarter-finals (3): 1958, 1975, 1976,2016

Former players

see also Category:UD Las Palmas footballers

Managers

see also Category:UD Las Palmas managers

Affiliated teams

Las Palmas has used farm teams since 1954, but its official B-team, Las Palmas Atlético, was founded in 1976.[6] A third side was founded in 2006 and reached the highest division of regional football, the Preferente, before folding in 2010 and being re-created the following season.[7]

The club also had a women's team in the top division between 2009 and 2011. In 2010 Las Palmas founded an indoor football team for the Liga de Fútbol Indoor, staging matches at the Centro Insular de Deportes.[8]

Crest

Las Palmas' badge is a blue shield with yellow scrolls on top with the club's name, city and archipelago. The municipal arms, granted by the city's mayor, feature in the centre of the design. Underneath lie the five crests of the clubs which united in 1949 to create the club: from left to right – Victoria, Arenas, Deportivo, Marino and Atlético; a smaller white scroll above them displays the city motto Segura tiene la palma.

In Spanish football, many clubs possess royal patronage and thus are permitted to use the prefix Real in their name and use an image of the Spanish crown. Las Palmas does not have such patronage, but tops its crest with the Spanish crown due to the patronage held by Real Club Victoria.

The crest is the central emblem of the club flag, a horizontal bicolour with yellow on top and blue underneath. The flag of the island of Gran Canaria uses these colours diagonally.

References

External links

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