Numancia

Numancia may refer to:

CD Numancia

Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos, with a 9,025-seat capacity.

Besides football it has other departments in sports, such as volleyball, women's handball, and rhythmic gymnastics.

History

Numancia was named after the ancient Celtiberian town of Numantia, near where Soria would be later founded. Having spent a long time in the Tercera División, the club made consistent progress, reaching the first division on three occasions: 1999, 2004 and 2008.

The club became first widely known in Spain in 1995–96, while still playing at the third level, for its extraordinary run in the Spanish Cup, eliminating three top flight clubs (Real Sociedad, Racing de Santander and Sporting de Gijón) and only being knocked out in the quarter-finals by FC Barcelona, after Numancia drew in the first leg and took the lead in the second.

UD Almería

Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1989 as Almería Club de Fútbol it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos, with a 22,000-seat capacity.

History

AD Almería was a team that played in La Liga between 1979–81, but disappeared in 1982, and was arguably UD Almería's predecessor. In 1989, a club named Almería Club de Fútbol was born, but in 2001 was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería. After playing one season in the second division, it was relegated to the third and the fourth divisions.

After spending several seasons in the second level, Almería side was first promoted to the top flight after finishing runner-up in the 2006–07 season. After some outstanding performances, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08. At the club's helm was coach Unai Emery, as striker Álvaro Negredo finished team topscorer with 13 goals.

After Emery left for Valencia CF, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in, but was sacked on 21 December 2008, after a string of poor results, albeit without ever reaching the last three. Mexican Hugo Sánchez took the job, and fared slightly better, for a final mid-table position.

Rayo Vallecano

Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈraʝo βaʎeˈkano ðe maˈðɾið]), often abbreviated to Rayo, is a Spanish football team based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Founded on 29 May 1924, the club currently play in La Liga, Spain's top-flight division. Home games are held at the 14,708-seater Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas stadium.

Rayo has competed in one European competition, the UEFA Cup in the 2000–01 season. The club made it to the quarter-finals before losing to fellow countrymen Deportivo Alavés 4–2 on aggregate.

History

Rayo Vallecano saw the light of day on 29 May 1924 in the hometown of Prudencia Priego, wife of the club's first president Julián Huerta. Greatly inspired by River Plate (a Football club from Argentina), in 1949, after an agreement with Atlético Madrid, a red diagonal stripe was added to the team's kit, and the club reached Tercera División for the first time in its history.

One of the perennial yo-yo clubs of Spanish football, and always in the shadow of the two biggest clubs in the city (Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid), Rayo Vallecano spent many years during the 1980s and 1990s moving back and forth between La Liga and Segunda División. They appeared to have consolidated their top flight status after gaining promotion in 1999, and the team's most successful season came in 2000–01 when they reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, going out only to eventual runners-up Deportivo Alavés; Rayo finished ninth in the previous campaign, but entered the competition via the fair play draw.