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| Full name | Club Deportivo Guadalajara, S.A.D. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Guada Dépor Guada Dépor Deportivo Morados (Purples) | ||
| Founded | 4 January 1947; 78 years ago (1947-01-04) | ||
| Ground | Estadio Pedro Escartín | ||
| Capacity | 6,000 | ||
| President | Carlos Ávila | ||
| Head coach | Pere Martí | ||
| League | Primera Federación – Group 1 | ||
| 2024–25 | Segunda Federación – Group 5, 1st of 18 (champions) | ||
| Website | https://www.cdguadalajara.es/ | ||
 Current season | |||
Club Deportivo Guadalajara, S.A.D. is aSpanish football club based inGuadalajara, in the autonomous community ofCastilla–La Mancha. Founded in 1947 it currently plays inPrimera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches atEstadio Pedro Escartín, with a capacity for 6,000 seats.
Guadalajara was founded on 4 January 1947. It was a group of friends who played on the soccer team ofEducación y Descanso, aFranco regime program for young people, and theFrente de Juventudes. So, based on this seed, a club was created that was independent of all these organizations.
On January 4, a meeting was held in the Education and Recreation halls that would be the seed of Deportivo Guadalajara. From that meeting, a committee was formed consisting of Francisco Nicolás, Ignacio Burgos, Jaime Pujades, José Mª Moreno, Cayetano Morán, Carlos Camargo, Manuel Herrero, Antonio Vicenti, and Rafael Aguilar. The latter was elected president at first, but he gave up the position to Jaume Pujades. The club was thus founded, with the founding minutes being drawn up on January 30, 1947. The club was registered with the Castilian Football Federation on February 5 of that same year.
This committee would also choose the club's kit. The purple shirt and white shorts were chosen as the home kit. The red shirt and blue shorts were chosen as the away kit. Interestingly, the away kit was loaned by theSpanish national football team.
On January 19, 1947, Deportivo Guadalajara played its first match. It was a friendly match in which it defeatedBar Ideal by a resounding 9-1.
On January 26, 1947, he played his first official match, beatingReal Ávila CF 2-1 in the amateur championship.
In the 1947–48 season, it began competing in the First Regional Division, achieving promotion to theTercera División the following season.
The 1950-51 season ended with the team in second place, qualifying for the promotion phase to the Second Division. In this phase, they facedRecreativo de Huelva,Real Betis,Alicante,Cacereño, andAtlético Baleares. One of the matches was broadcast live byMatías Prats, which was a major event for the city. The cost of traveling to theBalearic Islands was somewhat painful, according to people close to the club, and some players even had to pawn their socks and clothes to pay for the trip.
During the 1950s, Deportivo Guadalajara established itself in theTercera División, remaining in that category without interruption until 1962, when it was relegated to the regional league for the first time.
On May 2, 1956, Deportivo Guadalajara played its first international match against theGerman teamGrundig Fürth.
During this period, two players who later became famous and went on to play internationally in the 1960s wore the team's jersey:Isacio Calleja andCarlos Lapetra. Another player who stood out during this period was Juan José Laso, who would later become president of the club for 27 years.
After being relegated in 1962, the club managed to return to theTercera División the following year. However, just two years later, in 1965, the club was on the verge of collapse when it lost its home ground. That year, the“Campo del Productor” was demolished, which meant that for the next two seasons (1965-66 and 1966-67) the club stopped competing.
In 1967, Deportivo Guadalajara inaugurated its new home, the“Campo del Henares”. and returned to competition. The new stadium was built in an area with poor access and no water supply—water had to be transported in an old cistern to tanks located on the hillside opposite the stands so that the players could shower. Over time, the various areas of the stadium were improved, and in 1974 it was renamed theCampo de Fútbol Pedro Escartín (in honour ofPedro Escartín, formerreferee).
Simultaneously with this forced relocation, matters did not go well in the sporting arena either. The same season that the new stadium was inaugurated, the team would end up being relegated to the regional league.
Over the next six seasons, Guadalajara competed in the regional league. In 1973, after beatingSD Huesca in the promotion play-offs, it managed to return to theTercera División. In its absence, theTercera División had gone from having 14 groups in the1967-68 season to only four in1970-71, with a consequent increase in difficulty. The team was placed in Group II, alongside teams such asDeportivo Alavés,Logroñés,Real Madrid Castilla,Atlético Madrileño,Osasuna, andGetafe. It achieved a more than commendable eighth place, although this would be the prelude to a poor season the following year, which included relegation.
During this period, Deportivo Guadalajara became ayo-yo team. It only lasted two seasons in theTercera División before being relegated again. In 1975, it was relegated, returning to theTercera División the following year after beatingVillarreal in the promotion play-offs; in 1978, it was relegated again, returning to theTercera División two seasons later; and in 1982, it was relegated once more, regaining its place in the division the following year.
In 1975, the first edition of theTrofeo Alcarria was held. A year later, they were crowned champions of the Campeonato de Castilla Amateur after beatingLeganés on penalties.
Since 1983, Deportivo Guadalajara has remained in theTercera División for 23 consecutive seasons.
On 18 July 1985, on the day of the club hymn's official presentation, the club first appeared in theCopa del Rey, againstRayo Vallecano. It would spend the first sixty years of its existence in thefourth division and the regional leagues.
In the1986-87 season, after theTercera División was divided by autonomous regions, it was placed in Group XVII (later Group XVIII), theCastilla–La Mancha group. This first season was disastrous. It finished last with only three wins, eight draws, 27 losses, 31 goals scored, and a whopping 108 goals conceded, earning a meager 14 points. However, it was lucky in the promotion play-off againstUnión Criptanense, a team it beat on penalties.
Despite this difficult season, in the following years Guadalajara would consolidate its position as one of the leading teams in its group, setting itself the goal of promotion toSegunda División B. On six occasions (1989, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2006), Deportivo Guadalajara unsuccessfully competed in the promotion phase to that division.
During all these years in which the dream of promotion was unsuccessfully pursued, the club continued to transform itself. Thus, at the end of 1998, with Juan José Laso Rhodes as president, the club became aSociedad Anónima Deportiva; and in 2001, local businessmanGermán Retuerta took over the club.
In 2006, it came close to promotion, as after beatingCD Don Benito in the first round, it succumbed toGranada in extra time in the final round.
The following year, the curse was broken. They beatCD Tropezón in the first round, and in the final round they defeatedUD Las Palmas B 2-1 in the first leg at theEstadio Pedro Escartín. On July 24, 2007, after drawing 1-1 in the second leg at theEstadio Pepe Gonçalvez inLas Palmas de Gran Canaria, Deportivo Guadalajara became a newSegunda División B team.Guadalajara was no longer the only Spanish province that had never had at least one team inSegunda División B.
In August 2007, Deportivo Guadalajara made its debut inSegunda B againstPeña Sport. It finished the2007-08 season in a commendable eighth place, remaining in contention for the promotion playoffs until the very end.
In the2008-09 season, he was placed in the southern group (group IV), where he finished in ninth place.
The following season (2009-10), it finished in third place, surpassed only byAlcorcón andReal Oviedo. This meant qualifying for the next edition of theCopa del Rey—which it had not played in for eighteen years—and for the playoffs to move up to theSegunda División. In the first round of the promotion playoffs (quarterfinals), they were defeated byOntinyent.
The2010–11 season began with participation in theCopa del Rey. In the first round, they eliminatedPontevedra; however, they were defeated byCeuta in the second round.
Following a somewhat tentative initiation to the league championship, the arrival ofCarlos Terrazas on the sidelines prompted a notable response from the team. This response, coupled with a remarkable second half of the season, culminated in the team securing a second-place finish, surpassed only byLugo.
In the first promotion playoff, they beatOrihuela CF, and in the second playoff, they beatSevilla Atlético. In the third and final round, they fought againstCD Mirandés for a spot in the Second Division. Despite losing (0-1) in the first leg played atPedro Escartín on June 26, 2011, after beating (1-2) theBurgos team at theAnduva Stadium, the purple team achieved the greatest milestone in its history, promotion to theSegunda División.[1]
On August 27, 2011, in a match againstUD Las Palmas, the team made its official debut in theSegunda División. The team got off to a surprisingly positive start and was leading the league on the sixth match day despite being a “rookie.” However, it then entered a negative spiral that forced it to focus on avoiding relegation. Finally, it secured its place in the division with three games to go, beatingElche CF 2-3.
For its second season in the division, the club set itself the goal of reaching the promotion playoffs to thePrimera División. In order to achieve this goal, the squad underwent a major overhaul, with only five players from the previous season remaining. The lack of cohesion among the new signings meant that the start of the season was disastrous, with the team occupying last place for several matchdays: of the first 21 points, they only managed to secure one (a draw away toAlcorcón on the first matchday).
From October onwards, the team began to achieve positive results and, before the Christmas break, climbed out of the relegation zone. After the break, the positive results continued and the team continued to climb the table towards mid-table.
However, in February, news broke that would end up defining the season: theLFP accused the club of irregularities in the capital increase that took place the previous summer. In light of these events, it decided to open an administrative case against the club and file a complaint against President Retuerta.
The team managed to isolate itself from this and other non-sporting problems (such as the complaint of improper alignment filed byUD Las Palmas, which would later be dismissed), continued to achieve positive results, and secured its place in the league with two games to go in the match againstRacing Santander atEl Sardinero Stadium.
On 4 June 2013, shortly before thesecond division season was over, Guadalajara was dropped back to the third category after a two-year spell even though it eventually finished above the relegation zone, due to alleged financial irregularities.[2][3]
Days after securing its place in the league, theLFP described the events that had led to the opening of proceedings against the club as very serious and decreed its relegation. After both theLFP and theCSD rejected the various appeals lodged against this decision, the Alcarreño club decided to take the matter to the ordinary courts. On August 1, 2013, pending the courts' decision in September on whether or not to adopt precautionary measures, the club's board of directors decided to register the team inSegunda División B.
In the2013-2014 season, Guadalajara returned toSegunda B and finished fifth in the fourth group of that category, thus coming close to the promotion play-off positions.
In the2014-15 season, it was placed in group II ofSegunda B, finishing in third place at the end of the regular season and failing to gain promotion in the promotion play-offs.
In the2015-16 season, it was relegated to theTercera División under the leadership ofManolo Cano, Félix Arnaiz Lucas, and the media-savvyDavid Vidal.
In the2016-17 season, it began a new journey inTercera División, playing in Group XVIII under the leadership of Alberto Parras, qualifying fourth for the promotion playoffs but ultimately failing to achieve promotion after losing the tie toCA Cirbonero.
In the final stretch of the2017-18 season, the club began to experience financial turmoil that led to bankruptcy proceedings in which creditors claimed more than two million euros.
This situation had repercussions in the following season, both institutionally and athletically, in 2018-19, when there were two presidents, five coaches, and 37 different players in official matches. The club managed to stay in the division in the last few games of the league, finishing three points above relegation in 15th place.
After five seasons inTercera División, and with new owners, the 2021-22 season would be played in the newTercera Federación, a new league resulting from the restructuring of the national football categories in Spain.
After a good season, on April 23, 2022, the team defeatedCD Tarancón 3-0 to become champions of Group XVIII of theTercera Federación for the first time in its history, earning direct promotion to theSegunda Federación with Gonzalo Ónega at the helm of the team.
CD Guadalajara made its debut in theSegunda Federación on September 4, 2022, in a match they lost 2-0 toCD Coria.[4] Their first victory came on the second day of the season when the Castilian team beatUD Montijo 3-1. That season, they also achieved two milestones in theCopa del Rey. For the first time in its history, Guadalajara advanced in the Copa del Rey against a team two divisions above them,SD Ponferradina, which played in theSegunda División, winning 2-1. This meant that, for the first time in its history, it faced aPrimera División team,Elche CF, in an official match. Elche won the tie 3-0, ending Deportivo Guadalajara's best performance in the Copa del Rey to date.
In the2024-25 season, the team was crowned champion for the second time in its history, this time in Group V of theSegunda Federación, achieving promotion to thePrimera Federación. It became champion and secured promotion on matchday 31 after a 1-1 draw betweenCP Cacereño andCD Illescas. It finished as the top team with the best score of all the groups with 74 points, and Amador Zarco was the goalkeeper with the fewest goals conceded in the category with 15 goals against.[5]
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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