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| Full name | Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa | ||
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| Nicknames | La Cultu La Leonesa | ||
| Founded | 5 August 1923; 102 years ago (5 August 1923) | ||
| Ground | Estadio Reino de León | ||
| Capacity | 13,346 | ||
| Owner(s) | Aspire Academy (more than 99.74%) 4 minority stockholders (less than 0.26%) | ||
| President | Mohd Khalifa Al Suwadi | ||
| Head coach | Cuco Ziganda | ||
| League | Segunda División | ||
| 2024–25 | Primera Federación – Group 1, 1st of 20 (promoted) | ||
| Website | cydleonesa | ||
Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (Spanish pronunciation:[kultuˈɾaliðepoɾˈtiβaleoˈnesa]), better known asCultural Leonesa orLa Cultural, is aSpanish football team based inLeón, in the autonomous community ofCastile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays inSegunda División, holding home games atEstadio Reino de León, with a capacity of 13,346 seats.[1]
Ahead of the 2014–15 season, the club released a kit designed to look like atuxedo. The kit, which attracted huge attention in the media and social networking sites, was worn in a pre-season charity match in support of local charities for mining families.
Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded on 5 August 1923.[2]
In 1926, Cultural Leonesa won the Regional championship and in 1929 Cultural played theSegunda División Grupo B and promoted to thesecond division.
In 1931, the club ceased activity and several teams were created in the city with the aim to replace them, but after theSpanish Civil War, Cultural Leonesa came back to the competition.
In 1955, Cultural was promoted for the first time toLa Liga, but they could only playone season in the Spanish top tier.
In 2011, the club was relegated toTercera División due to unpaid debts to the players[3] and took two years to recover the place in the third tier. In 2015, the QatariAspire Academy bought a controlling 99% of the shares of the club, thus avoiding its dissolution.[4]
On 28 May 2017, Cultural was promoted toSegunda División after 42 years by defeatingBarcelona B in thepromotion play-offs. On 3 January 2018,Leeds United announced an official partnership with Cultural Leonesa's ownersAspire Academy in Qatar.[5] The link up saw Leeds playersYosuke Ideguchi andOuasim Bouy both join Cultural Leonesa on loan as part of the unique partnership.[6]
On 2 June 2018, Cultural was relegated to the third level, after being defeated byNumancia on the last matchday. In the 2018–19 season the club played inSegunda División B, Group 1 and fought to be promoted back to the second tier. But it finished only in the 5th position.[7] The club had a good start on the 2019–20 season, being in the 2nd position after first 16 games.[8] In the 2019–2020 season, they upsetAtletico de Madrid in theCopa del Rey Round of 32.[9]
On 2 December 2020, Cultural hiredIñigo Idiakez as Head Coach who came fromLuton Town inEFL Championship and previouslyLeicester City andDerby County.
On 24 May 2025, Cultural achieved promoted toSegunda División following draw 1-1 againstAndorra and thanks to a superior head-to-head record against runners-upPonferradina, returned after 7 years absence.
| Position | Name | ||||||||
| President | Mohd Khalifa Al Suwadi | ||||||||
| Vice-President | |||||||||
| Managing Director | Felipe Llamazares Díez | ||||||||
| Sports management | Ricardo Pozo Álvarez | ||||||||
| Director Delegate | Ignacio Álvarez Martínez | ||||||||
| Advisory Board | Antonio Martín Espina José Lasa Jassim Mohammed AA Al-Ansari | ||||||||
| Fundation culturalista | Manuel Carnero Diego Calzado | ||||||||
| Technical secretary | Santi Santos Juan Carlos Valiño (adjunto) César Villafañe (adjunto) | ||||||||
| Social area | Juan Luis Diez Mata |
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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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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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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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| Position | Name | ||||||||
| Head coach | Cuco Ziganda | ||||||||
| Assistant coach | Jorge Pérez | ||||||||
| Assistant coach | Julián Marín | ||||||||
| Doctor | Alfredo Álvarez | ||||||||
| Doctor | Marcos González | ||||||||
| Doctor | Salustiano López-Contreras | ||||||||
| Fitness coach | Roberto Lorenzo | ||||||||
| Physiotherapist, Head of medical services | Javier Madinabeitia | ||||||||
| Physiotherapist | Juan Mayo | ||||||||
| Physiotherapist | Jorge Martínez | ||||||||
| Delegate, Team manager | Luis Ballesteros | ||||||||
| Goalkeeper coach | Javier Pérez | ||||||||
| Rehab fitness coach | Alejandro Sierra | ||||||||
| Equipment manager | Carlos Gómez Carballo | ||||||||
| Equipment manager | Manuel Martínez Sela | ||||||||
| Analyst | Pedro Gómez | ||||||||
| Team delegate | Edu Álvarez |
Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.
Júpiter Leonés is thereserve team of the club.
Founded in 1929, later known as Cultural de León and finally changed to its current name Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa "B" Jupiter Leonés. After the 2009–10, the team was dissolved after Cultural was relegated to Tercera División due to its debts. In 2014, it was re-founded as the reserve team and after three promotions it currently plays inTercera División, the fourth tier, after gaining promotion in thePrimera División Regional de Aficionados 2017–18 season.
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