 | ||||
| Full name | Sociedad Deportiva Eibar, S.A.D. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Armagiñak / Los Armeros (The Gunsmiths) Azulgranas (blue-and-carmines)[1] | |||
| Short name | EIB | |||
| Founded | 30 November 1940; 84 years ago (1940-11-30) asEibar Football Club | |||
| Ground | Estadio Municipal de Ipurúa | |||
| Capacity | 8,164[2] | |||
| President | Amaia Gorostiza[3] | |||
| Head coach | Beñat San José | |||
| League | Segunda División | |||
| 2024–25 | Segunda División, 9th of 22 | |||
| Website | sdeibar.com | |||
 Current season | ||||
Sociedad Deportiva Eibar, S.A.D. (inBasque:Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is aSpanish professional football club based inEibar,Gipuzkoa, in the autonomousBasque Country.
Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s team currently plays in theSegunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, having been relegated fromLa Liga at the end of the2020–21 season. The club played in the top tier of Spanish football for seven consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2021, and participated in 26 Segunda División seasons (a spell in the 1950s, and most of the 1990s and 2000s), spending the rest of their history competing at lower levels.
The team plays in claret and blue shirts with blue shorts (originating from the kit ofFC Barcelona)[4] and holds home games at theIpurua Municipal Stadium. SD Eibar is a fan-owned club, with about 8,000 shareholders from 48 countries.[5] UntilSD Huesca qualified for the top flight in 2018, the club was considered the smallest to have played in Spain's top division,[6][7] and its stadium had the lowest capacity of any La Liga teams.[8][9] Although Eibar is the sole professional club of its town, it contests severalBasque derbies with other clubs from the region.[3]
Eibar is the only football club which has the quality certificateUNE-EN-ISO 9001.[10]
Formed by themerger ofDeportivo Gallo andUnión Deportiva Eibarresa, the club was originally known asEibar Fútbol Club, before changing toSociedad Deportiva Eibar. During the difficult postwar years, the team played sporadically, which caused Eibar to disappear from official competitions during the 1942–43 season.[11] Originally an irregular team, it was not until the 1943–44 season that it was reorganised into more of a full-time unit.[citation needed]
Promoted toTercera División in 1950, Eibar achieved promotion toSegunda División three seasons later,being relegated again after a five-year stint and competing in division three for 25 of the following 28 years (in 1977Tercera became the fourth level, after the creation ofSegunda División B). In1988, the side returned to the "silver category".[12] That season also included a historic moment when goalkeeperJosé Ignacio Garmendia scored a goal in a game againstPontevedra via a kickout from his own area.[13]
After spending 18 years in a row in Segunda División, Eibar was relegated to the third division at the end of the2005–06 campaign. However, it won its groupthe next season, thereby qualifying for thepromotion play-offs where it won its semi-final tie againstHospitalet 2–0 and defeatedRayo Vallecano 2–1 on aggregate in the decisive round, sealing its return after just one year.[14] Eibar finished 21st in the 2008–09 season meaning they were relegated to the Segunda Division B.
Eibar qualified for three straight promotion play-offs but could not get promoted to the Segunda División.
In the2012–13 edition of theCopa del Rey, Eibar oustedBasque neighboursAthletic Bilbao – who had appeared in two of the last four finals in the tournament – on theaway goals rule to reach theround-of-16 following a 1–1 draw at theSan Mamés Stadium. The decisive goal was scored byMikel Arruabarrena who played youth football with the opposition, as did managerGaizka Garitano;[15]the same season the team managed to return to the "silver category", following a four-year absence.[16]
In2013–14 Eibar earned, for the first time in its history, one of two direct promotion berths toLa Liga,[17] which was certified on 25 May 2014 with a 1–0 home win againstDeportivo Alavés.[18] (they celebrated their feat with confetti originally produced by Barcelona, who wear the same colours and had anticipated winning theSpanish league title a week earlier, but that did not come to pass).[19] Simultaneously, however, the club was threatened with relegation back to division three due to the financial inability of theS.A.D. to have ashare capital of at least €2,146,525.95 before 6 August 2014. The club launched a campaign namedDefiende al Eibar (Defend Eibar) with the aim of reaching the required share capital through aseasoned equity offering.[20] On 15 July 2014 the club announced it had reached the established goal.[21][5]
Eibar finished its first top-flight season in 18th, ending in relegation. However, after the season ended, 13th-placedElche were sent to the second tier as punishment for financial mismanagement, and Eibar were reinstated.[22]
On 18 July 2015, Eibar played its 75th-anniversary game againstCeltic inIpurua (1–4). This included an inaugural ceremony on the pitch with a parade of 19th-century-clothed Basque soldiers with aSaltire and bagpipes playing "Scotland the Brave", with officials from both clubs shooting a 350kg19th-century cannon. Eibar stated that they invited Celtic as their opponent for the game due to the strong connection between theBasque Country andScotland, and also due to the Scottish presence in Eibar through the years (the main supporter group is named "Eskozia la Brava", meaning "Scotland the Brave").[23][24]
Under its new coachJosé Luis Mendilibar, Eibar finished itssecond top-flight season in 14th.Borja Bastón finished top ten in scoring and was namedLa Liga Player of the Month of October 2015, making him the firstArmero to receive the award. In April 2017,Dani García became the first player to reach the milestone of 100 top division appearances for the club.[25]
The club's 10th place in2016–17 was improved to 9th thefollowing season, with the latter campaign marking the first time ever that Eibar had finished as the highest-ranking of the Basque teams.[3]
On 16 May 2021, Eibar was relegated after a defeat toValencia. This ended their seven-year stay in the top tier. The following season in Segunda, Eibar was in the top two of the league for the majority of the season, however, the team had to eventually settle for third place. In the playoffs, Eibar lost toGirona, and failed to make an immediate return to La Liga.
In 2015, the club signed a collaboration agreement withCD Vitoria (Tercera División) to act as an Eibarfeeder team for emerging players.[26][1] Eibar had previously disbanded their ownB team in 2012 to cut costs while the senior side languished inSegunda División B but decided to seek a new formal arrangement for a subsidiary club after retaining their place inLa Liga.[27] Within two years of the partnership, Vitoria gained promotion to the third tier for the first time in their history;[28] they were relegated in2018–19[29] and their home matches back in the Tercera División were then moved to Eibar.[30]
On 26 July 2024, Eibar announced that the affiliation agreement between the club and Vitoria had ended, with the team which achieved promotion toSegunda Federación being fully integrated into Eibar's structure (under Eibar B) and with Vitoria starting a new project under their new board.[31]
In summer 2016, the club expanded its club structure further by integrating local teamUrkomendi (of the 6th levelPreferente de Guipúzcoa)[32] into the organisation as areserve team to act as a link between theyouth level and Vitoria, to be known asEibar Urko.[33][34]
Playing in the town'sUnbe Sports Complex, Eibar Urko gained promotion to the provincial fifth level in 2018,[35][36] but were blocked from a further promotion after Vitoria were relegated to the same due to rules preventing teams owned by the same club competing in the same division.[29] This also meant Urko could not be promoted in the 2019–20, 2020–21 or 2022–23 seasons either, as Vitoria failed to achieve the same goal.[37][38][39] Both teams were promoted directly as group winners in their respective divisions in 2023–24.[40]
Also in 2016, Eibar made a 3-year collaboration agreement withUD Logroñés, with Eibar players going on loan to the Segunda B club for experience with the aim of achieving promotion due to the additional talent in the squad.[41] Four players made the move that summer: goalkeeperJon Ander, defender Amelibia, midfielder Sergio García and winger Thaylor.
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*Avoided relegation to the second tier after the 2014–15 season due toElche's administrative relegation because of tax problems.[22]
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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Eibar's home stadium isEstadio Municipal de Ipurua, which seats 8,164 spectators.
Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games, have reached international status, or both.
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Beñat San José |
| Assistant head coach | Iban Fagoaga |
| Goalkeeping coach | Jon Zabala |
| Fitness coach |  Gastón Lloveras |
| Analyst | Andoni Azkargorta |
| Physiotherapist | Manu Sánchez Joseba Perosanz |
| Doctor | John Sebastián Ferrer |
| Rehab fitness coach | Mikel Calvo |
| Chief of medical services | Honorio Martínez |
| Equipment manager | Ibai Díez |
| Field delegate | Germán Andueza |
| Team delegate | Iosu Echevarria |
Last updated: 16 August 2025
Source:SD Eibar(in Spanish)
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Amaia Gorostiza[3] |
| Vice president | Joseba Unamuno |
| Secretary | Jon Ander Ulazia |
| Directors | Virginia Arakistain |
| Leire Barriuso | |
| J. A. Fernández | |
| Javier Gurrutxaga | |
| Agustín Lahidalga | |
| Antón Martinena | |
| Alex Martínez | |
| Javier Sarrionandia |
Last updated: 9 April 2019
Source:SD Eibar
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| 1940–46 | Juan Artamendi |
| 1946–48 | Bernardino Odriozola |
| 1948–49 | Crispin Garate |
| 1949–57 | Manolo Escodin |
| 1957–58 | Boni Guisasola |
| 1958–59 | Tomas Echaluce |
| 1959–61 | Manolo Zubia |
| 1961–62 | Pedro Irusta |
| 1962–65 | Luis María Fernández de Betoño |
| 1965–67 | Luis María Aranegui |
| 1967–68 | Roberto Cadenas |
| 1968–74 | José González Ortiz de Zárate |
| 1974–77 | Eusebio Oyarzun |
| 1977–84 | Paco Marquiegui |
| 1984–88 | Javier Arrieta |
| 1988–2002 | Juan Luis Mardaras |
| 2002–09 | Jaime Barriuso |
| 2009–16 | Alex Aranzábal |
| 2016– | Amaia Gorostiza[3] |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
