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| Full name | Unió Esportiva Lleida | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Els Blaus (The Blues) Els de la Terra Ferma (Firmlanders) | ||
| Founded | 1939 (as Lérida Balompié-AEM) 1947 (as Unión Deportiva Lérida) | ||
| Dissolved | 10 May 2011 | ||
| Ground | Camp d´Esports,Lleida, Catalonia,Spain | ||
| Capacity | 13,500 | ||
Unió Esportiva Lleida was aSpanish football team based inLleida, in the autonomous community ofCatalonia. It was founded asLérida Balompié-AEM on 30 October 1939, and becameUnión Deportiva Lérida in 1947, after a merger withCD Leridano. It held home matches atCamp d´Esports, with a 13,500-seat capacity. It was dissolved in 2011 due to debts of €28 million, then acquired by a local entrepreneur and renamedLleida Esportiu.
Lleida adopted theCatalan version of its name in 1978. The club spent most of its history in the lower divisions, but in the early 1950s and early 1990s, the club won promotion toLa Liga.
During the 1990s the club was managed byMané,Juande Ramos andVíctor Muñoz, all of whom subsequently became successful managers with other clubs. From 1987 the club organised its own summer trophy, theCiutat de Lleida Trophy.
Football was first introduced toLleida in 1910 by Manuel Azoz, aBarcelona business man. Among the earliest clubs in the city wereMontserrat, founded in 1913 byMarist Brothers, andFC Lleida founded in 1914. Both played their early games in the district of Pla d’en Gardeny. In 1915, theAssociació Cultural Lleidatana was founded byCatalan nationalists.
By 1917 two other clubs,Club Colonial andAthlètic Metalúrgic, began playing at the Camp de Mart. In 1918FC Joventut was formed byleft-wing Catalan republicans and during the 1920s they emerged as the city's strongest side.
In 1919, Lleida became the first club to use theCamp d´Esports, but this team was dissolved in 1927. Other clubs of the 1920s includedAE Lleida Calaveres,Lleida Sport Club andAEM Lleida, all of which disappeared during the 1930s.
After theSpanish Civil War, former members ofAE Lleida Calaveres,Lleida Sport Club andAEM Lleida formedLérida Balompié-AEM. After playing in regional leagues for four seasons they made their debut in thefourth division in 1943. The following year, the club split into two clubs,Lérida Balompié andAEM.
Meanwhile, in 1941 Spanish nationalists formedCD Leridano, and a local rivalry developed between that club andLérida Balompié. On March 9, 1947, these two sides merged to becomeUnión Deportiva Lérida. The new team retained both the blue and white colours and club shield ofLérida Balompié, the first president of the new club being Eduard Estadella.
UD Lérida enjoyed a golden age in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when they progressed from the third to thefirst division in just three seasons. In 1949, they won the third-tier and, the following season, 1949–50, they made their debut inSegunda División.[citation needed]
In the 1949–50 season the club achieved their biggest league victory in their history with a 9–2 win againstCD Lugo, along with finishing second in the league achieving promotion to the topflight for the first time ever. However, duringits debut season, it was heavily defeated on several occasions: 9–0 toCD Málaga, 10–1 toDeportivo de La Coruña and 10–0 toAthletic Bilbao, being ultimately relegated back. Lleida's first eleven in the first division was: Rivero, Rigau, Telechea, Carrillo, Esquerda, Roca, Gausí, Pellicer, Ramón, Bidegain and Fustero.[citation needed]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lleida enjoyed a second solid moment, under coachMané. He joined the club in 1988 and took it fromSegunda División B toLa Liga.
1993–94 was the second topflight experience for the club; in spite of a 1–0 win over theFC BarcelonaDream Team at theCamp Nou, and another againstReal Madrid, 2–1 at home, Lleida only won seven times altogether and was relegated once again.
The1994–95 season saw the club finish third in the second division, with a subsequent promotion play-off defeat againstSporting de Gijón. In 2001, the team returned to level three and, in2004–05 andthe following campaign, played again in the second division. From 1996 and during an entire decade (with some interruptions), legendary playerMiguel Ángel Rubio served as its manager.
On 10 May 2011, Lleida was placed in a liquidation auction due to a€28 million debt.[1] On 12 July, the team's seat was acquired by local entrepreneur Sisco Pujol,[2] with the new club being namedLleida Esportiu.
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| Season | Top scorer | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 |  Asier Eizaguirre | 10 |
| 2010–11 | Rubén Rayos | 19 |
| 2009–10 | Marc Sellarés | 12 |
| 2008–09 | Mikel Álvaro | 13 |
| 2007–08 | Keko | 7 |
| Fernando Esparza | 7 | |
| Luismi Gracia | 7 | |
| 2006–07 | Luis Tevenet | 14 |
| 2005–06 |  Mate Bilić | 18 |
| 2004–05 | Nakor Bueno | 13 |
| 2003–04 | Nakor Bueno | 16 |
| 2002–03 | Nano | 15 |
| 2001/02 | Raúl Caballero | 11 |
| 2000–01 |  Renaldo | 8 |
| 1999–00 | Josemi | 15 |
| 1998–99 | Josemi | 12 |
| 1997–98 | Óscar Arias | 8 |
| Vicente Fernández | 8 | |
| 1996–97 | Estefan Juliá | 8 |
| 1995–96 | Paco Salillas | 10 |
| 1994–95 | Paco Salillas | 18 |
| 1993–94 |  Nikola Milinković | 6 |
| 1992–93 | Xabi Gracia | 13 |
| 1991–92 | José Emilio Amavisca | 14 |
| 1990–91 |  James Cantero | 17 |
| 1989–90 | Mariano Azcona | 26 |
| 1988–89 | Mariano Azcona | 6 |
| Álvaro Sánchez Pose | 6 | |
| 1987–88 | Mariano Azcona | 13 |
| 1986–87 | Mariano Azcona | 16 |
| Ignacio Alcelay | 16 | |
| 1985–86 | Mariano Azcona | 9 |
| 1984–85 | José María Serna | 17 |
| 1983–84 | José García Juárez | 10 |
| 1982–83 | Javier Lozano | 13 |
| 1981–82 | Ramón Clotet | 15 |
| 1980–81 | Luis Alonso | 21 |
| 1950–51 | Ignacio Bidegain | 8 |
La Liga appearances
Mauro Ravnic: 37Urbano Ortega: 36
Virgilio Hernández: 35Miguel Ángel Rubio: 35Jaime Quesada: 34Txema Alonso: 34Gonzalo Arguiñano: 32Guillermo Ramón: 28
Sebastián Herrera: 27Nikola Milinković: 26La Liga goals
Ignacio Bidegain: 8Luis Pellicer: 7Nikola Milinković: 6Juan Manuel Martínez: 5Guillermo Ramón: 5Francisco Nogués: 4Virgilio Hernández: 4Only international players orUEFA Champions League winners. Flags represent national teams player appeared for.
Tito VilanovaJosé Emilio Amavisca (1991–92)Estanislao Basora (1955–56)Carles Busquets (1999–2002)Canito (1975–76)Enric Gensana (1954–56)Marià Gonzalvo (1955–56)Tomás Hernández (1955–56)Eladio Silvestre (1960–61)Raúl Tamudo (1999)Unai Vergara (2005–07)
Ali Benhalima (1990–93)Renaldo (2000–01)Mate Bilić (2005–06)Søren Andersen (1993–94)
Goran Stanić (1998–2000)
Michael Emenalo (1997–98)
Carlos González (2000–01) Melanio Olmedo (1956–57)
Ilija Stolica (1998–00)
Dmitri Kuznetsov (1994–95)Julio Rodríguez (1995–98)Gustavo Matosas (1993–94)
Manny Lagos (1991–92)
Miguel Mea Vitali (2000–01)
Boban Babunski (1994–96)Jovan Stanković (2004–05)Mauro Ravnić (1992–94)Mané (1988–95)Víctor Muñoz (1999–2000)Juan José Nogués (1954–55)Juande Ramos (1997–98)Manuel Ruiz Sosa (1971–72)Marcel Domingo (1962–63)
Nicolae Simatoc (1959–60) Sebastià Tàpies: 1939–40 Joan Porta: 1941–47 Eduard Estadella: 1947–51 Llorenç Agustí: 1951–54 Josep Servat: 1954–57 Antoni Rocafort: 1957 Laureà Torres: 1957–60 Antoni Teixidó: 1960–62 Ramon Vilaltella: 1962–67 Josep Jové: 1967–68 Pere Roig: 1968–69 Manel Rosell: 1969–70 Miquel Martínez: 1970–72 Josep Montañola: 1972–74 Lluís Nadal: 1974–77 Josep Esteve: 1977–79 Joan Planes: 1979–82Antoni Gausí: 1982–86 Màrius Durán: 1986–96 Josep Lluís González: 1996–97 Màrius Durán: 1997–98Antoni Gausí: 1998–2002 Miquel Pons: 2002–06 Xavier Massana: 2006–07 Ignasi Rivadulla: 2007–10 Anabel Junyent: 2010–11
41°37′17″N0°36′51″E / 41.621386°N 0.614033°E /41.621386; 0.614033
