UD Almería

Almería

Full name	Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Rojiblancos, La Unión, Almeriensistas, UDA, Indálicos
Founded	1989 (1989)
Ground	Juegos Mediterráneos, Almería, Andalusia, Spain
Ground Capacity	21,350
Chairman	Alfonso García
Manager	Fernando Soriano
League	Segunda División
2015–16	Segunda División, 18th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

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.

In 2010–11, Almería reached the semifinals of the Copa del Rey for the first time ever. In the league, however, the club was finally relegated after a four-year spell in the top flight; in November 2010, coach Juan Manuel Lillo was fired after a 0–8 home loss against FC Barcelona (precisely the team that ousted the Andalusians in the domestic cup's last-four, with the same score, but on aggregate), and his successor José Luis Oltra met the same fate, in April 2011.

After two seasons in the second level, Almería returned to the main category of Spanish football on 22 June 2013, after defeating Girona FC in the play-offs. After the departure of manager Javi Gracia, the club appointed their former player and manager of the reserves at the time Francisco; the team eventually managed to survive in 2013–14, finishing 16th.

Francisco was sacked in December 2014, after only managing two points out of 24, and was later replaced by Juan Ignacio Martínez. "JIM" also only lasted until April of the following year, and even with new manager Sergi Barjuán, the club was relegated after finishing 19th.

Season to season

• 6 seasons in La Liga
• 11 seasons in Segunda División
• 6 seasons in Segunda División B
• 2 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Current squad

As of 31 August 2016^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Julián Cuesta 2 DF Isidoro 3 DF Fran Vélez 4 DF Ximo Navarro 5 DF Alex Quintanilla 6 MF Pape Maly Diamanka 7 MF Iago Díaz 8 MF Ramon Azeez 9 FW Quique González 10 FW José Ángel Pozo 11 DF Sebastián Dubarbier 12 FW Chuli

No. Position Player 13 GK Casto 14 DF Ángel Trujillo 15 MF Corona (Captain) 16 MF Fidel 17 FW Antonio Puertas 18 FW Juanjo Expósito 19 MF Jonathan Zongo 20 MF José Ángel 21 DF Nano 22 MF Iván Sánchez 23 DF Jorge Morcillo

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — DF Antonio Marín (at Granada B until 30 June 2017) — MF Kiu (at Melilla until 30 June 2017) — MF Carlos Selfa (at Linense until 30 June 2017)

No. Position Player — FW Hicham Khaloua (at Celta B until 30 June 2017) — FW Miguel Guirao (at Cartagena until 30 June 2017)

Notable players

Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.

Uniform

Almería's uniform in the 2011–12 season.

¹ The shirt contained messages such as Isla del Fraile or Corredor de Vida.

See also

• UD Almería B – Almería's B team
• AD Almería
• List of managers
• List of statistics

References

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Futbolme team profile (Spanish)
• BDFutbol team profile