Elche

Elche CF.

Elche Club de Futbol was formed in 1923 during the summer following the fusion of all the football teams in the town. The first match of the club's history was played against Monovar which they defeated the home team by a score of 4-0 in its first match in its official history was a 2-0 victory against Crevillente. In its early years, Elche was, as did many teams at the time were all white in their uniform. The team had its inaugural league season in 1929-29 as part of the Tercera Division, achieving promotion to the Segunda Division in 1934. But, Elche suffered relegation for the first time in six years later, only to be returned to the league after the season.

In the latter half of 1950, Elche achieved two consecutive promotions from the third division up to La Liga, securing the club's first promotion to the second competition, with a 3-0 victory against Tenerife in the year 1959.

Elche started its first season at the top with a draw of 1-1 with Real Oviedo, the first goal achieved through Vicente Pahuet. Elche finished tenth of 16 teams with nine points more than Osasuna, which was relegated. Osasuna The season also saw the 2-1 victory at home against Barcelona however, they also suffered the loss of 2-11 to Real Madrid. The next season saw the club being involved in the play-off to determine promotion or relegation which saw them overcome losing 0-1 at home against Atletico Ceuta to win the victory at home, 4-0.

Elche have had their best league performance in the 1963-64 season and finished fifth in the league. In addition, Elche's reserve team, Elche Ilicitano, promote to Segunda Division.

In 1969, the club reached the first, and sole Copa del Rey final, with wins against Pontevedra, Valencia and Real Sociedad. The semi-final match against Real Sociedad was won by 2-0 after an extra match in neutral Madrid after the match ended 4-4 on average. The final, which took place on the 15th of June on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the same city, was an 0-1 defeat in the final to Athletic Bilbao.

After 12 seasons Elche were sent to Division Two in the year 1971 following a second place finish at the bottom. A year later, the team was reinstated in the main division, and were champions. The second time in the top division ran for five years, and was often being involved in relegation battles. the most successful season (1974-75) concluded with the team in the eighth place. At the end of 1977-78 , the team returned in the 2nd division, after finishing 17th of 18 teams, with the final game of which was the draw of 4-4 against Atletico Madrid, in which they at a 2-4 lead with only five minutes left.

After being relegated in 1978, Elche struggled. While they appeared to be an impressive team, they failed to earn an entry into the top league and, in the initial five years following their return to second division, they finished third three times and fifth on two occasions (and another two in the same position, even against the third-placed team with a lower goal differential) and often lost the chance to make it into the top flight in the final gameday. The most traumatic part was the conclusion of the season in 1980-81: only one game was left and Elche were in second place, two points clear by two points over Rayo Vallecano and Racing de Santander with only to draw with Cadiz during the Martinez Valero; the game ended in defeat and Elche was left with just 45 points, which was in line with Castellon, Cadiz, Racing and Rayo.

The promotion finally came towards the end of 1983-84, despite the fact that Elche was only fifth during the regular season. the first two spots were taken by Real Madrid Castilla and Athletic Bilbao B which were not able to promote as reserve teams. The entirety of the top division season was being in the bottom relegation area and consequently, relegation was 17th. In 1988, they were again promoted for a second appearance on the side, however they ended up finishing in the bottom of the pile with just 18 points. They fell into to a class along with Real Murcia, who they had a nine point lead over. their final match in this group was a 3-1 loss away in the final against Real Zaragoza, the goal was scored by Alfonso Fernandez.

Following the relegation of 1989 Elche began to struggle significantly in the financial department and was relegated to Segunda Division B - the third division that was created in 1977 - at close of the 1990-91. In the latter half of the 1990s , the club made it to the second division promotion playoffs but then fail to qualify.

In 1997, Elche eventually managed to get back to the second division and was immediately delegated but then gaining a promotion.

In the 2010-11 season, which was also within the "silver category" the team placed fourth, and qualified for play-offs: after defeating Real Valladolid in the first round (3-2 in aggregate) the hopes of promotion to the top flight came to an end at Granada in the rule of away goals.

On the 18th of May of 2013 after Barcelona B and Alcorcon's 1-1 draw, Elche was automatically promoted to the top division and was able to return back to competition following a period of 24 years. The team led by Fran Escriba broke a few Segunda Division records. They were the only team be able to dominate an entire competition, from very first to the final match of the season. They set an all-new record for both games won and points earned to date as well as the top first round ever in Segunda's championship.

In the 2013-14 season, the team managed to stay at the top of the field and had the average attendance for home matches of 25,104.

For the season 2014-15, the team was unable to stay at the very top of their league (the club was protected from relegation just four days prior to the season ended) Elche became the first team to be in history Spanish Primera Division to be sent to Segunda due to new rules set from the Spanish football league that prohibited excessive debt and mismanagement of the economy.

For the season 2016-17, Elche had to be relegated back third-level after having spent an 18-year stint in the professional league.

A year later, Elche promoted back to second level following a win over Villarreal B in the final play-off to be promoted to second level.

For the season 2018-19, Elche finished right in the middle, in the 11th spot among 22 teams.

In the season of 2019-20, Elche were promoted to La Liga by beating Girona in the final of promotion play-offs 1-1 on the aggregate. Elche were promoted into La Liga after five years in the third and second divisions.

As per detail below.

• Elche Football Club As Elche Football Club

Season	Tier	Division	Place	Copa del Rey
1929-30	3	3ª	2nd	Did Not Play
1931-32	3	3ª	5th	DNP
1932-33	3	3ª	2nd	DNP
1933-34	3	3ª	2nd	DNP
1934-35	2	2ª	4th	Sixth round
1935-36	2	2ª	8th	First round
1939-40	2	2ª	7th	DNP

• As Elche Club de Futbol

Season	Tier	Division	Place	Copa del Rey
1940-41	3	3ª	1st	Second round
1941-42	2	2ª	6th	First round
1942-43	2	2ª	6th	DNP
1943-44	3	3ª	1st	DNP
1944-45	3	3ª	1st	DNP
1945-46	3	3ª	2nd	DNP
1946-47	3	3ª	2nd	DNP
1947-48	3	3ª	1st	Third round
1948-49	3	3ª	2nd	Second round
1949-50	2	2ª	14th	First round
1950-51	3	3ª	6th	DNP
1951-52	3	3ª	13th	DNP
1952-53	3	3ª	16th	DNP
1953-54	3	3ª	3rd	DNP
1954-55	3	3ª	1st	DNP
1955-56	3	3ª	3rd	DNP
1956-57	3	3ª	1st	DNP
1957-58	3	3ª	1st	DNP
1958-59	2	2ª	1st	Round of 32
1959-60	1	1ª	10th	Semi-finals
1960-61	1	1ª	14th	Round of 32
1961-62	1	1ª	8th	Round of 16
1962-63	1	1ª	8th	Round of 16
1963-64	1	1ª	5th	Round of 32
1964-65	1	1ª	8th	Round of 32
1965-66	1	1ª	6th	Quarter-finals
1966-67	1	1ª	9th	Semi-finals
1967-68	1	1ª	11th	Quarter-finals
1968-69	1	1ª	9th	Runner-up
1969-70	1	1ª	11th	Round of 32
1970-71	1	1ª	15th	Round of 16
1971-72	2	2ª	4th	Fourth round
1972-73	2	2ª	2nd	Fourth round
1973-74	1	1ª	14th	Round of 32
1974-75	1	1ª	8th	Fourth round
1975-76	1	1ª	15th	Round of 32
1976-77	1	1ª	11th	Round of 16
1977-78	1	1ª	17th	Third round
1978-79	2	2ª	5th	Round of 16
1979-80	2	2ª	4th	Fifth round
1980-81	2	2ª	4th	Third round
1981-82	2	2ª	4th	Round of 16
1982-83	2	2ª	7th	Third round
1983-84	2	2ª	5th	Second round
1984-85	1	1ª	17th	Second round
1985-86	2	2ª	4th	Second round
1986-87	2	2ª	4th	First round
1987-88	2	2ª	2nd	Round of 32
1988-89	1	1ª	20th	Round of 32
1989-90	2	2ª	14th	Second round
1990-91	2	2ª	17th	Round of 16
1991-92	3	2ª B	4th	Second round
1992-93	3	2ª B	3rd	Second round
1993-94	3	2ª B	12th	Fourth round
1994-95	3	2ª B	6th	First round
1995-96	3	2ª B	3rd	First round
1996-97	3	2ª B	2nd	First round
1997-98	2	2ª	19th	Second round
1998-99	3	2ª B	3rd	Second round
1999-2000	2	2ª	15th	Prelim. round
2000-01	2	2ª	18th	Round of 64
2001-02	2	2ª	5th	Round of 64
2002-03	2	2ª	16th	Round of 64
2003-04	2	2ª	14th	Round of 64
2004-05	2	2ª	10th	Round of 16
2005-06	2	2ª	14th	First round
2006-07	2	2ª	10th	Third round
2007-08	2	2ª	10th	Round of 32
2008-09	2	2ª	12th	Round of 32
2009-10	2	2ª	6th	Second round
2010-11	2	2ª	4th	Third round
2011-12	2	2ª	11th	Third round
2012-13	2	2ª	1st	Second round
2013-14	1	1ª	16th	Round of 32
2014-15	1	1ª	13th	Round of 16
2015-16	2	2ª	11th	Second round
2016-17	2	2ª	21st	Third round
2017-18	3	2ª B	3rd	Round of 32
2018-19	2	2ª	11th	Third round
2019-20	2	2ª	6th	Round of 32
2020-21	1	1ª	17th	Round of 32
2021-22	1	1ª	13th	Round of 16
2022-23	1	1ª

 

At the time of 1 September 2022.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ARG Axel Werner 3 DF  CHI Enzo Roco 4 DF  ESP Diego González 5 DF  ESP Gonzalo Verdú (captain) 6 DF  ESP Pedro Bigas 7 MF  ARG Javier Pastore 8 MF  ESP Raúl Guti 9 FW  ARG Lucas Boyé 10 FW  ESP Pere Milla 11 MF  ESP Tete Morente 12 MF  POR Domingos Quina (on loan from Watford) 13 GK  ESP Édgar Badía 14 DF  COL Helibelton Palacios 15 MF  ESP Álex Collado (on loan from Barcelona) 16 MF  ESP Fidel 17 MF  ESP Josan 18 FW  ESP Roger Martí 19 FW  ARG Ezequiel Ponce 20 MF  ESP Gerard Gumbau 21 MF  ESP Omar Mascarell 23 DF  ESP Carlos Clerc 24 DF  ESP Pol Lirola (on loan from Marseille) 26 DF  ESP John Nwankwo — DF  ARG Federico Fernández — DF  ARG Nicolás Fernández Mercau

• Last updated: November 2021

Position	Staff
Head coach	Francisco
Assistant coach	Jaime Ramos
Goalkeeping coach	Miguel Escalona
Fitness coach	Fidel Agulló
Fitness coach	Sergio Pardo
Fitness coach	Miguel Villagrasa
Analyst	José Manuel Rodríguez Ortega

Segunda División

• Winners: 1958–59, 2012–13

Copa del Rey

• Runners-up: 1969

Elche's reserves team, Elche Ilicitano Elche Ilicitano, formed in 1932. It played 2 seasons playing in second division in the time that the main team was playing in the top division.