Granada CF

Granada Club de Fútbol.

Granada Club de Futbol was established on April 6, 1931. It began under the name Recreativo de Granada; the first president was Julio Lopez Fernandez. He was the one whom registered the Club on the Registry of Associations in the Civil Government and presented the first Board of Directors.

The first football game was played against Deportivo Jaen on 6 December 1931. The result was the team winning 2-1. The first goal scored in the game, and later in the history of the club occurred by Antonio Bombillar. The first home game took place against U.D. Andujar two weeks later. Granada took the lead with a 1-0. It took place at Campo de Las Tablas stadium. In 1931-32, the club was placed second on the Tercera Regional - Region Sur championship. Four wins over six games made Granada get promoted into the Segunda Regional. The club began the season with a brand new division and the new president, Gabriel Morcillo Raya. The 1932-33 season was when the club recorded the biggest victory in its history. 11-0 over Xerez on April 23, 1933.

After numerous promotions, in 1941-42, the club made the La Liga first appearance. The match was with the Celta on September 28, 1941. The game ended in 1-1 draw. It was the first Granada goals in the top Spanish Division is scored by Cesar Rodriguez Alvarez. In that time, Granada experienced some notable home victories, such as 8-0 over Real Oviedo and 6-0 against Barcelona. Granada ended the season in the top 10 out of 14 teams.

From 1942 until the early 1980s The club was in its top division and Segunda Division, with its glorious period occurring in the latter half of the 1960s and 70s, when the Andalusian club played eight straight top flight seasons in 1968-69 and 1975-76. They also reached it to the Copa del Rey semi and quarter-finals four times. The seasons also featured highest-ever sixth league finish in the seasons of 1971-72 and 1973-74. Granada completed the season in 1971-72 with nine wins in its final 10 home games including powerhouses Barcelona as well as Real Madrid being among those victories.

In 1959, Granada was able to achieve its biggest milestone as they finished second in the Copa del Generalisimo (later Copa del Rey). In the final, held on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the team was defeated by Barcelona 4-1. The only goal scored by Granada came from Argentinian player Ramon Carranza.

Through the 80s Granada made brief visits to the Second Division. In 1983-84, they placed 8th out of twenty teams of the Segunda Division, just 10 points from champions, of the Real Madrid Castilla and the second-placed team, in the Bilbao Athletic. From 1984 to 1985, Granada finished 18th and were dropped to Segunda Division B; in the same year the team was eliminated by the fourth-tier club Estepona during the 2nd round in the second round of the Copa del Rey. While the club was relegated into in the Segunda Division after two years in 1987-88, it was again relegated that following season, after finishing 19th.

Granada was a part of the next season within the Segunda Division B, and were moved to the fourth division in 2002-2003 due to their inability to pay its players during the administration under the presidency of Francisco Jimena. After four years playing in the 4th division the former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz together with his son Paco came to the club. Thanks to their assistance the Andalusian team was moved to the third division however, it was in serious financial troubles. In the 2005-06 campaign, Granada took the title in the group 9 in the Tercera Division and qualified for the playoffs in the promotion play-offs. the first opponent was Linense. Following the two games ending in draws of 1-1, Granada won in the penalty shootout. They then faced Guadalajara with a 3-1 win in aggregate, which earned them the opportunity to move to the third division.

The 2006/07 season, Granada played in Group IV of the third division following having played for four years in the Tercera. Its president Paco Sanz, with the overwhelming support of the fans was able to continue to steer the team with the goal of bringing the team into the top division. However, there was no time since the promotion led to rash decisions. As of the month of July in 2009, the team was facing financial difficulties that it was in danger of being dissolved. The solution was to sign an agreement for partnership that was signed between Granada as well as Udinese Calcio, with the Spaniards including a lot of players who were contracted with the Italian club, as and also receiving Udinese Calcio's reserves and youth players as part of the deal. The end of the season Granada was crowned champions of its group, and was then promoted winning against Alcorcon at the Play-offs. being promoted back to second place after 22 years.

In the 2010-11 season, Granada finished in fifth position, with the bulk of their players who were loaned to Udinese remain on the team. On June 18, 2011, the club became the first team to win from the promotions play-offs an alternative system was in use between 1985 and 1999 after a series of victories over Celta of Vigo (1-1 penalty shootout) and Elche (1-1 in aggregate rules for away goal) and regaining the top division following 35 years of absence.

In June of 2016, Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang was appointed The new club's owner. He bought the Pozzo family's stake in the club. After being in the top league for six seasons, the club was dropped in 2016-17 after losing to Real Sociedad.

Under the new management of Diego Martinez, Granada returned to the top of the league with a finish of runners-up CA Osasuna in the 2018-19 Segunda Division. In the next season, the team was seventh in the highest flight, securing the right to participate in the UEFA Europa League, the first time the club has qualified at an European competition. They also made it to the Copa del Rey semi-finals for the first time in fifty years, and narrowly lost in the semi-finals to Athletic Bilbao on away goals following a draw of 2-2. They advanced to the quarterfinals in Europe but were eliminated in the final by Manchester United. The 22nd May of 2022 was the date the team was eliminated following the draw with Espanyol.

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

As per detail below.

• Segunda División (3): 1940–41, 1956–57, 1967–68
• Segunda División B (3): 1982–83, 1999–00, 2009–10
• Tercera División (3): 1933–34, 2003–04, 2005–06
• Copa del Rey Runners-up: 1958–59

• Andalucia Cup: 1932–33
• Andalucia Championship reservations: 1971–72

• Antonio Puerta Trophy: 2010

Pichichi Trophy

• La Liga: Enrique Porta (1971–72)
• Segunda División: Miguel (1964–65), Rafa (1955–56)

The Eastern Andalusia Derby is played between Granada and Malaga.

Stats have been updated to derby #86 which was played on January 17, 2021 (Copa del Rey the last 16)

The team was established in 1931. team played games at home in the Campo de Las Tablas, opened on December 20, 1931. On the day, Granada CF won the match against the U.D. Andujar by 1-0 at the Tercera Regional. The time Granada spent at this stadium was brief and on the 23rd of December 1934, the brand new city stadium called Estadio Los Carmenes, was inaugurated. The club played in the stadium until 1995, when they relocated to the Nuevo Los Carmenes Stadium (also managed by the Ayuntamiento of Granada). The stadium opened on May 16, 1995 featuring a friendly game with Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen and Bayer Leverkusen. Granada CF played for the first time during the Summer of 1995. They played in a friendly match with Real Betis. The stadium had an initial capacity of 16212 seats. The capacity was increased to 22,524 seats following Granada FC's advancement into La Liga in the summer of 2011.

After being promoted into the First Division in 2019, the stadium was revamped, with the replacing of the playing surfaces along with the painting and repair of seats and the addition of seats in white to create"Granada Cf, "Granada Cf" adjacent to the main stand "1931" in the South Stand, the expansion of the club's official store (now situated at an area where previously the former ticket office was) and, finally, an upgrade of the light system to meet the requirements of LaLiga. Additionally, the Club is currently working in conjunction with the Granada council to sign a contract to secure a long-term lease that will see various investments, including the reconstruction of the stadium's corners (which had previously been dismantled) in addition to establishing entertainment and shopping zones, or the expansion and re-furbishment of advertising and sponsor areas.

At the time of its founding in the year 2000, the club's uniform was consisting of a blue shirt with white vertical stripes, and white shorts. Following the Spanish Civil War the club owners travelled to Madrid to purchase new shirts but couldn't locate anything any other than white and red stripes on their shirt. It was the official colour scheme in the following years.

The club in the 70s switched its vertical strip pattern to horizontal stripes. The club changed between vertical and horizontal strip patterns until the year 2004-2005, the time when a group of members chose to stick with the horizontal strip pattern.