Real Betis

"Betis," the club's name "Betis" originates from Baetis The Roman name of the Guadalquivir river, which flows through Seville and is the one that is the Roman province of Seville was named in honor of. Real ('Royal') was added in 1914 when the club was granted patronage by The King Alfonso XIII.

Betis City adversaries Sevilla FC were the first team in Sevilla that was founded in the month of October 1905. Meanwhile, a other club called Espana Balompie was founded on September 19, 1907. " Balompie" literally means "football" and is in contrast to the more popular alternative, " futbol". Balompie was started by students of their local Polytechnic Academy, and were operating for just one year prior to being recognized (in 1909) as Sevilla Balompie; However, 1907 remains the official date for the founding of the club.

After an internal division from Sevilla FC, another club was established, Betis Football Club. They formed the Betis Football Club in 1914. joined into Sevilla Balompie. The club was granted royal patronage the following year, and thus adopted their brand name Real Betis Balompie. The fans continued to refer to this club under the name Balompie as well as being referred to under the name the Los Balompedistas up until 1930 in the 1930s, in which Betis as well as the word Beticos were the most the norm when talking about the club and its supporters.

Real Betis originally played in blue and white shorts for reasons other aside from the ease of access to the plain colors. But one of the founders and captain, Manuel Ramos Asensio, was keen to take advantage of his relationships made while studying in Scotland, contacted Celtic (whose the green and white colours were akin to the colors of the Andalusian local flag) and used the same fabric to create kits for his club. Ramos was able to change the lines from horizontal "hoops' to vertical stripes in order to create these kits (no any other Spanish club was using the mixture at that time). There's not a mention about Celtic and Scotland within the story of Betis on their official website, however in 2017, the club acknowledged the connection by releasing the special hooped kit that was designed to mark Andalusia Day. Blue is frequently employed in away kit designs.

In the Spanish Second Republic (1931-1939) The patronage by the royal family of all organizations was abolished and the club was named Betis Balompie until the time of the Spanish Civil War which was when it was reverted to its full name. The club made it to its Copa del Presidente de la Republica final for the first time on the 21st of June 1931, but was defeated 3-1 by Athletic Bilbao in Madrid.[8] Betis celebrated the 25th anniversary of their club by claiming its initial Segunda Division title in 1932 with a score of two points clear of Oviedo FC. Thus, being the very first team from Andalusia to be a part of La Liga.

Under the direction by Irish Coach Patrick O'Connell on the 28th of April, 1935 Betis took home their first title in the La Liga, to the present day their sole highest division title. They topped the table by a single point over Madrid FC. The following year, Betis was relegated to seventh. The reason for this was the demise of the team that won the championship due to the club's dire economic condition and the outbreak in the Civil War, meaning that within 15 months of having won the title of league champions,, only two players who were winners in 1935 remained: Peral and Saro. There was no official league between 1936 and 1939. Civil War between 1936 and 1939, and then it resumed in 1939-39. the first year that followed highlighted Betis its decline, as precisely five years after winning the title, they were removed from the league..

In spite of an unintentional time in the upper division that lasted just one season The club continued to fall and in 1947 the most severe concerns were realized when they were forced to drop to the Tercera division. A lot of fans regard the 10 years they spent in this category as crucial for their understanding of the "identity" as well as the "soul" of their club. In that time, Betis earned a reputation for its capacity to fill the stadium and also having a large crowd for away games, referred to in"the "Green March".

The team was relegated to the second league in 1954, the club gained an honor of being the sole club in Spain to win the three divisions' championships. The responsibility for steering Betis through the dark times and then back to the Segunda comes from the chairman Manuel Ruiz Rodriguez.

When the year was 1955 Manuel Ruiz Rodriguez stepped out of the role of managing the club as he believed he was not able to provide more economic growth. He got replaced Betis the most well-known past president Benito Villamarin. In his time as president, Betis went back to winning the league in 1958-1959 and was third at the time of the year 1964. The acquisition in 1961 of La Liga Estadio at the end of 1961 has been considered as an important moment in the development of the club's history - the stadium was referred to as"the Estadio Benito Villamarin until 1997. After 1965, Villamarin quit his position after 10 years of leadership at the club.

A year later, following Villamarin's departure from the club, they was again relegated to division 2, before increasing and decreasing almost in a row until they consolidated their position in the top division during the 1974-1975.

On June 25, 1977 Betis took on Athletic Bilbao at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in the Copa del Rey final. The game ended 2-2 which resulted in Betis winning 8-7 following the club scored 21 penalties. It was a great end to a season for the club, which saw them was 5th in league.

Following that win, Betis competed in the European Cup Winners' Cup. After beating Milan with a score of 3-2 in the opening round, they made it to the quarterfinals which they were defeated by Dynamo Moscow. Despite their impressive performance in Europe however, the team was stricken by losing their league status.

The next time, Betis returned to the top of the league and inaugurated an era which was "good moments" to the team. The following three seasons bringing three top-six finishes and UEFA Cup qualification in 1982 and 1984.

In the summer of 1982 Benito Villamarin was the host of two matches in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and also saw an event that was the Spain nation's famous 12-2-1 defeat of Malta to be able to participate in UEFA Euro 1984.

The year 1992 was when Betis became subject to changed rules of the league and regulations as a result of its reorganization as an independent sporting organization (SAD) that required the team to fund 1200 million pesetas, which is roughly twice the amount of all second and first division teams, even though it was in the second division at the time.

In only three months, the fans raised over 400 million pesetas. Then vice president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stepping into the role of providing an economic guarantee , while also becoming the majority shareholder in this team narrowly avoided being relegated.

On September 11, 1994 Real Betis played its 1,000th match within La Liga.

After three years within the 2nd division under the direction of Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, Betis returned to the top division during in the 1995-94 season and then achieving the third place which led to them being able to participate in be a part of the UEFA Cup.

For the European campaign, Betis knocked out Fenerbahce (4-1 in the aggregate) as well as 1. FC Kaiserslautern (4-1) before losing to defeated finalist Bordeaux (3-2). In 1997, twenty decades after they won the award its first time, the team was back in Finals of Copa del Rey - again played in Madrid but this time it was at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium - losing 3-3 to Barcelona in extra-time.

In addition, Barca was the club where Serra Ferrer was to leave Betis during the summer and become replaced by his former teammate Luis Aragones. Aragones did not last a season at Barca and lead the team to eighth place and then to the quarter-finals of the cup winner's Cup which they lost 2-5 to the eventual winners Chelsea.

Aragones has been followed by the highly controversial period by Javier Clemente, who spat on a fan and claimed Andalusia could be "another nation!". The team fell off the rankings after finishing 11th, and was exiled from the UEFA Cup by Bologna in the third round. The following years, Betis experienced a succession of managers, a relegation , and an upgrade, following which the team was placed sixth in the league , with Juande Ramos in charge.

Ramos was dismissed after one season, , being replaced by the former Cup Winners' Cup winning director Victor Fernandez. He guided the team to eighth and ninth places in the league, and to in the finals of 2002-03's UEFA Cup, being knocked out by Auxerre (1-2 in aggregate) in the course of his two-year run.

In 2004 Fernandez had to be replaced return of Serra Ferrer, who guided the team to fourth spot in the top league. They also made it back to the Vicente Calderon stadium on June 11 on the 11th of June, 2005, to play in an appearance in the Copa del Rey final, winning the trophy just the second time following an extra-time goal by young graduate Dani in a 2-1 victory against Osasuna.

The league's finish led to Betis was the very first Andalucian team to play at the UEFA Champions League, and they made it to the group stage after getting rid of Monaco in the final qualifying round (3-2 in average). In Group G, and despite an 1-0 win at home against Chelsea The club ultimately ended up third and was "demoted" for an UEFA Cup, where it was eliminated during the Round of 16 against Romanian Steaua Bucuresti. Steaua Bucuresti after the score of 0-3 at home. Comparatively to the previous year the league season was unsatisfactory, with the team finishing 14th only three points away from the zone of relegation.

Betis celebrated their centennial year in 2007. The celebrations included a unique fixture in which they played Milan, the current European Champions, on August 9th and the hosts prevailed 1-1 due to the goal of Mark Gonzalez penalty early in the second period. A few days later they won the Ramon de Carranza Trophy held in neighboring Cadiz winning against Real Zaragoza on penalties in the final after having lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

In the immediate aftermath of the celebration, it was a time of massive changes in the technical and playing teams, which saw eight new recruits replace 14 departing players. The summer of 2006 saw Sarra Ferrer replaced Luis Fernandez for the 2006-07 season. However the two seasons which comprised this year's centenary (2006-07 as well as 2007-08) were not as successful as the club was managed by four managers, and barely avoiding relegation both seasons.

After a long period trying to avoid relegation Betis the 2008-09 season came to an end with an 1-1 draw in the match against Real Valladolid at home. In the end, the club finished 18th on the table and was sent in the division 2 based on goal difference.

On June 15th in 2009, more than 65,000 Beticos including icons like Rafael Gordillo, Del Sol Hipolito Rincon, Julio Cardenosa and others took part in the march for protest at Sevilla using the tagline "15-J Yo, Voy Betis" to inform their majority owners Ruiz de Lopera know that it was the right time to put his 54% stake in Betis on the market for someone, an entity or Betis supporters to purchase the shares, and also remove Lopera from the day-to-day operation of the club.

Despite protests, no changes to the upper management occurred throughout the season, which will be the reason Betis not be promoted to the next level.

Seville the judge Mercedes Alaya was investigating links between Betis and Ruiz de Lopera-owned enterprises which led to him being legally accused of fraud. 7 July 2010, a week before the beginning of court proceedings in the preliminary phase, Lopera was able to sell 94 percent of the shares were his (51 percent from Betis overall shares) to Bitton Sport, fronted by Luis Oliver, for the astonishingly low sum of EUR16 million and left Lopera with just minor shares. Oliver was reportedly already taking two soccer clubs, Cartagena and Xerez, towards the brink of bankruptcy.

Before the sale was legally sanctioned, Ayala froze Lopera shareholdings. With nothing left and despite having put in an EUR1 million cash deposit Oliver was quick to purchase a small amount of shares through a third-party and was elected onto directorship by current board members (all ex-members of Lopera) which allowed him to continue running the club. As a result decision, the judge appointed ex-players from Betis, Real Madrid and Spain famous Rafael Gordillo to administrate Lopera's shares to ensure that Lopera wasn't running the club , and the decisions taken were to benefit the club and not for the board members themselves.

Under the guidance of Pepe Mel's leadership, Betis started 2011-12 with four victories in the same games and Ruben Castro continuing his goal scoring ability from last season which saw him score 27 goals. Betis was 13th in their debut season after their return in La Liga.

The 2012-13 campaign, Betis finished seventh in La Liga and qualified for the 2013-14 UEFA Europa League, the first European qualifying tournament that the team has had since 2005-06 Champions League. The European campaign came to an end in the quarterfinals, after the team lost on penalties to the local rivals Sevilla. Betis were eliminated to La Liga with three games remaining during the 2013-14 season however, they were reinstated as champions, with two games remaining.

In the 2017-18 season under Quique Setien, Betis finished sixth in La Liga and earned a place into the Europa League. The 2018-19 campaign was positive as the team made it to the Copa del Rey semi-finals and top its group of players for the Europa League, before eventually losing to Stade Rennais in the round of 32.

On the 23rd of April 2022 Betis were victorious in this Copa del Rey final against Valencia after a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes, and then winning 5-4 with penalties. This was their first trophy they had won in 17 years since they won their first Copa del Rey on 2005 against Osasuna (2-1).

Betis have been in a long-running battle with the city's neighbours Sevilla FC. They have played more than 114 times in official matches and Sevilla having an average win rate of 45% over Betis (31 percent).

The first game between Sevilla and Sevilla took place on February 8, 1915, and Sevilla taking the victory 4-3. The game was not finished because of the tension, which led an aggressive crowd to take over the field, forcing the referee to end the game.

The year 1916 was the time when the inaugural Copa Andalucia was held, this was the first official derby in the Sevilla region. Out of the 17 games of the cup Sevilla had won 14 times, with Betis the only victory that included winning 22-0 after Betis had was represented by their youth team in 1918.

The first time that the teams played in league play, in Segunda it was in 1928-29 the teams both winning their home games (3-0 as well as 2-1). They had their first game within this Spanish top division in the 1934-35 season. It ended which ended in a home loss of 0-3 to Sevilla and a draw at Betis in the final game, with Betis winning the championship in the national league.

17 January 1943 Betis was defeated 5-0 by Sevilla before being dropped. The first game played on the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, on the 21st of September, 1958 the Verdiblancos were victorious 4-2.

In later times, a number of games were also marred with violence, such as security guards being attacked by an Sevilla fan who was using crutches (that didn't require to walk on), Betis goalkeeper Toni Prats being attacked, and Sevilla director Juande Ramos getting hit by a water bottle The incident that occurred in the second caused being the cause of Copa del Rey match being cancelled, and then played the following week in Getafe without any spectators.

On 7 February 2009, Betis beat Sevilla 2-1 at the Pizjuan However, the team was removed from the top league and Sevilla placed third.

On the 9th of November, 2019 more than 10,000 Betis fans flocked to the team's training facility prior to the final derby of 2019.

Segunda División

Team	Played	Draws	Wins	Home	Away
Betis	16	6	4	2	2
Sevilla			6	3	3

Copa del Rey

Accurate as of August 22, 2020

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
UEFA Champions League	8	3	2	3	6	9	−3	37.50
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	12	5	3	4	15	13	2	41.67
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	46	24	10	12	63	38	25	52.17
Total	66	32	15	19	84	60	24	48.48

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal Difference.

 

Please see below for further information.

• 57 seasons in Primera División
• 25 seasons in Segunda División
• 7 seasons in Tercera División (as third tier)
• Participations in UEFA Champions League: 1
• Participations in UEFA Cup: 7
• Participations in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 2

Real Betis were relegated from La Liga in the 1999–2000 season, but were promoted back on their first attempt.

Please see below.

As of 4 July 2022.

26  Miki Roqué (deceased) (2009–12)

As per below mentioned.

Please see below.

• President: Juan Carlos Ollero Pina
• Vice-Presidents: José Miguel López Catalán, Ángel Haro García
• board members: José Montoro Pizarro, Tomás Solano Franco, Ernesto Sanguino Gómez, José Maria Pagola Serra, Adrián Fernández Romero, María Victoria López Sánchez, Rafael Salas Garcia, Ramón Alarcón Rubiales, Cayetano García de la Borbolla Carrero
• Ambassadors: Rafael Gordillo, Andrés Saavedra

• Director of Football: Antonio Cordón
• Assistant Director of Football: Alexis Trujillo
• Head Scout: Vasiliki Pappa
• Scouting: Jakob Friis-Hansen, Vlada Stošić, Carlos Vargas, Adrian Espárraga and Paulo Meneses
• Technical Analysis Department: Tino Luis Cabrera (Head) and Jaime Quesada
• Scouting U20s: Juan José Cañas (Head) and Pedro Morilla

As of July 9, 2020

• Head coach: Manuel Pellegrini
• Assistant coach: Rubén Cousillas
• Fitness coach: Fran Soto
• Fitness coach: Marcos Álvarez
• Goalkeeper coach: Jon Pascua

• Head of Medical Services: Tomás Calero
• Physiotherapists: Fran Molano, José Manuel Pizarro, Manuel López, Manuel Alcantarilla
• Nurse: José María Montiel

As per below mentioned.

• La Liga
  • Winners (1): 1934–35
• Copa del Rey
  • Winners (3): 1976–77, 2004–05, 2021–22
  • Runners-up (2): 1931, 1996–97
• Supercopa de España
  • Runners-up (1): 2005
• Segunda División
  • Winners (7): 1931–32, 1941–42, 1957–58, 1970–71, 1973–74, 2010–11, 2014–15
  • Runners-up (5): 1955–56, 1966–67, 1989–90, 1993–94, 2000–01
• Tercera División
  • Winners (1): 1953–54
• Campeonato Regional Sur (defunct)
  • Winners (1): 1927–28
  • Runners-up (13): 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1938–39, 1939–40

• Iberian Supercup: Runners-up 1935, 2005
• Ramón de Carranza: 1964, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007
• Trofeo Colombino: 1968, 1983, 1995, 2009
• Guadiana Trophy: 2004

Pichichi Trophy

• Hipólito Rincón (1982–83)

Zamora Trophy

• Joaquín Urquiaga (1934–35)
• Pedro Jaro (1994–95)

Detail as below.

• Best La Liga position: 1st (1934–35)
• Worst La Liga position: 20th (1990–91, 2013–14)
• Biggest home win: Betis 7–0 Zaragoza (1958–59)
• Biggest away win: Cádiz 0–5 Betis (1977–78)
• Biggest home defeat: Betis 0–5 Real Madrid (1960–61, 2013–14), Betis 0–5 Osasuna (2006–07), Betis 0–5 Barcelona (2017–18)
• Biggest away defeat: Athletic Bilbao 9–1 Betis (1932–33)
• Biggest comeback for: Betis – Barcelona: 0–2 to 3–2 (2007–08), Betis – Alavés: 0–2 to 3–2 (2020–21), Celta Vigo – Betis: 2–0 to 2–3 (2020–21)
• Biggest comeback against: Betis – Espanyol: 2–0 to 2–5 (1999–2000)

• Most appearances:  José Ramón Esnaola – 574
• Most official appearances:  José Ramón Esnaola – 460
• Most appearances in La Liga:  José Ramón Esnaola – 378
• Most appearances in Copa del Rey:  José Ramón Esnaola – 64
• Most appearances in European competitions:  Joaquín – 23
• Top goalscorer (La Liga):  Hipólito Rincón – 78
• Top goalscorer (overall): Rubén Castro – 148
• Top goalscorer (European competitions):  Alfonso – 8
• Most red cards:  Jaime Quesada – 7
• First to play for Spain:  Simón Lecue – 1934
• Most capped for Spain:  Rafael Gordillo – 75
• Spanish internationals: 27

On Real Betis' formation, the club was based on their home at the Campo del Huerto de Mariana. The year 1909 saw Betis was moved to Campo del Prado de Santa Justa and then moved towards its current location, the Campo del Prado de San Sebastian and sharing the stadium alongside rivals Sevilla A year later. in 1918, Real Betis moved to the Campo del Patronato Obrero, with the first match at the stadium taking place against opponents Sevilla on the 1st of November 1918. The result was an unbeatable 5-1 loss for Real Betis. In in the 20th century, the venue was rebuilt several times by the club's President Ignacio Sanchez Mejias. After the completion of the Estadio de Exposicion which was the name of Betis its current home at the end of 1929 Real Betis moved into the stadium in the year 1936, following numerous games in the stadium prior to the stadium's creation.

With a capacity of 60,720, it is the Estadio Benito Villamarin is the home of Real Betis. This stadium is designated Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera in the year 2000 after the club's owner made the decision to construct a new stadium in place of the previous one.

Despite the best efforts and planning, the stadium's plans for renovation were continually delayed and half of the stadium was left as it was. On the 27th of October, 2010 it was restored to its original denomination following an agreement by the club's owners.

Evolution

In the beginning, Sevilla Balompie dressed in blue shirts and white shorts, which were worn by the infantry of the time. Since the end of 1911 the squad adopted Celtic shirts,[30at the time, vertical stripes of white and green which were brought to Glasgow through Manuel Asensio Ramos, who was educated as a student in Scotland as a youngster. On the 28th of February during the day that was Andalusia day, Real Betis wore Celtic-inspired hoops to play Malaga CF.

When the team changed its name to Real Betis Balompie in 1914 there were a variety of kits used for the team, including black and yellow stripes; green T-shirts as well as a return to the blue shorts and white top uniform. In the late 20th century, Betis returned to sporting white and green stripes. Around this time, when the Assembly of Ronda (1918) saw the Andalusian region officially adopt these colors, it but it's not clear how the two were connected.

Since then, it has remained Betis the shirt, in spite of numerous variations (including larger stripes).

In addition to the standard green and white top, Betis has wore both shorts with green and black as well as white shorts.