Real Sociedad

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The sport of football was first introduced in San Sebastian in the early 1900s by young people and those who had returned from Britain. The year 1904 saw the founded the San Sebastian Recreation Club, the first soccer club in the city. Then, in 1905, the club played with the Copa del Rey. The year 1907 saw a dispute between members of the club led the team to break up with some individuals (such like Alfonso as well as Miguel Sena and Domingo Arrillaga) which led to the formation of the brand new club in 1908, called the San Sebastian Football Club. The team was invited to participate in into the 1909 Copa del Rey, but issues with registration permits made the team play in the Copa del Rey as Club Ciclista de San Sebastian. The team dominated the formidable Athletic Club 4-2 in the quarterfinals before beating Club Espanol de Madrid 3-1 in the final. One of the most notable players from that team's was George McGuinness, who netted six goals during the tournament, including the opening goal at the end of the tournament.

After the victory following the victory, the players who won the tournament formed Sociedad de Futbol. Sociedad de Futbol on 7 September 1909. Sociedad requested to be a part of into the 1909 Copa del Rey, but they were forced to play under another designation, Vasconia de San Sebastian and, once more, they made it to their final (UECF) which they were defeated to defeat by Athletic (0-1). The same year the the king Alfonso XIII - who used San Sebastian as his summer capital - granted the club his blessing and it was later the name Real Sociedad de Futbol. The first game the team played in under the name of Real Sociedad was in 1913 in which FC Barcelona needed three games to defeat them. After a gap of 15 years, Sociedad reached the 1928 final, which was identical to their previous one because Barcelona had to win three times to defeat them at El Sardinero.

Real Sociedad was a founding member of La Liga in 1929. The team finished fourth, in the league with Francisco "Paco" Bienzobas finishing as the leading scorer. The name of the team has been changed from Donostia Club de Futbol in 1931, following the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, but was changed in 1939 to Real Sociedad after the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The team generally has shifted in between Primera as well as the Segunda divisions, with the course of a single season (during in the late 1940s) being removed and then elevated seven times. In the same time frame the sculpturer Eduardo Chillida was the team's goalkeeper before an the injury ended the career of his soccer player.

The team was runners-up La Liga for the first time in 1979 and 1980, scoring 52 points, compared with Real Madrid's 52 and 13 points better than the third place Sporting de Gijon. Real Sociedad won its first ever Primera Division title at the final game of the season of 1980-81 which denied Real Madrid a fourth-consecutive title as both clubs scored 45 points, and Madrid had the advantage in goal differential, Sociedad had a better record in head-to-head contest. The result qualified La Real for the 1981-82 European Cup, where they were eliminated in the initial round against CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria, which hosted the tournament and defeated the first leg with a 1-0. The second match of the match in Spain was a draw.

The club was awarded the Liga title in the following season, defeating Barcelona with a score of 47 to 45 under the leadership by Alberto Ormaetxea. For forward Jesus Maria Satrustegui was the club's top scorer in the 1980-81 season, by scoring sixteen goals. He scored 13 in the following season . Pedro Uralde was the top goal scorer with 14 goals. The club made it to the semi-finals in the 1982-83 European Cup, defeating Vikingur of Iceland, Celtic and Sporting Clube de Portugal and then losing 3-2 in aggregate to the eventual winners Hamburger SV. Real Sociedad won the Supercopa de Espana in the first half of the 1982-83 campaign, winning 1-0 in the opening phase to beat Real Madrid 4-1 on aggregate.

On the 11th of March, 1987 Real Sociedad set a record for most goals scored in the quarter-finals in the Copa del Rey after defeating Mallorca 10-1. In the semi-finals in the same competition, it defeated its Basque opponents Athletic Bilbao 1-0 over two legs. On the 27th of June, 1987, Real Sociedad won its only Copa del Rey title by beating Atletico Madrid 4-2 in penalties following a draw of the match 2-2. The match took place in La Romareda in Zaragoza, Aragon. In the next seasons Copa del Rey, Real Sociedad defeated Atletico Madrid once more after beating them in the quarterfinals. They then defeated Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals, however it losing by 1-0 in the final against Barcelona on the Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on 30 March 1988. In 1987-1988 La Liga, Real Sociedad finished runners-up for the very first time since it lost the title. They had 51 points, compared to Real Madrid's 62 points - and three points ahead of the third place Atletico Madrid.

For a number of years, Real Sociedad followed the tradition of its Basque counterparts Athletic Bilbao of signing only Basque players. The club renounced the practice in 1989, when it was able to sign Irish player John Aldridge from Liverpool. Aldridge had scored an impressive 16 goals in his debut season as the top scorer of the club, and the fourth-highest scorer in the entire league when La Real finished fifth. The year 1990 saw La Real signed an English striker named Dalian Atkinson from Sheffield Wednesday, who therefore became the club's first black player. Dalian scored 12 goals during the first season, which was being second in the club's history to Aldridge's 17 goals. It was his final season with La Real, and he went on to play in the lower English leagues with Tranmere Rovers. Atkinson was also a part of the team. Atkinson quit to join top-flight Aston Villa.

The 1997/98 season saw Real Sociedad finished third which was its highest finish since finishing runners-up for the first time since the year 1988. Its score number of points of 63 was eleven more than champions Barcelona but only two points less than the runners-up Athletic Bilbao. The club was higher on the league in comparison to Real Madrid due to a higher goal-to-goal ratio. (199) Yugoslav striker Darko Kovacevic scored 17 goals during the season, which made the fourth highest scorer for the club. Third-place finishes qualified La Real for the 1998-99 UEFA Cup, where it defeated Sparta Prague and Dynamo Moscow and was eliminated during the 3rd round of the competition with Atletico Madrid.

After finishing 13th for three seasons in succession, Real Sociedad were runners-up in 2002-03 La Liga, its best performance since 1988. The team's score at 76 was defeated by Real Madrid's 78 points, and La Real had four more points than third-placed Deportivo de La Coruna. The team was run by Frenchman Raynald denoueix. La Real's strikeforce was comprised of Turkish striker Nihat Kahveci with Yugoslav international Darko Kovacevic. They were the third and fourth highest scorers in the league, respectively with the score of 23 and 20 goals. The team also had Dutch International goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, as well as Xabi Alonso as a midfielder. Alonso was awarded The 2003 Don Balon award for the most outstanding Spanish footballer in league. Kahveci was voted the top foreign player, and Denoueix the most effective manager.

The most memorable moments of the season were in the game Real Sociedad beat Real Madrid in April, 4-2, in the Anoeta Stadium. The team remained in first place within La Liga until the penultimate game of the season, in which it was defeated 3-2 by Celta de Vigo, and Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid by a score of 4-0. This means that Real Madrid secured first place two points ahead over Real Sociedad for the last game, which saw La Real defeated Atletico Madrid with a score of 3-0. Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao to take the title. The team was directly qualified into the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League after finishing second. They were unbeaten in its home stadium, scoring seventy-one goals, and was able to lose only six times.

Real Sociedad were placed in Group D of the 2003-04 Champions League with Juventus, Galatasaray and Olympiacos. The team took two wins while drawing three before losing against Juventus for second place and make it into the last 16. It was eliminated following losing by 1-0 in both matches against Lyon which was the host of one game. In 2003/04, La Liga saw a dramatic drop in performance for the club dropping to 15th place in the top 20. The score with 46 points just five points more than the relegated Real Valladolid.

9 September 2006 was the day that Real Sociedad played its 2,000th La Liga match. The same year they were exiled out of La Liga, finishing 19th and ending a 40-year run that was their longest stay in the top league. On the 9th of July, 2007 the the former Welsh player also Fulham coach Chris Coleman was appointed as the new club manager following the advice of the former Real Sociedad manager John Toshack and a prominent board member of the club. Coleman was dismissed on 16 January 2008.

For the season 2012-13 Real Sociedad finished in fourth spot and was selected for 2013-14 Champions League for the first time since 2003-04 and in the play-offs this time. In the play-offs the club defeated Lyon by 2-0 in both games to be able to advance to the stage of group play. Real Sociedad, however, was not able to get from the group stage, netting only one point.

On the 10th of November, 2014 Real Sociedad announced David Moyes as their manager of choice to succeed Jagoba Arrasate who was dismissed due to a string of poor performances. Moyes was the 6th British manager of the club's history. However, the club fired him on 9 November 2015, after slipping to 16th place in La Liga. On the same day Moyes was replaced by Eusebio Sacristan.

Sacristan signed a contract for the period of 30 June 2017. The agreement was renewed for 2017 however, Sacristan was dismissed in the end after an array of bad performances saw him finish 15th on the table, and dragged into a battle for relegation. Aiser Garitano took over as the new head coach, after he had arrived from Leganes. He was in charge for just seven months before his dismissal after the team finished at 15th position, with only five wins in 17 league games.

Garitano became the successor of the reserve coach and local player Imanol Alguacil on December 26, 2018. He managed an attacking style of play that combines speed as well as precision, power and enthusiasm.

In 2008, during Real Sociedad's annual general assembly Inaki Badiola, who was at the time, the club's president, alleged that the club's previous management of purchasing doping drugs. In 2013, Badiola gave an extensive interview where he accused the presidency of Jose Luis Astiazaran of paying as much as EUR300,000 to Eufemiano Fuentes for doping players from the team between 2001 and 2007. Jose Luis Astiazaran, who was Real Sociedad's president from 2000 and 2005 has denied the allegations.

Real Sociedad won its third Copa del Rey on the 3rd of April 2021. This was the year-long delay in the 2021 Copa del Rey final due to COVID-19. It was the Basque game in a Basque derby Athletic Bilbao.

Real Sociedad plays home fixtures at the Anoeta Stadium. The stadium is managed through San Sebastian Municipal Council. San Sebastian Municipal Council.

The name of the club translates to "Royal Society for football" in Spanish. The name is changed Donostia Club de Futbol in 1931 following the emergence in the Second Spanish Republic, but was changed in 1939 to Real Sociedad after the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The club is known by the Basque by the name of Erreala or the Txuri-urdin ("white-blue" because of the colours they wear on their uniform). The colours are inspired by San Sebastian's flag. San Sebastian: a blue canton with white ground.

Researchers from the Spanish Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas (Centre of Sociological Investigations) found that of the 2,473 people interviewed across 49 provinces of Spain in 2007. 1.3 percent of the Spanish people have more affection towards Real Sociedad than any other club. 1.5 percent feel more towards La Real than any other club, aside from their preferred.

In recognition of the importance of the fans to the club, in the terms of the club's president Jokin Aperribay "The Fans are the soul, the fuel and the motivation behind Real Sociedad" - the players each had their name and the initials of an randomly chosen club member on their jerseys during the game against Sevilla in December 2012.

Domestic Honours as per below.

• La Liga:
  • Winners (2): 1980–81, 1981–82
• Segunda División:
  • Winners (3): 1948–49, 1966–67, 2009–10

• Copa del Rey:
  • Winners (3): 1909, 1986–87, 2019–20
• Supercopa de España:
• Winners (1): 1982

• Gipuzkoa Championship:
  • Winners (6): 1918–19, 1922–23, 1924–25, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1932–33

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As of 29 August 2022

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Álex Remiro 2 DF  ESP Álex Sola 3 MF  ESP Martín Zubimendi 4 MF  ESP Asier Illarramendi (captain) 5 MF  ESP Igor Zubeldia 6 DF  ESP Aritz Elustondo (3rd captain) 7 FW  ESP Ander Barrenetxea 8 MF  ESP Mikel Merino (4th captain) 9 FW  ESP Carlos Fernández 10 FW  ESP Mikel Oyarzabal (vice-captain) 11 FW  FRA Mohamed-Ali Cho 12 DF  ESP Aihen Muñoz 13 GK  ESP Andoni Zubiaurre

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  JPN Takefusa Kubo 15 DF  ESP Diego Rico 16 MF  ESP Ander Guevara 17 MF  ESP Robert Navarro 18 DF  ESP Andoni Gorosabel 19 FW  NOR Alexander Sørloth (on loan from RB Leipzig) 20 DF  ESP Jon Pacheco 21 MF  ESP David Silva 22 MF  ESP Beñat Turrientes 23 MF  ESP Brais Méndez 24 DF  FRA Robin Le Normand 25 FW  NGA Umar Sadiq — MF  ESP Martín Merquelanz

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• As Real Sociedad de Fútbol

Accurate as of 25 February 2021

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
European Cup / Champions League (4)	26	8	6	12	24	29	−5	30.77
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1)	4	1	3	0	3	1	2	25.00
UEFA Cup / Europa League (11)	54	24	12	18	74	74	0	44.44
Total	84	33	21	30	101	104	−3	39.29

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

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