FC Santa Coloma

Not to be confused with UE Santa Coloma.

FC Santa Coloma is an Andorran professional football club based in Santa Coloma, parish of Andorra la Vella, that competes in the Primera Divisió. It is the most successful team in both Primera Divisió and Copa Constitució, having won both titles thirteen and ten times respectively.

FC Santa Coloma

Full name	Fútbol Club Santa Coloma
Nickname(s)	FCSC Colomencs Coloma (Dove) El Don (The Lord or Sir) Blues
Founded	1986; 38 years ago (1986)
Ground	Andorra Football Federation stadiums
Chairman	Daniel Milstein
Manager	Dmitri Cheryshev
League	Primera Divisió
2022–23	Primera Divisió, 3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

See also: List of FC Santa Coloma seasons

Fútbol Club Santa Coloma was founded in 1986 through the efforts of a group of football enthusiasts who represented the village of the same name that belongs to Andorra la Vella in the National Football Tournament (the former amateur league of Andorra).^[1] Later on FC Santa Coloma became one of the founder members of Primera Divisió in 1995.^[2] Since 2001 the club has enjoyed a great success in all Andorran competitions standing with all the records in the Premier Andorran League (13)^[2] and Andorran Cup (10).^[3]

At the end of 2017, the Spanish La Liga Villarreal CF team announced a collaboration agreement with the Andorran club at grassroots football level.^[4]

In July 2022, Gold Star Sports Management Group, led by Ukrainian-American entrepreneur, Daniel Milstein, completed the acquisition of the club. With Milstein as chairman, he announced Alex Lubyansky as CEO and Annabel Llevot as the General Manager. ^[5] FC Santa Coloma and Gold Star FC Detroit are both under the Gold Star Football Club group of clubs.^[6]

FC Santa Coloma in Europe

FC Santa Coloma has two unique achievements for an Andorran team in European competitions, never repeated so far by any Andorran team: it is the only team from Andorra to win a match in any European competition and the only team that did not concede a goal in a match in a European competition.

Both of these feats were achieved on three occasions: the first match in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup qualifying round against the Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, in which FC Santa Coloma won 1–0 at home with a goal scored by Juli Fernandez, then in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round when they beat Banants of Armenia 1–0, and in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying, in which FC Santa Coloma won 1–0 at home against Valur of Iceland. On the first and last occasion, in the return leg they lost 4–0 to Maccabi and 3–0 to Valur, thus FC Santa Coloma were eliminated from the tournament.

Against Banants, they lost the second leg away in Armenia 3–2, however the game finished 3–3 on aggregate and FC Santa Coloma won by the away goals rule, thanks to a last minute goal by goalkeeper Eloy Casals.^[7] It was the second time an Andorran club won a two-legged tie in Europe after Sant Julià.

The 2023–24 season saw FC Santa Coloma claim another first - becoming the first Andorran team to navigate two European two-legged ties in the same season. Entering at the first qualifying round of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League, they eliminated Welsh club Penybont F.C., then Montenegrin club FK Sutjeska Nikšić, to reach the third qualifying round against Dutch club AZ.

Colours and badge

FC Santa Coloma dressed in all white all the seasons since the creation of the Andorran Premier League, alternating the home kit with red or blue. Traditionally, the away kit has been all blue and third kit all red. However the original first kit at the beginning of the foundation of the club was blue and gives the nickname of Blues. In the club crest feature the colours of Andorra and the Holy Dove that gives the name of the Santa Coloma d'Andorra town^[8] and therefore the name of the club.

Period *	Kitmaker	Kit sponsor
1994–10	Joma	Don Pernil
2010–13		Pidasa
2013–15		None
2015–17		Don Denis
2017–present		Vall Banc

* Since the Andorra Football Federation affiliation.

Club rivalries

El Clàssic

The main rival of FC Santa Coloma in Primera Divisió has been always Sant Julià playing in a derby called El Clàssic. Both teams are strong in the Andorran Premier League and since the creation of the championship the clubs have been competing for being the champion of the top flight.^[9][10][11]

El Derbi Colomenc

The local rival of FC Santa Coloma is actually their neighbour's hometown football team UE Santa Coloma. The rivalry between these two teams has increased since the 2009/10 season when those teams were competing for winning the Premier Andorran League.^[12]

Honours

• Primera Divisió:
  • Winners (13): 1994–95, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
  • Runners-up (8): 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2019–20
• Copa Constitució:
  • Winners (10): 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2018
  • Runners-up (7): 1996, 1998, 1999, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023
• Supercopa Andorrana:
  • Winners (7): 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2017, 2019
  • Runners-up (10): 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020

League history

Season	Division	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P
2011–12	Primera Divisió	2	20	11	5	4	56	17	38
2012–13	Primera Divisió	2	20	10	9	1	30	15	39
2013–14	Primera Divisió	1	20	13	3	4	50	12	42
2014–15	Primera Divisió	1	20	13	3	4	64	14	42
2015–16	Primera Divisió	1	20	14	5	1	44	8	47
2016–17	Primera Divisió	1	27	18	6	3	57	21	60
2017–18	Primera Divisió	1	27	18	4	5	62	20	58
2018–19	Primera Divisió	1	27	15	9	3	41	18	54
2019–20	Primera Divisió	2	24	15	7	3	48	12	51
2020–21	Primera Divisió	3	20	8	8	4	28	19	32
2021–22	Primera Divisió	5	27	15	7	5	64	34	52
2022–23	Primera Divisió	3	28	15	8	5	55	19	53

European results

In 2014, Santa Coloma advanced for the first time in a knock-out round after beating FC Banants on the away goals rule. The deciding goal was scored by Coloma's goalkeeper in the 4th minute of added time.^[13]

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2001–02	UEFA Cup	QR	Partizan	0–1	1–7	1–8
2003–04	UEFA Cup	QR	Esbjerg fB	1–4	0–5	1–9
2004–05	UEFA Cup	1Q	Modriča	0–1	0–3	0–4
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–0	0–4	1–4
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	1Q	FBK Kaunas	1–4	1–3	2–7
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Basel	1–4	0–3	1–7
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Birkirkara	0–3^[A]	3–4	3–7
2011–12	UEFA Champions League	1Q	F91 Dudelange	0–2	0–2	0–4
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Osijek	0–1	1–3	1–4
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Breiðablik	0–0	0–4	0–4
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Banants	1–0	2–3	3–3(a)
		2Q	Maccabi Tel Aviv	0–1	0–2	0–3
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Lincoln Red Imps	1–2	0–0	1–2
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Alashkert	0–0	0–3	0–3
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Alashkert	1–1	0–1	1–2
2018–19	UEFA Champions League	PR	Drita	0–2 (aet)		—
	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Valur	1–0	0–3	1–3
2019–20	UEFA Champions League	PR	Tre Penne	1–0		—
			Feronikeli	1−2		—
	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Astana	0–0	1–4	1–4
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	PR	Iskra Danilovgrad	0–0 (3–4 p)	—	—
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Mons Calpe	4–0	1–1	5–1
		2Q	Hibernian	1–2	0–3	1–5
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Penybont	2–0 (a.e.t.)	1–1	3–1
		2Q	Sutjeska Nikšić	3–0 (a.e.t.)	0–2	3−2
		3Q	AZ	0–1	0–2	0–3

Notes

• PR: Preliminary round
• QR: Qualifying round
• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round

1. Match forfeited, result set to 0–3 by UEFA

Current squad

As of 1 March 2024

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   AND Josep Gómes 2 DF   ESP Robert Ramos 3 DF   ESP Gerard Gómez 4 DF   COL Jilmar Torres 5 DF   ESP Álex Sánchez 6 MF   ESP Daniel Toribio 9 FW   ESP Marc Nierga 10 FW   ESP David Virgili 11 FW   ESP Rufo 13 GK   ESP Adrià Collet 14 MF   ESP Hamza Ryahi 15 DF   ESP Sergio Rodríguez 16 MF   ESP Víctor Alonso

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF   ESP Guillem Jiménez 18 MF   ESP Miguel López 20 FW   AND Jordi Aláez 21 MF   VEN Octavio Páez 22 DF   ESP David Crespo 23 DF   AND Moisés San Nicolás 24 FW   VEN Christian Novoa 26 DF   UKR Andriy Markovych 30 MF   ESP Eloy Gila 31 GK   ESP José Bejarano 32 FW   ESP Mario Mourelo — FW   ESP Mikel Bueno

Managers

•   Santos Ilatigo (2006–07)
•   Xavier Roura (2007)
•   Vicens Marques (2008–10)
•   Xavier Roura (2010–11)
•   Luis Blanco Torrado (2011–13)
•   Richard Imbernón (2013–18)
•   Marc Rodríguez (2018–20)
•   Albert Jorquera (2020–)

References

1. "HISTÒRIA – F. C. Santa coloma". from the original on 2019-12-23. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
2. "Competicions : Lliga Nacional de Futbol (1ª divisió)". Faf.ad. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
3. "Competicions : Copa Constitució (futbol)". Faf.ad. from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
4. "Fútbol base, amistosos, prioridad en fichajes…éstas son las claves del acuerdo entre Villarreal CF y Vallbanc FC Santa Coloma – la Jugada Financiera". from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
5. Club, Gold Star Football. "GOLD STAR SPORTS MANAGEMENT GROUP COMPLETES ACQUISITION". Gold Star Football Club. from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
6. Club, Gold Star Football. "Gold Star FC announces the acquisition of FC Santa Coloma". Gold Star Football Club. from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
7. "Europe's goalscoring goalkeepers". 9 July 2014. from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
8. . Andorrapatagonia.net. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
9. "Andorran Football Federation-News". Fedandfut.com. from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
10. "Diari digital d'Andorra BonDia – Notícies d'última hora, cartellera, meteorologia, horòscop, informació..." Bondia.ad. from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
11. "Notícies Futbol". Faf.ad. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
12. "Diari digital d'Andorra BonDia – Notícies d'última hora, cartellera, meteorologia, horòscop, informació..." Bondia.ad. Archived from the original on 2013-08-20. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
13. "Keeper Casals edges Santa Coloma past Banants". UEFA. 8 July 2014. from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Santa Coloma at UEFA.com
• Santa Coloma at Weltfussball.de (archived 17 December 2012)
• Santa Coloma at National-Football-Teams.com
• Santa Coloma at Football-Lineups.com