Real Balompédica Linense

Not to be confused with Clube Atlético Linense.

Real Balompédica Linense is a Spanish football team based in La Línea de la Concepción, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1912 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at Estadio Municipal de La Línea de la Concepción with a capacity of 16,120 seats.

Linense

Full name	Real Balompédica Linense
Nickname(s)	Balona
Founded	1912; 111 years ago (1912)
Ground	Municipal La Línea, La Línea, Andalusia, Spain
Capacity	16,120
President	Raffaele Pandalone
Head coach	Víctor Basadre
League	Primera Federación – Group 1
2021–22	Primera División RFEF – Group 2, 12th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

History

Founding years

Real Balompédica Linense's original date of founding is somewhat disputed with the club and current Chairman believing it to have been formed on September 12, 1912. This is now commonly accepted due to a document of the Andalusia Football Federation which had this date in its official yearbook. However prior to this document being rediscovered it was believed to have been founded in 1921 when it was registered and started competing. The club was a merger of several amateur clubs from La Línea and possibly Gibraltar. On 8 December 1921 Balompédica Linense played and won its debut match, played against Club Racing Santander. 9 months later, on September 5, 1922, the club joined the South Regional Federation. In the same year the club also added the distinction of Real to its name, thus creating the present name of Real Balompédica Linense. For the first years of competition the club played its matches at the Aurora Sports Field. As the club began participation in official competitions it became necessary for it to have a custom field. Thus the club opened the San Bernardo Estadio, playing its first match at the ground on 17 October 1926, being defeated 2–1 by FC Malagueño.

Glory years

The club started its life jumping between the Regional División and Tercera División. The club's fortunes began to change however in the 1950s, when the club gained promotion to the Segunda División in the 1949–50 season. The club managed to avoid relegation with a respectable 12th-place finish in its first season in the Spanish second flight. This season proved to be the first of six straight seasons in the Segunda División for Balona, ending with relegations to the Tercera División at the end of the 1954–55 season.

Promotion to Segunda B

Following its stint in the second flight, Balona returned to the Tercera División where it stayed for 28 years, bar one in the 1976–77 season where it returned to the Regional División. Following several consistent high finishing seasons the 1982–83 season proved a success for Balona with it coming first in the Tercera División and gaining promotion to the recently created Segunda División B. The club had another extended period in a single league, this time being 10 years. During these ten years the club managed a second-place finish in the 1985–86 season, however this wasn't enough to see it gain promotion to the Segunda División.

Back to Tercera

Despite the club's high finishes in some seasons throughout its initial 10-year stint in the Segunda División it was relegated in the 1992–93 season back to the Tercera División. The club stayed in the Tercera División for another 6 seasons before, again, gaining promotion to the Segunda División B following a first-placed finish in the División due to a last match of the season win. This proved to be the start of the club having a period of short stints in the Tercera and Segunda B, with 3 seasons in the Segunda B (1999–2000 – 2001–02), 6 in the Tercera (2002–03 – 2007–08), 1 in the Segunda B (2008–09) and 2 in the Tercera (2009–10, 2010–11). A notable occurrence during these string of promotions and relegations was the arrival of Alfredo Gallardo as the Chairman of the club in the 2002/03 season. Gallardo still holds this position and on his arrival also brought in several local businessmen to help fund the club. A second notable occurrence was in the 2007–08 season with the club going through qualifications for promotion after a third-place finish. This saw the club defeat CD Anguiano due to the away goals rule before having a dramatic conclusion to the qualification with a double tie against CD Mirandes. The first match played in La Linea de la Concepcion ended in a 1–1 result meaning CD Mirandes were ahead on the away goals rule. However the result was completely turned around on the return leg at Estadio Municipal de Anduva, Miranda de Ebro with the match ending 3–3, and thus Balona winning promotion on the away goal rule. The club currently is in the Segunda B following a first-placed finish in the Tercera División in 2010–11. The club achieved a high finish, second, the season following its promotion and backed this up with a solid sixth-placed finish in the 2012–13 season. The next 2013–14 season was almost the same by result, as the club finished 7th.^[1]

Season to season

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1934–35 5 1ª Reg. 3rd 1935–36 5 1ª Reg. B 3rd 1939–40 5 1ª Reg. B 1st 1940–41 3 3ª 4th 1941–42 3 1ª Reg. 5th 1942–43 3 1ª Reg. 6th 1943–44 3 3ª 9th 1944–45 3 3ª 7th 1945–46 3 3ª 5th 1946–47 3 3ª 8th 1947–48 3 3ª 3rd 1948–49 3 3ª 3rd 1949–50 2 2ª 12th 1950–51 2 2ª 9th 1951–52 2 2ª 11th 1952–53 2 2ª 10th 1953–54 2 2ª 10th 1954–55 2 2ª 16th 1955–56 3 3ª 2nd 1956–57 3 3ª 5th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1957–58 3 3ª 5th 1958–59 3 3ª 12th 1959–60 3 3ª 3rd 1960–61 3 3ª 5th 1961–62 3 3ª 3rd 1962–63 3 3ª 7th 1963–64 3 3ª 3rd 1964–65 3 3ª 2nd 1965–66 3 3ª 1st 1966–67 3 3ª 3rd 1967–68 3 3ª 1st 1968–69 3 3ª 8th 1969–70 3 3ª 8th 1970–71 3 3ª 16th 1971–72 3 3ª 7th 1972–73 3 3ª 16th 1973–74 3 3ª 5th 1974–75 3 3ª 13th 1975–76 3 3ª 19th 1976–77 4 Reg. Pref. 2nd

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1977–78 4 3ª 3rd 1978–79 4 3ª 3rd 1979–80 4 3ª 2nd 1980–81 4 3ª 13th 1981–82 4 3ª 10th 1982–83 4 3ª 1st 1983–84 3 2ª B 15th 1984–85 3 2ª B 4th 1985–86 3 2ª B 2nd 1986–87 3 2ª B 8th 1987–88 3 2ª B 11th 1988–89 3 2ª B 14th 1989–90 3 2ª B 14th 1990–91 3 2ª B 16th 1991–92 3 2ª B 4th 1992–93 3 2ª B 18th 1993–94 4 3ª 10th 1994–95 4 3ª 6th 1995–96 4 3ª 10th 1996–97 4 3ª 13th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1997–98 4 3ª 11th 1998–99 4 3ª 1st 1999–2000 3 2ª B 8th 2000–01 3 2ª B 13th 2001–02 3 2ª B 17th 2002–03 4 3ª 10th 2003–04 4 3ª 3rd 2004–05 4 3ª 4th 2005–06 4 3ª 4th 2006–07 4 3ª 5th 2007–08 4 3ª 3rd 2008–09 3 2ª B 19th 2009–10 4 3ª 5th 2010–11 4 3ª 1st 2011–12 3 2ª B 2nd 2012–13 3 2ª B 6th 2013–14 3 2ª B 7th 2014–15 3 2ª B 6th Third Round 2015–16 3 2ª B 11th Round of 32 2016–17 3 2ª B 9th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 2017–18 3 2ª B 11th 2018–19 3 2ª B 12th 2019–20 3 2ª B 7th 2020–21 3 2ª B 4th / 2nd First round 2021–22 3 1ª RFEF 12th 2022–23 3 1ª RFEF

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• 6 seasons in Segunda División
• 2 seasons in Primera División RFEF
• 24 seasons in Segunda División B
• 48 seasons in Tercera División

Current squad

As of 6 February 2023.^[2]

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   ESP Alberto Varo 4 DF   ESP Jesús Muñoz 5 DF   ESP Fran Morante 6 MF   ESP José Masllorens 7 MF   ESP Loren Fernández 8 FW   ENG Bobby Duncan 10 MF   SLE Alhassan Koroma 11 DF   ENG Connor Ruane 12 MF   FRA Yassin Fekir (on loan from Real Betis) 13 GK   ESP Ángel de la Calzada 14 MF   ESP Joel del Pino (on loan from Las Palmas)

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF   ESP Borja López 16 MF   ESP Antonio Romero 17 FW   ESP Gerard Oliva 18 MF   ESP Álex Guti 19 MF   ESP Toni García 20 DF   ARG Nicolás Delmonte (captain) 21 MF   BRA João Pedro 22 FW   ESP Omar Perdomo 26 FW   SLE Alusine Koroma 27 DF   MLI Papa Bamory Camara

Reserve team

Main article: Linense B

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 MF   ESP Javi Méndez 28 FW   ESP Cipri

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   SRB Damjan Gojkov (at Torremolinos until 30 June 2023) — FW   ESP Manu Toledano (at Alcalá until 30 June 2023)

Famous players

See also: Category:Real Balompédica Linense footballers

References

1. "Histórico RB Linense - Segunda División B G 4". www.resultados-futbol.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
2. Linense, Real Balompédica. "Plantilla" (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 October 2021.

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)