UD Almería

Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [uˈnjon depoɾˈtiβ(a) almeˈɾi.a]) is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as Almería Club de Fútbol until 2001, when it was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería.^[2] The club currently plays in the Spanish Primera División after winning the Segunda División title in 2022, and plays their home games at the 15,274-seat capacity Power Horse Stadium.^[3][4]

Almería

Full name	Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Rojiblancos La Unión Almeriensistas UDA Indálicos
Founded	26 July 1989; 34 years ago (1989-07-26) as Almería Club de Fútbol
Ground	Power Horse Stadium
Capacity	15,294^[1]
Owner	Turki Al-Sheikh
President	Turki Al-Sheikh
Head coach	Alberto Lasarte (caretaker)
League	La Liga
2022–23	La Liga, 17th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

History

The first football club in Almería was founded in 1909: el Almería Foot-Ball Club.^[5] Since then, several Almería football clubs appeared and disappeared. One of them was AD Almería, a team that played in La Liga between 1979–81, but disappeared in 1982, and was arguably UD Almería's predecessor.

In 1989, a club named Almería Club de Fútbol was born, but in 2001 was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería. On 19 January 2001 the mayor of Almería Santiago Martínez Cabrejas announced in the city council that the new club UD Almería had been formed after the merger of two city teams - Polideportivo Almería and Almería CF.^[6] But UD Almería was not official until June 28, 2001, when Almería CF approved at the General Meeting of Shareholders the renaming.^[6] After playing one season in the second division, it was relegated to the third and the fourth divisions.

After spending several seasons in the second level, Almería side was first promoted to the top flight after finishing runner-up in the 2006–07 season. After some outstanding performances, as the away win against Deportivo de La Coruña 3–0 in the first La Liga match, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08.^[6] At the club's helm was coach Unai Emery, as striker Álvaro Negredo finished team topscorer with 13 goals.

 

UD Almería players facing Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in 2011

After Emery left for Valencia CF, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in,^[7] but was sacked on 21 December 2008, after a string of poor results, albeit without ever reaching the last three.^[8] Mexican Hugo Sánchez took the job, and fared slightly better, for a final mid-table position.

In 2010–11, Almería reached the semifinals of the Copa del Rey for the first time ever.^[6] In the league, however, the club was finally relegated after a four-year spell in the top flight; in November 2010, coach Juan Manuel Lillo was fired after a 0–8 home loss against FC Barcelona (precisely the team that ousted the Andalusians in the domestic cup's last-four, with the same score, but on aggregate),^[9][10] and his successor José Luis Oltra met the same fate,^[11] in April 2011.^[12] He was replaced by Roberto Olabe.^[13]

 

Chart of UD Almería league performance 1929-2023

After two seasons in the second level, Almería returned to the main category of Spanish football on 22 June 2013, after defeating Girona FC in the play-offs. After the departure of manager Javi Gracia, the club appointed their former player and manager of the reserves at the time Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez;^[14] the team eventually managed to survive in 2013–14, finishing 16th.^[15][16]

Francisco was sacked in December 2014, after only managing two points out of 24,^[17] and was later replaced by Juan Ignacio Martínez.^[18] "JIM" also only lasted until April of the following year,^[19] and even with new manager Sergi Barjuán,^[20] the club was relegated after finishing 19th.^[21][22]

In the 2018–19 season, Almería finally escaped the tough fight for the permanence in Segunda División until the last matches as during 3 previous seasons. This time they were closer to the promotion play-offs to La Liga, and finished 10th from 22 teams participated.^[23]

 

Turki Al-Sheikh during a press conference in 2019

On 2 August 2019, Turki Al-Sheikh became the owner of the club, replacing Alfonso García Gabarrón.^[24] He appointed Mohamed El Assy as general director,^[25] Dario Drudi as sporting director, who replaced Miguel Ángel Corona,^[26] and manager Óscar Fernández was replaced by Pedro Emanuel.^[27] On 5 November 2019, it was announced Guti replaced Emanuel.^[28] On 26 June 2020, he was ceased and replaced by Mario Silva,^[29][30] who was himself replaced by José Gomes on 27 July.

In August 2021, UD Almería (Mohamed El Assy) and the Ayuntamiento de Almería [es] (Ramón Fernández-Pacheco Monterreal [es]) agreed to a lease on the operation of the municipally-owned Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos for a 25-year period.^[31] In June 2022, the club achieved promotion to the first division by sealing a 1st position in the table, respectively, on the very last match day of the season, after spending seven years in the second tier.

Season to season

See also: List of UD Almería seasons

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 1989–90 5 Reg. Pref. 1st 1990–91 5 Reg. Pref. 3rd 1991–92 5 Reg. Pref. 2nd 1992–93 4 3ª 2nd 1993–94 3 2ª B 11th Fourth round 1994–95 3 2ª B 2nd Second round 1995–96 2 2ª 16th Second round 1996–97 2 2ª 17th Second round 1997–98 3 2ª B 7th First round 1998–99 3 2ª B 18th 1999–2000 4 3ª 4th 2000–01 3 2ª B 11th 2001–02 3 2ª B 3rd 2002–03 2 2ª 18th Round of 32 2003–04 2 2ª 13th Round of 32 2004–05 2 2ª 14th Second round 2005–06 2 2ª 6th First round 2006–07 2 2ª 2nd Third round 2007–08 1 1ª 8th Round of 32 2008–09 1 1ª 11th Round of 16

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 2009–10 1 1ª 13th Round of 32 2010–11 1 1ª 20th Semi-finals 2011–12 2 2ª 7th Round of 32 2012–13 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32 2013–14 1 1ª 17th Round of 16 2014–15 1 1ª 19th Round of 16 2015–16 2 2ª 18th Round of 32 2016–17 2 2ª 15th Second round 2017–18 2 2ª 18th Second round 2018–19 2 2ª 10th Round of 32 2019–20 2 2ª 4th First round 2020–21 2 2ª 4th Quarter-finals 2021–22 2 2ª 1st Round of 32 2022–23 1 1ª 17th First round 2023–24 1 1ª

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• 8 seasons in La Liga
• 16 seasons in Segunda División
• 6 seasons in Segunda División B
• 2 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Current squad

As of 3 September 2023.^[32]

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 Diego Mariño 2 DF   BRA Kaiky 3 DF   ESP Edgar González 4 MF   GHA Iddrisu Baba (on loan from Mallorca) 5 MF   ARG Lucas Robertone 6 MF   SEN Dion Lopy 7 MF   BEL Largie Ramazani 8 MF   ESP Arnau Puigmal 9 FW   COL Luis Suárez 10 MF   ESP Adri Embarba 11 MF   ESP Gonzalo Melero 12 FW   BRA Léo Baptistão

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 GK   ESP Fernando Martínez 14 MF   BRA Lázaro 15 DF   ESP Sergio Akieme 17 MF   ESP Alejandro Pozo 18 DF   ESP Marc Pubill 19 MF   ESP Sergio Arribas 20 DF   ESP Álex Centelles 21 DF   ESP Chumi 22 DF   MEX César Montes 23 FW   MLI Ibrahima Koné 24 DF   GNB Houboulang Mendes 25 GK   POR Luís Maximiano (on loan from Lazio)

Reserve team

Main article: UD Almería 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 27 DF   ESP Paco Sanz 29 FW   SRB Marko Milovanović

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 FW   GNB Marciano Tchami 37 GK   ESP Bruno Iribarne

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   ESP Arnau Solà (at Cartagena until 30 June 2024) — MF   POR Gui Guedes (at Porto B until 30 June 2024) — FW   ENG Arvin Appiah (at Rotherham United until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   ESP Carlos Rojas (at Murcia until 30 June 2024) — FW   URU Juan Manuel Gutiérrez (at Boston River until 30 June 2024)

Technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Alberto Lasarte (caretaker)
Assistant coach
Fitness coach	Víctor Fortes
Goalkeeping coach	Ricardo Molina
Analyst	José Luis Deus Rodríguez   Ramón Arturo Pons
Doctor	Diego Portugal   Jesús Dueñas
Nutritionist	José González
Physiotherapist	Cid Andrade   Pedro Serrano   Pepe Álvarez   Edu Antequera
Rehab fitness coach	Álvaro Cano
Team Manager	Mohamed El Assy
Delegate	Jorge Díaz
Kit man	Bernardo Hernández   Juan Ventaja   Mateo Ruiz
Kit woman	Mari César

Last updated: September 2023
Source: UD Almería

Notable players

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

•   Sofiane Feghouli
•   Hernán Bernardello
•   Pablo Piatti
•   Óscar Ustari
•   Diego Valeri
•   Diego Alves
•   Paulo Jamelli
•   Felipe Melo
•   Michel Macedo
•   Jonathan Zongo
•   Modeste M'bami
•   Hans Martínez
•   Lorenzo Reyes
•   Fabián Vargas
•   Luis Suárez
•   Thievy Bifouma
•   Mate Bilić
•   Michael Jakobsen
•   Sena
•   Henok Goitom
•   Iddrisu Baba
•   Ferenc Horváth
•   Tomer Hemed
•   Ibrahima Koné
•   Sander Westerveld
•   Ramon Azeez
•   Kalu Uche
•   Diego Barreto
•   Peque Benítez
•   Santiago Acasiete
•   Miguel Rebosio
•   Hélder Barbosa
•   Nélson Marcos
•   Constantin Gâlcă
•   Veljko Paunović
•   Dion Lopy
•   Srđan Babić
•   Bruno
•   Álvaro Cervera
•   Juan Cervián
•   Corona
•   Albert Crusat
•   Esteban
•   Esteban Navarro
•   Fernando
•   Francisco
•   Carlos García
•   Julio
•   López Rekarte
•   Luna
•   Mané
•   Álvaro Negredo
•   José Ortiz
•   Juanma Ortiz
•   Juan Portillo
•   Raúl Sánchez
•   Fernando Soriano
•   Ángel Trujillo
•   Verza
•   Aleix Vidal
•   Teerasil Dangda
•   Julio Álvarez
•   Darwin Núñez
•   Ivica Barbarić

See also: Category:UD Almería players

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup Finals, while playing for Almería.

•   Kalu Uche (2010)
•   Ramon Azeez (2014)
•   Srđan Babić (2022)

Uniform

 

Almería's uniform in the 2020–21 season.

Period	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsors
2001–07	Cejudo	Obrascampo
2007–08	UDA
2008–10		None^1
2010–12	Rasán	Urcisol
2012–19	Nike
2019–20	Adidas	Arabian Centres
2020–22	Puma
2022–	Castore	Khaled Juffali Co.

¹ The shirt contained messages such as Isla del Fraile or Corredor de Vida.

Honours

• Segunda División: 2021–22

See also

• UD Almería B – Almería's B team
• AD Almería
• List of managers
• List of statistics

References

1. "Estadio Juegos del Mediterráneo" (in Spanish). UD Almería.
2. . UD Almeria SAD (in Spanish). 2007. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
3. "Estadio Juegos del Mediterráneo". UDA Almeria SAD (in Spanish). Retrieved January 18, 2018.
4. "Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos". Ideal (in Spanish). Retrieved January 18, 2018.
5. "1909: el año en el que nace el primer club de fútbol almeriense". Ideal. 28 May 2017.
6. "La historia del Club | Almería - Web Oficial". La historia del Club | Almería - Web Oficial (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-10-16.
7. Europa Press (1 July 2008). "Gonzalo Arconada firma como nuevo entrenador del Almería para las dos próximas temporadas". Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
8. EFE (21 December 2008). "Gonzalo Arconada, destituido como entrenador del Almería". Diario de Almería (in Spanish). Grupo Joly. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
9. EFE (20 November 2010). "Juan Manuel Lillo es destituido como entrenador del Almería". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
10. Europa Press (23 November 2010). "Lillo se despide, junto a sus ayudantes, de la plantilla del Almería". Marca (in Spanish). Unidad Editorial. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
11. "El Almería se encomienda a Oltra". ABC (in Spanish). Vocento. 25 November 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
12. EFE (5 April 2011). "La UD Almería destituye a José Luis Oltra para salvarse en ocho jornadas". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
13. EFE (5 April 2011). "Roberto Olabe sustituye a José Luis Oltra como técnico de la UD Almería". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Titania Compañía Editorial, S.L. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
14. "Francisco Javier Rodríguez, nuevo entrenador del Almería". El Economista (in Spanish). Editorial Ecoprensa, S.A. EcoDiario. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
15. . ESPN FC. 2013–2014. Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
16. . Liga de Fútbol Profesional. Liga BBVA. 2013–2014. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
17. Espino, Rafa (9 December 2014). "El Almería destituye a Francisco". AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
18. Europa Press (11 December 2014). "Juan Ignacio Martínez, nuevo entrenador del Almería hasta final de temporada". 20 Minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
19. Europa Press (5 April 2015). "El Almería destituye a Juan Ignacio Martínez". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
20. EFE (6 April 2015). "Sergi Barjuán, nuevo entrenador del Almería". Diario de Navarra (in Spanish). Grupo La Información. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
21. . Liga BBVA (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
22. "El Almería retira el recurso y acaba la Liga con 29 puntos". Super Deporte (in Spanish). Prensa Ibérica. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
23. "2018-2019 La Liga 2 Stats". FBref.com. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
24. Góngora, Rafa; Miralles, Carlos (2 August 2019). "Turki Al-Sheikh ya es el dueño del Almería". La Voz de Almería (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
25. "Su excelencia Turki Al-Sheikh, nuevo propietario de la UD Almería". Unión Deportiva Almería (in Spanish). 2 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
26. "Pedro Emanuel, Darío Drudi, Mohamed El Assy, los hombres fuertes del proyecto de Al-Sheihk". Diario de Almería (in Spanish). Joly Digital. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
27. Góngora, Rafa (2 August 2019). "Pedro Emanuel sería el nuevo entrenador del Almería". La Voz de Almería (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 August 2019.
28. de Rivas, Eduardo (5 November 2019). "Guti, nuevo entrenador del Almería". ABC (in Spanish). Vocento. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
29. "Guti, cesado como entrenador del Almería". Sport.es. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
30. Aguilera, Juanjo (26 June 2020). "Mario Silva dirige la primera sesión de trabajo post-'Guti'". Ideal (in Spanish). Vocento. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
31. "La UD Almería da el primer paso para la construcción de su estadio "Champions"". Cadena COPE. 9 August 2021.
32. "Plantilla Unión Deportiva Almería SAD". UD Almería (in Spanish). Urcisol. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UD Almería.

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)
• BDFutbol team profile
• Almeria on kouragoal site