UD Almería

Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1989 as Almería Club de Fútbol it currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos, with a 22,000-seat capacity.

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History[edit]

AD Almería was 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. 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, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08. At the club's helm was coach Unai Emery, as striker Álvaro Negredo finished team topscorer with 13 goals.

After Emery left for Valencia CF, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in, but was sacked on 21 December 2008, after a string of poor results, albeit without ever reaching the last three.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. 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), and his successor José Luis Oltra met the same fate, in April 2011.

Season to season[edit]

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 1989/90 5 Regional 1st 1990/91 5 Regional 3rd 1991/92 5 Regional 2nd 1992/93 4 3ª 2nd 1993/94 3 2ªB 11th 1994/95 3 2ªB 2nd 1995/96 2 2ª 16th 1996/97 2 2ª 17th 1997/98 3 2ªB 7th 1998/99 3 2ªB 18th 1999/00 4 3ª 4th 2000/01 3 2ªB 11th 2001/02 3 2ªB 3rd

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 2002/03 2 2ª 18th Round of 32 2003/04 2 2ª 13th Round of 32 2004/05 2 2ª 16th 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 2009/10 1 1ª 13th Round of 32 2010/11 1 1ª 20th Semifinals 2011/12 2 2ª 7th Round of 32 2012/13 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32 2013/14 1 1ª

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• 5 seasons in La Liga
• 9 seasons in Segunda División
• 6 seasons in Segunda División B
• 2 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Uniform[edit]

Years	Manufacturers	Sponsors
2001–07	Cejudo	Obrascampo
2007–08	UDA
2008–10		None1
2010–12	Rasán	Urcisol
2012–	Nike

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

Current squad[edit]

Retrieved on 31 December 2013^[1]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Esteban (third-captain) 2 DF Marco Torsiglieri (on loan from Metalist Kharkiv) 3 DF Marcelo Silva 4 DF Hans Martínez (on loan from Universidad Católica) 5 DF Ángel Trujillo 6 MF Marcos Tébar 7 MF Verza 8 FW Aleix Vidal 9 FW Óscar Díaz 10 FW Rodri (on loan from Barcelona B) 11 MF Hélder Barbosa (on loan from Braga)

No. Position Player 14 DF Raúl García 15 MF Corona (captain) 16 MF Sebastián Dubarbier 17 MF Suso (on loan from Liverpool) 19 FW Jonathan Zongo 20 DF Rafita 21 DF Mané 22 DF Nélson (on loan from Palermo) 23 MF Fernando Soriano (vice-captain) 25 GK Óscar Ustari 31 MF Ramon Azeez

Youth team[edit]

Main article: UD Almería B

Youth players with first-team experience. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 27 FW Hicham 29 MF Kiu 32 FW Dani Romera

No. Position Player 34 MF Cristóbal 41 DF Antonio Marín 44 DF Fran Vélez

Out on loan[edit]

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

No. Position Player DF Michel Macedo (to Atlético-MG until 30 June 2014)

Achievements / Milestones[edit]

• Promoted to Segunda División in 1994–95
• Relegated to Segunda División B in 1996–97
• Relegated to Tercera División in 1998–99
• Promoted to Segunda División B in 1999–00
• Promoted to Segunda División in 2001–02
• Promoted to La Liga in 2006–07
• Relegated to Segunda División in 2010–11
• Promoted to La Liga in 2012–13

Notable former players[edit]

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

Pablo Piatti  Diego Alves  Felipe Melo  Fabián Vargas  Mate Bilić  Michael Jakobsen  Kalu Uche

Diego Barreto  Santiago Acasiete  Bruno  Corona  Albert Crusat  Esteban  Francisco

Carlos García  Mané  Álvaro Negredo  José Ortiz  Juanma Ortiz  Fernando Soriano

Recordists[edit]

Players in bold means that he still playing for the club.

Player Name Nationality Apps1 1 Jose Ortiz 321 2 Santiago Acasiete 200 3 Albert Crusat 199 4 Corona 195 4 Carlos Garcia 195 6 Soriano 183

Player Name Nationality Goals 1 Francisco 45 2 José Ortiz 42 3 Leonardo Ulloa 41 4 Kalu Uche 39 5 Charles 36 6 Albert Crusat 33

¹ Appearances only in La Liga.

Managers[edit]

Esteban Vigo (1995–96)  Quique Hernández (July 1, 1995–June 30, 1996)  Pedro Braojos (March 1, 1997–June 30, 1997)  Lucas Alcaraz (July 1, 1998–June 30, 1999)  Fabri (Jan 1, 2005–June 30, 2005)  Unai Emery (July 1, 2006–June 30, 2008)  Gonzalo Arconada (July 1, 2008–Dec 21, 2008)  Hugo Sánchez (Dec 22, 2008–Dec 21, 2009)

Juanma Lillo (Dec 24, 2009–Nov 20, 2010)  José Luis Oltra (Nov 25, 2010–April 5, 2011)  Roberto Olabe (April 5, 2011–June 30, 2011)  Luis Zubeldía (June 1, 2011–June 17, 2011)  Lucas Alcaraz (July 1, 2011–April 4, 2012)  Esteban Vigo (April 4, 2012–June 11, 2012)  Javi Gracia (July 1, 2012–June 30, 2013)  Francisco Rodríguez (July 1, 2013–)