CD Teruel · History

Estadio de Pinilla, on Juez Villanueva street in Teruel, has hosted Club Deportivo Teruel since it was reopened on 8 September 1957 with a friendly against CA Osasuna. Football had been played on that ground for decades before, and the club has played its home games there in every division it has passed through. CD Teruel, nicknamed «El Torico» after the emblem of the city, wears red shirts and blue shorts and dates its foundation to 1954. It has competed in Primera Federación, the third tier of Spanish football, since 2025.

Origins and early decades

Football in Teruel had forerunners such as Sociedad Deportiva Turolense, founded in 1917, and Unión Deportiva Teruel, born in 1943. CD Teruel started out in 1954 in Tercera Regional, the lowest level, and in its first years played under the Valencian federation. After two seasons it took over SD Montañesa’s place in Tercera División, skipping the intermediate divisions, and moved to the Aragonese federation. Its first Tercera campaign, 1956-57, ended in third place, and it stayed in that division until 1970, with another third place in 1967-68 as its best finish. Relegation in 1970 began a long spell in the Aragonese Regional Preferente, including a season in Primera Regional in 1972-73, which only ended with its return to Tercera in 1984.

First spell in Segunda División B

Back in Tercera, the team finished fourth in 1984-85, third in 1985-86 and runner-up in 1986-87, a result that brought its first promotion to Segunda División B in 1987. Its debut in the third tier, 1987-88, coincided with its best Copa del Rey run, reaching the third round, while striker Carlos Pérez scored 20 league goals. In 1988-89 the club achieved its best league finish: fourth in Segunda B. The next two campaigns went downhill, sixteenth in 1989-90 and twentieth and last in 1990-91, the year of relegation and of its heaviest home defeat, 0-7 against CFJ Mollerussa.

Nineteen years in Tercera and a return to Segunda B

Teruel spent nineteen consecutive seasons in Tercera División between 1991 and 2010. It won the Aragonese group in 2000-01 and was runner-up in 2001-02, without winning promotion in the play-offs. At regional level it lifted the Aragon Copa Federación in 1995-96. A second Tercera title came in 2009-10 under coach Ramón Calderé: after topping its group, the team beat SD Noja in the champions’ play-off and sealed the return to Segunda B with a 2-1 win at Pinilla on 23 May 2010. It lasted three seasons, twelfth in 2010-11 and eleventh in 2011-12, before going down in 2012-13 after a 5-1 defeat on the final matchday.

From a third Tercera title to Segunda Federación

Five seasons in Tercera followed, with failed promotion play-offs, runner-up finishes in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and another Aragon Copa Federación in 2016-17. In 2017-18 the club won its third Tercera title and on 28 May 2018 knocked out Cádiz B to climb back into Segunda B, where it finished seventeenth in 2018-19 and dropped again. In 2019-20, under César Láinez, it was Tercera runner-up and won its fourth Aragon Copa Federación. The 2021 restructuring placed it in the new Segunda RFEF, the fourth tier. With Víctor Bravo in charge, it finished fourth in 2021-22, beat CP Cacereño in the play-off semi-finals and lost the promotion final to AD Mérida.

Two promotions to Primera Federación

In 2022-23 Teruel were crowned Segunda Federación Group III champions with two matchdays to spare and went straight up to Primera Federación. Their first season in the third tier, 2023-24, under Raúl Jardiel, proved hard: they spent much of the campaign in the relegation places, finished seventeenth and went down after losing to Osasuna Promesas on the penultimate matchday. Back in Segunda Federación, they finished fifth in 2024-25 and reached the play-offs. There they won 2-5 against Atlético Baleares at the Estadi Balear and, in the final, after a goalless first leg, beat CD Numancia 0-1 at Los Pajaritos on 1 June 2025 with a stoppage-time penalty from Peru Ruiz. It was their second promotion to Primera Federación in three years.

Honours

CD Teruel’s national honours comprise one Segunda Federación title (2022-23) and three Tercera División titles (2000-01, 2009-10 and 2017-18), plus five Tercera runner-up finishes (1986-87, 2001-02, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2019-20). In Aragon it has won the Copa Federación four times: 1995-96, 2011-12, 2016-17 and 2019-20. In 2025-26, its second season in Primera Federación, it finished thirteenth in Group II.