CD Tudelano · History

Club Deportivo Tudelano is the football club of Tudela, the main town of the Ribera region in Navarre, and has competed in Segunda Federación, the Spanish fourth tier, since 2022, the year it was relegated from Primera Federación. The club was founded on 29 November 1935 and plays at the Estadio Ciudad de Tudela, which holds 11,000 spectators. Its kit is a white and black shirt with black shorts and white socks, which is why the team is known as “los blancos”. It has spent most of its history in the Tercera División. It has also played fifteen seasons in Segunda División B and one in Primera Federación.

Founded in 1935

The club was formed by merging several supporters’ club teams that had been playing in Tudela since 1933. Among them were El Vegetariano, Tudela C.F., Ancora Fordín, Arenas, Gazte-tasun and Muskaria Club, although not all of them joined. The founding charter is dated 29 November 1935. Lucas Gallego chaired the first board, with Jesús Iturre as vice-president. In its early years the team played at the municipal ground of Griseras, where the players changed in the bullring. It stayed there until the 1968-69 season. The first Copa del Rey appearance in its records is 1948-49, when it went out in the first round.

Tercera División and the first promotions

The first title came in the 1954-55 season. That year Tudelano won Group IV of the Tercera División, but lost the promotion play-off for the Segunda División. In the 1975-76 Copa del Rey it reached the third round. In 1976-77, with Rosendo Hernández as coach, a restructuring of the leagues gave the club a place in the new Segunda División B, but it lasted only the 1977-78 season there. Under Adolfo Pérez Marañón, Tudelano won Group IV again in 1983-84, only to lose the promotion play-off to Marbella. In 1984 it won the Tercera División League Cup with a 4-2 win over Yeclano. The Group XV title in 1990-91 took the club back to Segunda B, where it stayed until it was relegated in 1995-96.

The Estadio Ciudad de Tudela

The new stadium opened on 17 August 1969. It was first named José Antonio Elola and was later renamed Ciudad de Tudela. It replaced Griseras and has been the club’s home ever since, with a capacity of 11,000. Tudelano’s honours also include 24 editions of the Trofeo Joaquín Segura, a summer tournament that it first won in 1973 and last won in 2022.

Sixteen years in the fourth tier

After the 1996 relegation, Tudelano spent a long spell in the Navarre group of the Tercera División. It won Group XV in 2009-10 and again in 2010-11, but lost the promotion play-offs both times. The return came in 2011-12, with José María Lumbreras as coach and Jesús Miranda as president. The team finished third, won the play-off and went back up to Segunda División B sixteen years after its last season at that level.

Nine seasons in Segunda B

Between 2012 and 2021 the club played nine straight seasons in Segunda División B. Its best finish was third in 2015-16. In that same season, goalkeeper Mikel Pagola went more than 1,300 minutes without conceding and beat Abel Resino’s mark of 1,275 minutes. In 2019-20 Tudelano reached the final of the Copa RFEF, which it lost to Real Murcia. On 30 October 2019, the members’ assembly voted unanimously to turn the club into a sporting limited company (SAD) from the 2020-21 season. It was the first club in Navarre to make that change.

Primera Federación and Segunda Federación

The 2020-21 season ended with promotion to Primera Federación, the new third tier of Spanish football. Tudelano lasted only one year there: in 2021-22 it finished 19th of 20 and went down to Segunda Federación. On 16 June 2022, Ramón Lázaro Martínez bought 97% of the shares for one euro and took on debts of more than one million euros. In Segunda Federación the team finished sixth in 2022-23 and seventh in 2023-24. It came eleventh in 2024-25 and fifth in Group 2 in 2025-26.