Abanca Ademar León · History

Club Balonmano Ademar León, known for sponsorship reasons as Abanca Ademar León, is the handball club from León that has played in the Liga Asobal, Spain’s top flight, since the 1994-95 season. Former pupils of the Marist school Colegio Marista San José founded it in 1956. The team plays at the city’s Palacio Municipal de los Deportes, and its honours include one Liga Asobal, one Copa del Rey, two Copa Asobal titles and two EHF Cup Winners’ Cups.

Marist roots

The club was born in 1956. A group of pupils from Colegio Marista San José who played handball at school wanted to keep playing after they graduated. The name reflects that origin: Ademar comes from Asociación De Exalumnos MARistas, the Marist alumni association. Brother Tomás, who ran the school’s handball teams, was central to founding and growing the club. Players such as Javier Cabanas, Pablo Llorente, Manolo Estrella and Juanín García came through under him, and a bronze bust of him by sculptor Amancio González stands in the school. Brother Tomás also brought Juan Arias in as president, and the trophies came under Arias. Until 1975 the team played in provincial leagues because it had no money to chase promotion.

From the 1975 promotion to the Liga Asobal

In 1975 Ademar went up to Primera División Nacional, with Juan Arias still in the squad. Years of ups and downs followed. The club won promotion in 1982, 1985 and 1990, went down from the División de Honor in 1983 and 1986, and dropped out of Primera Nacional in 1989. Promotion in 1993-94 took it to the Liga Asobal for 1994-95. That first season ended in the relegation places, but the club stayed up because several other clubs folded. Manolo Cadenas took over as coach in 1995 and stayed until 2007. Ademar finished sixth in 1995-96, which earned its first European place, in the City Cup. In 1996-97 it was runner-up in both the Liga Asobal and the Copa Asobal, which took it into the 1997-98 Champions League.

The trophy years

The first two trophies came in 1998-99. Ademar won the Copa Asobal and the 1999 Cup Winners’ Cup, beating Caja Cantabria Santander in the final. It lost the first leg 20-19 in Santander and won the return 32-23 in León. That same season it was league runner-up again. On 16 June 2001 the club was crowned Liga Asobal champion after beating Portland San Antonio. It also reached the Cup Winners’ Cup final that year and lost it to Flensburg. The Copa del Rey followed in 2002, and Ademar lost the Spanish Super Cup final in both 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Europe and the Jordi Ribera years

The second Cup Winners’ Cup came in 2005, in a two-legged final against Hamburg. Cadenas’s side came back from the Color Line Arena four goals down and won the trophy in the return leg at the Palacio de los Deportes. In 2007 Ademar played a third Cup Winners’ Cup final, which it lost, and also reached the Copa del Rey final. After that season Jordi Ribera replaced Cadenas and coached the team until 2011. Under Ribera the club won its second Copa Asobal in 2008-09 and reached the 2010 Copa del Rey final. Between 1997-98 and 2018-19 Ademar played in the Champions League twelve times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1997-98, 1999-00, 2001-02 and 2011-12.

Players

Spain internationals who played for the León club include José Javier Hombrados, Raúl and Alberto Entrerríos, Julen Aguinagalde, Iker Romero, Mateo Garralda, Demetrio Lozano and Carlos Ruesga. Foreign players include Danijel Šarić, Kasper Hvidt, Staffan Olsson, Magnus Andersson, Uroš Zorman and Felipe Borges. The club’s top scorer is Juanín García, who came through the Marist school and scored 1,057 goals for Ademar. The club also ran a university reserve side, ULE Ademar, which won promotion to División de Honor Plata in 2010 and went down a year later.

Arena and coaches since 2011

The team plays at León’s Palacio Municipal de los Deportes, which opened in 1970 and holds just over 5,000 spectators. After Ribera, the coaches were Isidoro Martínez (2011-12), Manolo Cadenas again (2012-13), Dani Gordo (2013-15) and Rafael Guijosa (2015-19). Under Guijosa, Ademar finished second in the Liga Asobal in 2017 and 2018 and reached the 2018 Copa Asobal final. Cadenas came back in 2019 and stayed until 2023. In that spell the club was league runner-up in 2020, reached the 2021 Copa del Rey final and played in the 2021-22 Super Cup final. Gordo returned in 2023, and in 2025 Ademar lost the Copa del Rey final 25-34 to FC Barcelona at the Artaleku in Irun.