ademar león · History

Club Balonmano Ademar León is the handball club of the Spanish city of León. It reached Spain's top division, the Liga ASOBAL, in 1994 and played its first season there in 1994-95. Founded in 1956 as Club Deportivo Ademar León, it plays at the Palacio Municipal de los Deportes in León. Its honours include one Liga ASOBAL title (2000-01), one Copa del Rey (2001-02), two Copa ASOBAL titles (1998-99 and 2008-09) and two EHF Cup Winners' Cups (1998-99 and 2004-05). Sponsorship deals have given it several names, among them Prosesa Ademar, Reale Ademar and Abanca Ademar León. Supporters call the team Maristas, Ademaristas, Leones or Blancos.

Roots at the Colegio Marista San José

The club was founded in 1956 by a group of players from the Colegio Marista San José, a Marist school in León. Once they finished secondary school they lost their link to the school, but they wanted to keep playing, so they set up a club of their own. It began as an association of former Marist pupils, backed by the school and dependent on it. That origin explains the nicknames Maristas and Ademaristas, which León supporters still use.

From regional leagues to the top flight

For almost two decades Ademar played in provincial competitions. In 1975 it was promoted to the Primera División Nacional, where it spent the following years. The decisive step came in 1993-94, when it finished first in that division and won promotion. In 1994-95 it played in the Liga ASOBAL for the first time, and in 1995-96 a sixth-place finish earned its first European place, in the EHF City Cup.

The Manolo Cadenas years and the first trophies

Manolo Cadenas took charge in 1995. He coached the team until 2007 and returned in 2012-13 and again from 2019 to 2023. Under him, Ademar went from newly promoted side to regular contender. In 1996-97 it finished runner-up in both the league and the Copa ASOBAL, and that second place in the league took it into the EHF Champions League the following season, when it reached the quarter-finals. In 1998-99 it won its first domestic trophy, the Copa ASOBAL, and its first European title: the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup, in an all-Spanish final against Caja Cantabria Santander (19-20 in the first leg, 32-23 in the second). It was also league runner-up that season.

The league title arrived in 2000-01, the only one in the club's history. That same year Ademar lost the Cup Winners' Cup final to Germany's SG Flensburg-Handewitt, 51-49 on aggregate. In 2001-02 it added the Copa del Rey and again reached the Champions League quarter-finals. Players from that period included Juanín García, who played in León from 1997 to 2005 and again from 2015 to 2019, Iker Romero, Alberto and Raúl Entrerríos, Julen Aguinagalde and Iceland's Sigfús Sigurðsson.

A second Cup Winners' Cup and more European finals

In 2004-05 Ademar won its second Cup Winners' Cup, beating Croatia's RK Zagreb 37-25 and 31-25 in the final. Two years later it reached the final of the same competition again and lost to HSV Hamburg, after a 28-24 defeat away and a 33-37 win on the return leg. It was also a Copa del Rey finalist in 2006-07. Cadenas left in 2007 and was replaced by Jordi Ribera, who stayed until 2011. Under Ribera the club won its second Copa ASOBAL in 2008-09 and reached the 2010 Copa del Rey final, which it lost 38-35 to FC Barcelona after extra time.

The Palacio de los Deportes

The team plays its home games at the Palacio Municipal de los Deportes in León, which opened in 1970 and holds more than 5,000 spectators. It has staged the club's Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup and EHF Cup nights. Ademar has also played in the EHF Cup in several seasons, including 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2016-17.

From Guijosa to the 2025 cup final

After Cadenas in 2012-13 and Daniel Gordo from 2013 to 2015, Rafael Guijosa coached the side from 2015 to 2019. In that period Ademar returned to the top of the table, finishing league runner-up in consecutive seasons, 2016-17 and 2017-18, and reaching the 2017 Copa ASOBAL final, lost to Barcelona. In 2018-19 it returned to the Champions League. With Cadenas back in charge, it was league runner-up in 2019-20, Copa del Rey runner-up in 2020-21, a Spanish Super Cup finalist in 2021-22 and a Copa ASOBAL finalist in 2022-23. In June 2025 it played the Copa del Rey final at the Artaleku in Irun and lost 25-34 to FC Barcelona, its fourth runner-up finish in the competition.