Atlético Levante · History

Atlético Levante UD is the reserve team of Levante UD. It plays its home games at the Ciudad Deportiva de Buñol, near Valencia, and has competed in Tercera Federación, the fifth tier of Spanish football, since 2022. The club was formed on 10 November 1962 through the merger of two Valencian sides, Unión Deportiva Malvarrosa and Club Deportivo Portuarios, and has changed its name three times since then.

Foundation and early years

Malvarrosa, founded in 1926, and Portuarios, founded in 1952, had both played in the Tercera División before joining forces. The new club took the name Club Atlético Levante and worked as a farm team linked to Levante. It made its debut in Primera Regional in 1962-63. After finishing second in 1963-64 it moved up to the Tercera División, where it spent five straight seasons, until 1969. It then dropped into the regional leagues and stayed there for more than two decades.

From Aficionados to Levante B

In 1976 the team was renamed Levante UD Aficionados. Those were years in Regional Preferente and Primera Regional, including two seasons without competing, 1990-91 and 1991-92. In 1994 it took the name Levante UD B and formally became Levante's reserve side. The climb started there: second in Primera Regional in 1994-95, then Regional Preferente champions in 1998-99, which brought the team back to the Tercera División in 1999.

Segunda División B and the Buñol training ground

The Ciudad Deportiva de Buñol, where the reserve team plays, opened on 26 June 2003. A year later came the first promotion to Segunda División B, the Spanish third tier at the time. The team finished third in its first season, 2004-05, under José Luis Oltra. In 2005-06 it posted its best league finish, second in its group, with José Ángel Moreno as coach. Then came the decline: tenth in 2006-07 and twentieth in 2007-08, its worst finish, which sent it back to the Tercera. José Gómez coached the side from 2008 to 2014. Under him the reserves finished second in the Tercera in 2011-12 and returned to Segunda B, where they came third in 2012-13. They were relegated in 2013-14 after finishing eighteenth.

The return of the Atlético Levante name

In 2014 the reserve team went back to the name Atlético Levante UD. With Miguel Ángel Villafaina in charge it finished second in the Tercera in 2014-15 and won promotion to Segunda B again. It stayed there for two seasons, finishing fourteenth in 2015-16 and sixteenth in 2016-17, a place that sent it back down. In 2017-18 it was champion of Group VI of the Tercera División and returned to Segunda B through the promotion play-offs. Paco López coached the reserves that season before taking over Levante's first team.

From Segunda B to Segunda Federación

Atlético Levante then spent three seasons in a row in Segunda B: eleventh in 2018-19 and twelfth in 2019-20, both under Luis García Tevenet, followed by a 2020-21 campaign under Alessio Lisci in which it qualified for the new Segunda Federación, created when the Spanish league pyramid was restructured in 2021. In 2021-22 it finished fourteenth under Adrián Esteve and dropped to Tercera Federación. In all, the club has played eleven seasons in Segunda División B and one in Segunda Federación.

Players who came through the reserves

Several players who went on to reach the top level in Spain and England passed through the Levante reserve team, among them Vicente Iborra, José Enrique, Roque Mesa, Rubén García, Roger Martí, Héctor Rodas and goalkeeper Manu Herrera. Claudio Barragán, Aarón Bueno, Dani Cárdenas, Juanra and Víctor Marco also played for the side.

Tercera Federación

In Group VI of Tercera Federación, which covers the Valencian Community, the team finished fourth in 2022-23 under Chema Sanz. Álvaro del Moral took over as coach in 2023; the reserves came sixth in 2023-24 and twelfth in 2024-25. In 2025-26 they finished third and entered the play-offs for promotion to Segunda Federación. They knocked out Villarreal C in the semi-finals (3-1 and 1-2), then lost the final to La Nucía, who won 2-1 on aggregate (0-1 and 1-1).