bm aragon · History

Club Deportivo Básico Balonmano Aragón was founded in Zaragoza in December 2003, when the savings bank Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada (CAI) became the main sponsor of the club, then chaired by Ricardo Arregui. The project took over the place of the defunct Rótulos Plasneón, the team that had kept the city in the Spanish second tier after Garbel Zaragoza were relegated in 2000. Domingo Aguerri’s construction company Ideconsa joined as a partner-sponsor. The team competed as Balonmano Aragón, CAI Balonmano Aragón and, in 2011-12, Caja3 Aragón, and from August 2012 as BM Aragón.

Promotion to Liga ASOBAL

In its first season, 2003-04, the team finished fifth in División de Honor B. A year later, with Fernando Bolea as coach, it finished second behind Algeciras and earned promotion to Liga ASOBAL in 2005. Its top-flight debut in 2005-06 ended in seventh place with 28 points, the highest total yet for a newly promoted side in its first season. The same year the team reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals in Almería, where it lost to Ciudad Real.

The 2007 European final

Under Serbian coach Veroljub Kosovac, in charge from 2005 to 2009, the club became a fixture in the upper half of the league: sixth in 2006-07 and 2007-08, eighth in 2008-09. Its best European run came in the 2006-07 EHF Cup. The Zaragoza side knocked out ASK Riga, Hungary’s Dunaferr, Bidasoa Irún and, in the semi-finals, Danish club Skjern. The final was against SC Magdeburg: the first leg, played at the Pabellón Príncipe Felipe in front of more than 11,000 spectators, ended 30-30, and the Germans won the return leg 31-28. Runner-up in the 2007 EHF Cup was the club’s biggest sporting achievement. In 2007 the team also returned to the Copa del Rey semi-finals, held in Altea, and lost to FC Barcelona.

Among the leading clubs

The following seasons kept the team in Europe. In the 2007-08 EHF Cup it reached the semi-finals before being eliminated by Nordhorn, and in 2008-09 it reached the same stage and lost to Gummersbach. In 2009 it played its third Copa del Rey semi-final, after beating Pilotes, and Ciudad Real again stood in its way. Mariano Ortega replaced Kosovac in 2009-10, a season that ended with seventh place in the league and a quarter-final exit from the EHF Cup against Lemgo. Off the court, Domingo Aguerri became president in July 2008 after Ricardo Arregui stepped down. The team finished sixth in 2010-11 and posted its best Liga ASOBAL finishes with two consecutive fifth places, in 2011-12 and 2012-13. In May 2013, with one round left, a defeat in Guadalajara ended its chances of a Champions League place.

Notable players

Players who wore the Zaragoza shirt included captain Amadeo Sorli, Dalibor Doder, Egyptian Hussein Zaky, Antonio Cartón, Swede Robert Arrhenius, Slovenian goalkeeper Beno Lapajne, Carlos Rodríguez Prendes, Iván Stanković, Marko Krivokapić, Brazilian Felipe Borges, Gábor Grebenár, Sebastian Koch-Hansen, Jorge Maqueda and Demetrio Lozano. Alex Dujshebaev and Víctor Vigo were sold to Atlético de Madrid. The club also used the Pabellón Siglo XXI, which holds around 2,700 people.

Crisis and dissolution

In July 2013 Óscar Mainer, previously sporting director and general manager, succeeded Aguerri as president, with Mariano Ortega back on the bench. The 2013-14 season ended in ninth place. In July 2014 the club came close to folding and entered insolvency proceedings; it kept playing and finished thirteenth in the 2014-15 Liga ASOBAL. The financial situation did not improve in 2015-16. On 11 April 2016 the members’ assembly announced the immediate withdrawal of the first team from Liga ASOBAL and its departure from the clubs’ association, citing financial difficulties and a lack of institutional support. Zaragoza City Council expressed its regret the following day. The club appeared in the final 2015-16 standings as withdrawn, after eleven seasons in the top flight.