BM Guadalajara · History

BM Guadalajara, officially Asociación Deportiva Ciudad de Guadalajara, is a handball club from Guadalajara, in the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha, founded in 2007. It has played in the Liga ASOBAL since 2010, when it made its debut in the top tier of Spanish handball, and has since alternated seasons in the top flight with two short spells in the second-tier División de Honor Plata. Its home venues have been the David Santamaría Municipal Sports Hall, which holds about 2,000 spectators, and the Palacio Multiusos de Guadalajara, which seats close to 6,000.

An earlier club in the city

Guadalajara had a top-flight team before this one. The former Club Balonmano Guadalajara played four seasons in the Liga ASOBAL between 1991 and 1996, sponsored by Caja de Guadalajara and Avirresa. Its squads included Rafael Guijosa, Juan Pedro Muñoz «Papitu» and the Romanian goalkeeper Alexandru Buligan. Its best finish was tenth, in 1995-96. The club folded that same year because of financial problems, and the city went without top-level handball for more than a decade.

Foundation and promotions (2007-2010)

Asociación Deportiva Ciudad de Guadalajara was founded in 2007 with the backing of the property group Reálitas, which gave the team its name in its early seasons. Fernando Bolea was its first coach. The first season went as well as it could have: in 2007-08 the team finished second in Primera Nacional, won the promotion play-off and went up to División de Honor B. A year later it came close to another step up but lost the promotion final to Cangas, 25-21. It made the jump in 2009-10. Playing as Rayet BM Guadalajara, the team finished second in the regular season and beat Pozoblanco in the promotion final, which went to a penalty shoot-out. Andrés Epeldegui scored the deciding penalty. The club reached the Liga ASOBAL in 2010, just three years after it was founded.

A decade in the Liga ASOBAL (2010-2021)

With Quabit as sponsor, the team finished 13th in its first top-flight season (2010-11), 14th in 2011-12 and 13th again in 2012-13. Mateo Garralda, a world champion with Spain, coached the team from 2012 to 2014 and oversaw its first big step forward: eighth place in 2013-14. César Montes took over in 2014. Under him the team finished 11th in 2014-15 and eighth again in 2017-18, a season in which it was second in the table in February 2018. In the Copa del Rey it reached the quarter-finals in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 editions. After a 12th-place finish in 2018-19, Mariano Ortega led the team to seventh place in 2019-20, its best finish in the Liga ASOBAL. A year later, in 2020-21, it finished 15th and was relegated to the División de Honor Plata.

Promotions and relegations (2021-2025)

Juan Carlos Requena became coach in 2021 and won promotion at the first attempt: the club were División de Honor Plata champions in 2021-22. Playing as Cívitas BM Guadalajara, the team finished 15th in the 2022-23 Liga ASOBAL and went down again. It reached the Copa del Rey quarter-finals that same season. Then the pattern repeated: in 2023-24 it won the División de Honor Plata again and returned to the top tier.

Notable players

Several well-known players have worn the club's shirt. Goalkeeper José Javier Hombrados, who played at World Championships for Spain, kept goal for Guadalajara from 2015 to 2021. Centre back Chema Márquez played there from 2014 to 2020. Italy's Fábio Chiuffa was at the club from 2014 to 2016 and came back in 2022. Valero Rivera (2008-09) and the Slovak Stanislav Demovič (2009-2011) played in the club's early seasons, and the Argentine Gastón Mouriño spent the 2020-21 season there. During the 2010s the club also signed several Brazilian players, among them César Almeida, Alexandro Pozzer and Lucas Cândido.

Back in the top flight (2024-25)

Back in the Liga ASOBAL as Impulse BM Guadalajara, the team kept the core of the squad that had won promotion and aimed to avoid relegation. It finished the 2024-25 season in 14th place, its 13th campaign in the top tier since its debut in 2010.