CD Mensajero · History

In the 1980-81 season Club Deportivo Mensajero won promotion to the Tercera División, the first national tier the club ever reached. Based in Santa Cruz de La Palma, in the Canary Islands, the club gives 6 January 1922 as its founding date, though no records from the period confirm it; its first documented match was played in March 1924. Mensajero wear red shirts with black shorts and socks, and play their home games at the Estadio Silvestre Carrillo.

Origins and island football

The team was started by a group of young friends in the island capital. In the early years they wore red shirts and white shorts; after island football was reorganised in 1931 they switched to black shorts and black socks with a red trim. Mensajero won the Liga Insular in 1933-34 and 1934-35, before the Spanish Civil War halted competition in 1936. On 30 January 1942 the club was reorganised under president Fernando Leopold García and added basketball, swimming and chess sections, followed by boxing in 1945. Once the Liga Insular returned in 1948-49, Mensajero won it again in 1952-53, 1957-58, 1958-59 and 1960-61.

From Bajamar to the Silvestre Carrillo

For decades the team played at the Campo de Bajamar. In 1968 SD Tenisca took over the lease on that ground, which made training difficult for Mensajero, so the club bought the Quinta Verde estate to build a ground of its own. The Estadio Silvestre Carrillo, named after one of the club's benefactors, opened on 17 December 1977. Bajamar closed in January 1987. In 1999-00, with their stadium under renovation, Mensajero played at the Estadio Insular de Miraflores. After a later refurbishment, the Silvestre Carrillo hosted matches again from 15 January 2007.

Tercera División and the 1985 title

The 1980-81 promotion followed the Primera Interinsular title of 1979-80. The first spell in the Tercera lasted one season: Mensajero went down in 1981-82 and came back in 1982-83, the same year they won their first Copa Heliodoro Rodríguez López. They finished runners-up in the Canary group in 1983-84 and won the Tercera División in 1984-85. Second places followed in 1990-91 and 1991-92; in the latter season they came through the play-off group and went up to the Segunda División B.

Ten seasons in the third tier

Mensajero spent ten straight seasons in the Segunda División B, from 1992-93 to 2001-02. The best of them was 1994-95, when they finished second in Group I and entered the play-offs for the Spanish second division, without going up. They also played in several editions of the Copa del Rey during that period. In 2001-02 they finished twentieth and dropped to the Tercera. The slide continued in 2005-06 with relegation to the regional Preferente, which they left in 2007-08 as runners-up.

The 2015 return and the Federación era

In 2014-15 Mensajero won the Canary group of the Tercera and the Canary Islands championship. In the champions' play-off they faced Pontevedra CF: each side won one leg and Mensajero went through on penalties, returning to the Segunda División B after fourteen years. They finished thirteenth in 2015-16 and were relegated in 2016-17. Runners-up spots in the Tercera followed in 2017-18 and 2018-19. In 2020-21 they were Canary champions again and moved up to the newly created Segunda RFEF; they went down in 2021-22 and returned in 2022-23 as Group XII winners of the Tercera Federación. In 2023-24 they finished seventeenth in the Segunda RFEF and were relegated, and in 2024-25 they were fifth in the Tercera Federación with 56 points.

The Tenisca derby

Mensajero's long-standing rivals are SD Tenisca, also from Santa Cruz de La Palma, whom they first played in 1924. In 1983 the two sides contested a derby that the disciplinary committee sanctioned for its violence. Between 1981-82 and 2019-20, in national competition, the record stood at 12 wins for Mensajero, 22 draws and 13 wins for Tenisca, with 44 goals scored by each side.

Honours

At national level, Mensajero won the Tercera División in 1984-85 and 2014-15, and finished second in their Segunda B group in 1994-95. In the Canary Islands they have six Copa Heliodoro Rodríguez López titles (1982-83, 2006-07, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2017-18 and 2018-19), the Canary championships of 2014-15 and 2020-21, and the Tercera Federación Group XII title of 2022-23. On La Palma they won six Liga Insular titles, the last in 1960-61.