ecija balompie · History

Écija Balompié is the football club of Écija, in the province of Seville, and has competed in the Segunda Andaluza since 2024, the year it won promotion as champion of the Tercera Andaluza. Its roots lie in Écija Football Club, founded in 1939, and the present club was refounded in 1968. It plays at the Estadio San Pablo in blue shirts and white shorts, and its players and supporters are known as the “Azulinos”. Between 1995 and 1997 it spent two seasons in the Spanish second division.

Origins and refoundation

Organised football in Écija took shape in 1939 with Écija Football Club. That club later folded, and it was refounded in 1968 under the name Écija Balompié. Its first official competition was the 1969 Copa de Primavera, after which it joined the Andalusian regional leagues, where it spent almost two decades. Since 1962 the town had the Estadio Municipal San Pablo, the ground where the team has played its home matches.

From the regional leagues to the second division

The rise began in the late 1980s. In 1987 the team was promoted to the Tercera División, and five years later it stepped up to Segunda División B: on 28 June 1992 it beat Talavera 3-1 in the match that sealed promotion, the same day the club anthem was first performed. Francisco Chaparro, coach in 1990-92 and 1993-94, was a key figure of that period. Écija settled quickly in the third tier, and in June 1995 it came through the play-offs to earn promotion to the Segunda División, the highest level it has reached.

Two seasons in the second tier (1995-1997)

Its debut season in the second division, 1995-96, ended in 13th place, the best league finish in its record. The following campaign was very different: Écija finished 20th in 1996-97 and dropped back to Segunda B. Soon afterwards, in 1998, financial trouble surfaced in stark fashion when several players locked themselves inside the town hall for weeks to demand unpaid wages.

Segunda B and the cup tie with Real Madrid

The club spent most of the next two decades in Segunda División B. In the 2006-07 Copa del Rey, coached by Miguel Rivera, it knocked out Villanovense, Real Unión and Eibar, the last of them on penalties after a 0-0 draw, and was drawn against Real Madrid in the round of 32. In the first leg, played in Écija with temporary stands, Nolito cancelled out a Cassano goal in the closing minutes for a 1-1 draw. In the return leg on 10 November 2006, Real Madrid won 5-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu, with Mario scoring for Écija. In 2007-08 the team were Segunda B Group IV champions, although they lost the final promotion play-off to SD Huesca.

Financial crises and relegations

Money problems shaped the years that followed. In the summer of 2009 unpaid wages left the club close to administrative relegation, and on 3 August 2010 a group of local businessmen took control. Coaches in that spell included Risto Vidakovic (2009-10) and Manuel Zúñiga (2010-11). In 2013-14, the season of the club’s 75th anniversary, Écija finished bottom and went down to the Tercera División. It returned to Segunda B in 2017 after beating Olímpic de Xàtiva on penalties in the play-offs, but was relegated again in 2017-18 with 45 points.

The 2019 expulsion and rebuilding

Mounting debts threatened the club’s survival in 2018-19. In August 2019, with €217,000 left unpaid, Écija were expelled from the 2019-20 Tercera División and had to start again in the Andalusian regional divisions. In 2023-24 they finished first in the Tercera Andaluza and won direct promotion to the Segunda Andaluza, where they placed fourth in Seville’s Group 1 in 2024-25.