Elche Ilicitano · History

The club was born in April 1932 in Elche, when a group of young people from the city founded Sportman Club Ilicitano. Over the years it became the reserve side of Elche CF and the final step of the academy before the first team. It has changed its name three times: it became Club Deportivo Ilicitano in 1941, Elche Club de Fútbol “B” in 1992 and Elche Ilicitano Club de Fútbol in 2005. Like every reserve team in Spanish football, it plays in the same league pyramid as its parent club and cannot compete in the same division.

Early years and the leap to the second tier

Ilicitano spent its first decades in the Valencian regional leagues. In 1941-42 it finished first in Segunda Regional. The big leap came in 1967-68, when it won its Tercera División group and earned promotion to the Spanish second division. It played two seasons at that level, 1968-69 and 1969-70, finishing sixteenth both times. In the first it kept its place through a relegation play-off against Hércules, won 3-2 on aggregate over two legs. In the second it could not avoid the drop, and in the summer of 1970 it went back to Tercera.

Four decades in Tercera División

The return to the fourth tier was tough: the team finished fifteenth in 1970-71 and eighteenth in 1971-72. From then on Tercera became its natural home, adding up to 38 seasons in the division. In the 1980s it took part in the Copa del Rey, reaching the second round in 1984-85 and going out in the first round in 1986-87. In 1992 it took the name Elche CF “B”. In 1998-99 it won its Tercera group again, its second title in the division, and in 1999-2000 it reached the final of the Copa Federación, which was won by Sabadell.

Down to regional football and a double promotion

In 2005 the team adopted the name Elche Ilicitano. Three years later it hit rock bottom: at the end of 2007-08 it was relegated to the Valencian Regional Preferente. The rebuild took four seasons. In 2011-12, with Bartolomé Llompart as coach, it finished top of Preferente, and in June 2012 it beat Hércules B in the play-off that took it back to Tercera. Under Vicente Mir it went up again straight away: it won its Tercera group in 2012-13 and on 2 June 2013 beat UE Olot in the final play-off round for a place in Segunda División B.

Two seasons in Segunda B

Its debut in the third tier, in 2013-14, ended with a sixth-place finish. The following campaign, 2014-15, went the other way: the reserve side finished nineteenth and dropped back to Tercera. In July 2015 Óscar Cano took charge, and later that year he was replaced by Vicente Parras, who led the team until 2017. José Luis Acciari, Sergio Pelegrín, Pau Quesada, René Martínez, Alberto Gallego and Patricio Graff followed him in the dugout. With the 2021 restructuring of the Spanish leagues, the old Tercera gave way to Tercera División RFEF, later renamed Tercera Federación, and Ilicitano spent three seasons there.

Promotion to Segunda Federación

With Ángel Donato as coach, Ilicitano won Group VI of Tercera Federación in 2023-24. It sealed first place with five matchdays to spare, by which point it had 23 wins from 29 games, with 68 goals scored and 16 conceded. The Valencian Football Federation made the direct promotion to Segunda Federación official in its ruling of 26 June 2024. In its first season at that level, 2024-25, it finished tenth, and in 2025-26 it ended in twelfth place.