Osasuna Promesas · History

The Tajonar training complex, on the southern outskirts of Pamplona, opened in July 1982 under club president Fermín Ezcurra and has been the home of Club Atlético Osasuna «B», known as Osasuna Promesas, ever since. The site was enlarged to 80,000 square metres in 1987-88 and gained three more training pitches in 2001. Its stadium hosts the reserve side, which has also played the odd match at El Sadar. The team is the last step of CA Osasuna’s academy before the first team, and it has spent 33 seasons in the Segunda División B and four in the Primera Federación.

The regional years

The first season on the reserve side’s record is 1964-65, in the Segunda Regional, which it won. It then settled in the Primera Regional, the fourth tier of Spanish football at the time, finishing runner-up in 1966-67 and again in 1971-72. That second place earned a place in the Tercera División, then the third national tier. The stay lasted two seasons: tenth in 1972-73 and twentieth in 1973-74, which sent the team back to the Regional Preferente. It spent six campaigns there, with the creation of the Segunda División B in 1977 in between, until a runner-up finish in 1979-80 took it back to the Tercera.

A first spell in the Segunda División B

The breakthrough came in 1981-82. Promesas finished second in the Tercera and made their Segunda División B debut in 1982-83, the same season they began playing at Tajonar. They lasted three campaigns, finishing 13th, 11th and 18th, before going down in 1985. They won the Tercera in 1985-86 but missed out on promotion in the play-offs. A year later they took the title again, and this time they went up.

From 1987 the team strung together 26 consecutive seasons in the Segunda División B. Its best finishes were two second places, in 1989-90 and 1995-96, plus third in 1990-91. Between 1994 and 2000 it could not be promoted, because Osasuna’s first team was in the Spanish second division and a reserve side may not play in the same tier as its parent club. The run ended in 2012-13, when a 19th-place finish meant relegation to the Tercera.

Back and forth between the third and fourth tiers

After two fourth places in the Tercera, in 2013-14 and 2014-15, the reserves won their group in 2015-16 and regained their Segunda B place through the play-offs. The return was brief: 11th in 2016-17 and 19th in 2017-18, followed by another relegation. Santi Castillejo took over in 2018 and in his first campaign won Group XV of the Tercera, sealing promotion in the play-offs against Cádiz CF Mirandilla. A seventh place followed in 2019-20, a season cut short by COVID-19, and a fifth in 2020-21.

A feeder for the first team

Promesas act as the bridge between the Tajonar youth sides and Osasuna’s professional squad. During Castillejo’s eight seasons in charge, from 2018 to 2026, with 280 official matches on the bench, players such as Jon Moncayola, Aimar Oroz, Jorge Herrando, Iker Muñoz, Iker Benito, Asier Osambela and Iñigo Arguibide made the step up to the first team. Pablo Ibáñez, Javi Martínez, Iván Barbero and Diego Moreno also developed with the reserves in that period. The team’s honours include four Tercera División titles (1985-86, 1986-87, 2015-16 and 2018-19), its Segunda RFEF group title in 2021-22 and the Navarre Federation Cup in 2014.

Four seasons in the Primera Federación

The 2021 restructuring of the Spanish pyramid placed Promesas in the new Segunda División RFEF, the fourth tier. They won their group in 2021-22, beating Izarra 2-1 at Tajonar on the final matchday, and in May 2022 earned direct promotion to the Primera RFEF, alongside Córdoba, Numancia, Pontevedra and Intercity. In the third tier they finished seventh in 2022-23, twelfth in 2023-24 and fourteenth in 2024-25. The fourth campaign, 2025-26, ended in 19th place: a goalless draw away to Racing de Ferrol in May 2026 confirmed relegation to the Segunda Federación.