SD Gernika · History

In 1973-74 Sociedad Deportiva Gernika Club won the Biscay Regional Preferente. The title took the club up to the Tercera División, and it finished ninth in its first season there, 1974-75. The club comes from Gernika-Lumo in Biscay, Spain, and was founded on 9 December 1922. It plays in black and white and has the Gernika oak on its crest. Gernika has spent twelve seasons in the Spanish third tier, Segunda División B, and joined the newly created Segunda Federación in 2021.

Founding and the regional decades

The club first played at Zubigorri, between 1923 and 1934. After the Civil War, from 1942 to 1954, it used Zubikoa. In 1954 it moved to Santa Lucía, also called Lurgorri, which was its home for half a century. From the late 1920s until 1974 Gernika played in the Biscay regional leagues. It won the Primera Regional in 1943-44, 1944-45, 1946-47 and 1970-71, went up to the Regional Preferente in 1971 and earned promotion to the national divisions three years later.

Twenty years in the Tercera División

Gernika played in the Tercera División every season from 1974 until the mid-1990s. Its best finish in that period was fourth, in 1978-79. It won the Ategorri Trophy three times, in 1974, 1978 and 1981. These were also its first Copa del Rey campaigns: it reached the second round in 1974-75 and 1976-77 and went out in the first round in the next four editions, from 1977-78 to 1980-81.

The Segunda División B years

Gernika made its Segunda División B debut in the mid-1990s. After a short return to the Tercera, it put together several seasons in the third tier, which ended with relegation in 2003 after a 17th-place finish. Twelve seasons in the Tercera followed, mostly near the top of Group IV, with second places in 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2014-15. Left-back Koikili Lertxundi played for the club in that period, from 2001 to 2003 and again in 2004-05, before joining Athletic Club in 2007.

Promotion came in 2015 through the play-off for non-champions. Gernika won three ties, the last against Osasuna B (1-0 in the first leg, 1-1 at Urbieta), and returned to Segunda División B after twelve years away. It stayed up for four seasons this time, until it finished 17th and went down in 2019.

The Urbieta ground

In the summer of 2005 the club left Santa Lucía for the Campo Municipal de Urbieta, a council-owned sports complex in the north of the town that holds about 3,000 spectators. Urbieta lies inside the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, and its stand never received full planning permission. In 2020 the town council ordered the demolition of the unfinished section of the terrace.

Copa del Rey

Gernika returned to the Copa del Rey in 1996-97. In 2018-19 it knocked out SCD Durango 1-0, with a 90th-minute goal from Gorka Larrucea. In the second round it lost 1-0 to UE Sant Andreu, who scored a penalty in the 116th minute of extra time. In December 2021 it lost 1-2 to SD Eibar. In 2022-23 it beat CD Leganés on penalties after a goalless draw at Urbieta, then hosted La Liga side Celta de Vigo on 22 December 2022 and lost 0-3. On 1 November 2023 Unionistas de Salamanca won 0-2 in the first round in front of 1,200 spectators.

Tercera champions and the Segunda Federación

After relegation, Gernika finished sixth in 2019-20. In 2020-21 it won Group IV of the Tercera División, the most important league title in its history, and that summer it moved up to the newly created Segunda División RFEF, later renamed the Segunda Federación. In the new division it finished eighth in 2021-22, fifth in 2022-23, eleventh in 2023-24 and twelfth in 2024-25. In 2025-26, its fifth season in the Segunda Federación, it finished 11th.