SD Noja · History

Sociedad Deportiva Noja is the football club of Noja, a coastal town in Cantabria, northern Spain. It has played in the Cantabrian Regional Preferente since 2026, when it was relegated from the Tercera Federación. Founded in 1963, it plays at the La Caseta stadium in green and white. Between 1987 and 2014 the club spent 22 seasons in the Tercera División and four in the Segunda División B, and won the Cantabrian group of the Tercera nine times.

Foundation and early years

The club was formed in 1963 but did not play competitively until 1968-69, when it entered the Segunda Regional set up by the Cantabrian Football Federation. In 1970-71 it won that league, its first official title, and moved up to the Primera Regional, where it lasted a single season. Through the 1970s and early 1980s Noja moved between the Segunda Regional, Primera Regional and Regional Preferente, usually in the bottom half of the table. That changed in 1986-87, when a third-place finish in the Preferente earned promotion to the Tercera División.

Stadium and colours

Noja play at La Caseta, a natural grass pitch measuring 106 by 66 metres that holds around 3,000 spectators. The home kit is a green-and-white shirt with green shorts and socks, which gives the team its nickname, the verdiblancos. The away kit is red, with black shorts.

Reaching the Tercera División

The first spell in the Tercera, from 1987 to 1991, was a fight to stay up: 13th, 17th and 12th, before relegation in 18th place in 1990-91. Noja came straight back as Preferente runners-up in 1991-92 and won their first Tercera title in 1993-94. In 1994 the club set up a reserve side, Noja B. With José Luis San Miguel as coach from 1997, the team finished second in 1997-98 and made their Segunda División B debut in 1998-99, going down in 17th place. They answered with three Tercera titles in a row, in 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2001-02, which took them back to the Segunda B for 2002-03. They finished 18th that season and dropped again. In 2001-02 the club also won the Trofeo Invicto awarded by Don Balón magazine.

Nine play-offs in a row

From 2003-04 Noja finished near the top of the Cantabrian group for nine straight seasons, each time reaching the promotion play-offs. They were champions in 2003-04, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, runners-up in 2008-09, third in 2007-08 and fourth in 2004-05 and 2005-06. The reserve team won the Primera Regional in 2009-10. Under coach Ángel Viadero, promotion finally came in 2012, at the ninth consecutive attempt.

Best season and the 2014 fall

Back in the Segunda División B in 2012-13, Noja finished ninth, the best placing in the club's record. The following season, with Marco Antonio Díaz as coach, they came 19th and went down on the pitch. In the summer of 2014 the club was dropped a further level, straight to the Regional Preferente, over debts owed to players and coaching staff. Noja B, active since 1994, had been wound up in 2012.

Return to national football

In the Preferente, Noja finished 10th in 2014-15 and 8th in 2015-16. They were 17th in 2016-17 and dropped to the Primera Regional, but came back up as runners-up a year later. After two seasons of rebuilding they won their Preferente group in 2020-21 and returned to national competition in 2021, in the newly created Tercera División RFEF. They finished 13th and were relegated in 2022. A third-place finish in the Preferente in 2024-25 brought promotion to the Tercera Federación, and the reserve team was revived in 2025. In the 2025-26 Tercera Federación, Group III, Noja finished 18th of 18 and were relegated again to the Regional Preferente.