Sporting Huelva · History

Sporting Club de Huelva play their home matches at the Antonio Toledo stadium, part of the Ciudad Deportiva Decano del Fútbol Español in Huelva, which opened on 9 November 2006 and holds around 1,300 spectators. The club, nicknamed “las Espartanas”, was founded as a boys’ youth club on 2 July 1979 and relaunched as a women’s team in 2004. Its biggest achievement is the 2015 Copa de la Reina, won in Melilla against Valencia CF.

From youth club to women’s team

Antonio Toledo Sánchez founded Sporting in 1979 as a club for boys’ youth teams, which played in provincial competitions until the 1987-88 season. After sixteen years of inactivity, Toledo and Manuela Romero Landa, who had been involved in founding CFF Estudiantes, restructured it in 2004 as a women’s football club. Toledo took charge of the team and the sporting side, and coached without a break until 2020. For much of that period the club was chaired by José Antonio Muñoz Lozano, a former president of Recreativo de Huelva. In January 2013 Manuela Romero became the first woman to preside over the club.

Two straight promotions to the top flight

The team started out in the regional leagues in 2004-05 and in 2005-06 won the Liga Nacional, then the Spanish second division. Back-to-back promotions took it to the Superliga, where it made its debut in 2006-07 and finished tenth to stay up. It came eleventh the following season and ninth in 2008-09, one point short of a Copa de la Reina place. In 2009-10 it reached the cup quarter-finals after knocking out Atlético Madrid, before losing to Torrejón. Financial difficulties forced the club to withdraw from the 2010-11 cup.

Years in the Spanish top flight

In 2011-12 Sporting topped the table for the first time and finished eighth, its best placing up to then. In 2012-13, with no agreement to keep using Recreativo’s facilities, the club moved to Trigueros and later played in San Juan del Puerto before returning to the city; in those years it competed as Fundación Cajasol Sporting. It finished eighth three seasons running between 2013-14 and 2015-16. Spain internationals such as Noelia Aybar, Priscila Borja, Alharilla Casado, Dolores Gallardo and goalkeeper Sara Serrat played for the club. In 2020 Jennifer Benítez replaced Toledo as coach for one season, and the founder returned in 2021.

The 2015 Copa de la Reina

Sporting entered the 2015 cup in eighth place, the last spot that gave access to the competition. It beat Rayo Vallecano 4-2 after extra time at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas and, in the semi-final played in Melilla, got past Atlético Madrid on penalties after Patricia Gavira cancelled out Ángela Sosa’s opener; Sara Serrat was decisive in the shootout. On 17 May 2015, at the Álvarez Claro stadium in Melilla, it beat Valencia CF 2-1 with two goals from Cristina Martín-Prieto, in the 13th and 84th minutes, and she was named player of the final. With Antonio Toledo on the bench, it was the club’s first national title. That year it also won the Copa de Andalucía, which it had already lifted in 2014.

A second final and relegations

In 2021-22 the team reached another cup final. It beat UD Granadilla Tenerife 1-0 in the semi-final with a Patri Ojeda header in the 73rd minute, and on 29 May 2022 lost the final 6-1 to FC Barcelona at the Santo Domingo stadium in Alcorcón. In the league it finished tenth in 2021-22 and thirteenth in 2022-23. In 2023-24 it ended sixteenth and last, and went down after 18 consecutive seasons in the top division. In 2024-25 it finished fourteenth in Primera Federación and dropped to Segunda Federación, where it has played in Group III since 2025.

Honours

Sporting won the provincial championship in 2005 and the Liga Nacional in 2006. Its honours also include the Copa de Andalucía in 2014 and 2015 and the 2015 Copa de la Reina, plus a runners-up finish in the cup in 2022. Its spell in the top division covers 18 seasons, from 2006-07 to 2023-24.