UD Salamanca · History

Unión Deportiva Salamanca won its first trophy in 1924, the León Regional Championship, a year after it was founded. The club was established on 9 February 1923 as Unión Deportiva Española. Its founding charter was signed at the Café Novelty on Salamanca's Plaza Mayor, and Federico Anaya was its first president. It was renamed Club Deportivo Salamanca in 1931, and on 15 January 1932 it took the name Unión Deportiva Salamanca, with José Tejero Ruiz as president. The club played for ninety years until a commercial court ordered its dissolution in June 2013.

From El Calvario to the second division

For almost half a century, from 1923 to 1970, the team played at the Campo de El Calvario in the San Bernardo district. Salamanca won promotion to the Spanish second division in 1936, but the Civil War halted football and its debut in the division was delayed until the 1939-40 season. In the decades that followed it moved between the second and third tiers. It finished runner-up in the second division in 1941-42 and again in 1950-51. Under coach Soler, the club won two Spanish Amateur Championships, in 1957-58 and 1958-59.

El Helmántico and the top-flight years

Work on a new stadium began in 1969 at Prado Panaderos, in the municipality of Villares de la Reina. El Helmántico opened on 8 April 1970 with a goalless draw against Sporting CP. That same year the team was relegated to the third tier. The recovery came under José Luis García Traid, whose two promotions in a row took the club up to the second division in 1973 and into La Liga in 1974. On 8 September 1974, Álvarez scored the club's first top-flight goal in a 2-0 win over Elche. Salamanca finished seventh in that 1974-75 season, the best league position it ever reached. It went on to spend seven straight seasons in La Liga, from 1974 to 1981, and reached the semi-finals of the 1976-77 Spanish Cup, where it lost to Athletic Club. After going down in 1981, it bounced back a year later with Manuel Villanova as coach and played in La Liga in 1982-83 and 1983-84.

Third tier and the Lillo revival

Back-to-back relegations in 1984 and 1985 sent the club down to Segunda División B, the third tier. As group winner in 1987-88 it returned to the second division in 1988, but it fell again in 1991. On 25 June 1992 the club became a sports limited company. It won its Segunda B group in 1993-94 to go back up, and in 1995, under Juan Manuel Lillo, it returned to La Liga after eleven years: it lost the promotion play-off's first leg 0-2 at home to Albacete, then won the return leg 5-0 away. The 1995-96 campaign ended in 22nd place and relegation, but the side won promotion again in 1997 under Andoni Goikoetxea, finishing runner-up in a second-division season in which Pauleta was top scorer with 19 goals. Under Txetxu Rojo, Salamanca stayed up in 1997-98. That season it beat Valencia 6-0 on 12 April 1998 and won 4-1 at Camp Nou on 15 May. Relegation in 1999 ended its twelfth and last season in La Liga.

Players and figures

The club spent 12 seasons in La Liga, 34 in the second division, 9 in Segunda B and 19 in the third tier, and it took part in 56 editions of the Spanish Cup. Jorge D'Alessandro holds the club's record for top-flight appearances with 242. Juanito is its leading La Liga scorer with 25 goals, while Quique Martín is its all-time top scorer across all competitions with 71. Sito played 374 competitive matches between 1984 and 1998, more than anyone else in the club's history.

Insolvency and dissolution

After six straight seasons in the second division, from 1999 to 2005, Salamanca dropped into Segunda B in 2005 after finishing 21st. Javi López led the team back up as group winner in 2006, and it stayed in the second division until 2011. In 2012-13 the club finished eighth in its Segunda B group. By then it was already in insolvency proceedings, with debts that no investor was prepared to take on. Banco Popular, the main creditor, did not attend the creditors' meeting, so no settlement could be approved. On 18 June 2013 the Salamanca commercial court ordered the club's dissolution. No lot drew a single bid at the auction held on 20 June. Salamanca CF UDS and Unionistas de Salamanca were both founded later that year. On 11 July 2016 the company Desarrollos Empresariales Deportivos bought El Helmántico for 1,052,000 euros. On 10 May 2017 it also acquired UD Salamanca's brand, crest, anthem, trophies and archive for 152,008 euros.