Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (Spanish pronunciation: [kultuˈɾal i ðepoɾˈtiβa leoˈnesa]), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at Estadio Reino de León, with a capacity of 13,346 seats.[1]
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| Full name | Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa | ||
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| Nickname(s) | La Cultu La Leonesa | ||
| Founded | 5 August 1923 | ||
| Ground | Estadio Reino de León | ||
| Capacity | 13,346 | ||
| Owner | Aspire Academy (more than 99.74%) 4 minority stockholders (less than 0.26%) | ||
| President | Mohd Khalifa Al Suwadi | ||
| Head coach | Raúl Llona | ||
| League | Primera Federación – Group 1 | ||
| 2023–24 | Primera Federación – Group 1, 6th of 20 | ||
| Website | cydleonesa | ||
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Ahead of the 2014–15 season, the club released a kit designed to look like a tuxedo. The kit, which attracted huge attention in the media and social networking sites, was worn in a pre-season charity match in support of local charities for mining families.
History
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Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded on 5 August 1923.[2]
In 1926, Cultural Leonesa won the Regional championship and in 1929 Cultural played the Segunda División B and promoted to the second division.
In 1931, the club ceased activity and several teams were created in the city with the aim to replace them, but after the Spanish Civil War, Cultural Leonesa came back to the competition.
In 1955, Cultural was promoted for the first time to La Liga, but they could only play one season in the Spanish top tier.
In 2011, the club was relegated to Tercera División due to unpaid debts to the players[3] and took two years to recover the place in the third tier. In 2015, the Qatari Aspire Academy bought a controlling 99% of the shares of the club, thus avoiding its dissolution.[4]
On 28 May 2017, Cultural was promoted to Segunda División after 42 years by defeating Barcelona B in the promotion play-offs. On 3 January 2018, Leeds United announced an official partnership with Cultural Leonesa's owners Aspire Academy in Qatar.[5] The link up saw Leeds players Yosuke Ideguchi and Ouasim Bouy both join Cultural Leonesa on loan as part of the unique partnership.[6]
On 2 June 2018, Cultural was relegated to the third level, after being defeated by Numancia on the last matchday. In the 2018–19 season the club played in Segunda División B, Group 1 and fought to be promoted back to the second tier. But it finished only in the 5th position.[7] The club had a good start on the 2019–20 season, being in the 2nd position after first 16 games.[8] In the 2019–2020 season, they upset Atletico de Madrid in the Copa del Rey Round of 32.[9]
On 2 December 2020, Cultural hired Iñigo Idiakez as Head Coach who came from Luton Town in EFL Championship and previously Leicester City and Derby County.
Club structure
edit| Position | Name | ||||||||
| President | Mohd Khalifa Al Suwadi | ||||||||
| Vice-President | |||||||||
| Managing Director | Felipe Llamazares Díez | ||||||||
| Sports management | Ricardo Pozo Álvarez | ||||||||
| Director Delegate | Ignacio Álvarez Martínez | ||||||||
| Advisory Board | Antonio Martín Espina José Lasa Jassim Mohammed AA Al-Ansari | ||||||||
| Fundation culturalista | Manuel Carnero Diego Calzado | ||||||||
| Technical secretary | Santi Santos Juan Carlos Valiño (adjunto) César Villafañe (adjunto) | ||||||||
| Social area | Juan Luis Diez Mata |
Season to season
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- 1 season in La Liga
- 15 seasons in Segunda División
- 4 seasons in Primera Federación/Primera División RFEF
- 36 seasons in Segunda División B
- 33 seasons in Tercera División
Players
editCurrent squad
edit- As of 30 August 2024.[10]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Reserve team
editNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
editNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coaching staff
edit| Position | Name | ||||||||
| Head coach | Raúl Llona | ||||||||
| Assistant Coach | Odei Calzón | ||||||||
| Fitness coach | David Madurga | ||||||||
| Goalkeeper coach | Javier Pérez | ||||||||
| Material Manager | Carlos Gómez Carballo | ||||||||
| Material Manager | Manuel Martínez Sela | ||||||||
| Doctor | Salustiano López-Contreras | ||||||||
| Analyst | Pedro Gómez | ||||||||
| Re-trainer | Álex Bienzobas | ||||||||
| Physiotherapist | Pedro Vicente | ||||||||
| Team Delegate | Eduardo Álvarez | ||||||||
| Material Manager | Rubén Álvarez |
Notable former players
editNote: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.
Famous coaches
editStadium
edit
Reserve team
editJúpiter Leonés is the reserve team of the club.
Founded in 1929, later known as Cultural de León and finally changed to its current name Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa "B" Jupiter Leonés. After the 2009–10, the team was dissolved after Cultural was relegated to Tercera División due to its debts. In 2014, it was re-founded as the reserve team and after three promotions it currently plays in Tercera División, the fourth tier, after gaining promotion in the Primera División Regional de Aficionados 2017–18 season.
References
edit- ^ "Estadio Reino de León". Football Tripper. October 5, 2017. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- ^ "Historia de la Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa" (in Spanish). Nos Gusta León. October 18, 2016. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- ^ "Doce equipos descienden por impagos a futbolistas" (in Spanish). ABC.es. June 30, 2011. Archived from the original on September 3, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
- ^ "Aspire compra la Cultural Leonesa y evita su desaparición" (in Spanish). As.com. September 16, 2015. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
- ^ "LEEDS UNITED LAUNCH ASPIRE ACADEMY PARTNERSHIP". www.leedsunited.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Aspire-owned Cultural Leonesa hope to shock Real". gulf-times.com. October 25, 2016. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Histórico Cultural Leonesa - Segunda División B G 1 2018/2019". www.resultados-futbol.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
- ^ "Resultados de Fútbol: Segunda División B Grupo 2". Mundo Deportivo. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ^ "Cultural Leonesa 2 Atlético Madrid 1". ESPN FC. Archived from the original on January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
- ^ "PLANTILLA | Cultural Leonesa - Web Oficial". Archived from the original on January 30, 2018.
External links
edit- Official website (in Spanish)
- Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)
- Unofficial website (in Spanish)
- Club & Stadium History at Estadios de España Archived January 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine (in English)