Skip to main content

The "other" Oviedo: CD Universidad de Oviedo - A historic university with a historic football team (29th October, 2017)

In the 2006-07 Segunda B season, Real Oviedo were relegated to the Tercera - the fourth tier of Spanish football. Predictably so - three different managers (José Antonio Velázquez, Ramiro Solís, Ismael Díaz) took over that season, the squad's top goalscorer, Jon Carrera, had a tally of four goals, and the team didn't win a single game away from home.

As it turns out, the turmoil wasn't contained on the pitch - in 2006 Alberto González took a controlling share in the club. He did not pay social security or tax to the inland revenue and then disappeared - perhaps Cuba, possibly Panama - and is now wanted on two counts of fraud.

But there was another Oviedo team that was relegated from the Segunda B that year too.

CD Universidad de Oviedo, the team that represents the University of Oviedo, also went down in only their third year in the Segunda B.

They have never come back up, and seven consecutive top 10 finishes were followed by a disastrous 2014-15 Tercera campaign, which meant demotion to the regional fifth tier. And they're not even doing well there, with 15th and 12th place finishes - the future isn't exactly exciting...

The idea of ​​creating a club was born in 1960, when the football team of the University of Oviedo won the Spanish University Football Championship held in Barcelona, and several footballers, along with the head of physical education of the University, Manolo García, agreed to present the idea to the rector José Virgili Vinadé, who gave his consent. Thus was created the club with the name Club Deportivo Universitario. Later, it was renamed Club Atlético Universitario (CAU), in 1987, Asociación Deportiva Universidad de Oviedo, and in 2014, Club Deportivo Universidad de Oviedo.

They played their first official game on 29th October, 1961, a 3-1 win against Asociación Deportiva Guillén Lafuerza. However, their first major sporting success was their promotion to the Tercera (at the time the third tier in Spanish football), in the 1974-75 season - a success that ended with a solitary season where they ranked 18th. The second time round, in the 1994-95 season, the club was promoted back to the Tercera and quite surprisingly enjoying a spell of dominance in the division. They were unsuccessful in the 1997-98 promotion playoffs to the Segunda B, gaining only four points out of a possible 18 and finishing last. But the second time they qualified for the playoffs, in the 1999-00 season, they were much more successful, gaining 15 points in six games and ascending to the Segunda B for the first time in their history.

Their Segunda B adventure lasted two seasons - finishing in 13th and 20th place respectively - and the Oviedo-based side have only played one more Segunda B season. In 2006, they finished first in their group - the only title in their history - and qualified for the playoffs. In round one they faced CD Huracán Z and won 1-0 in both the away and home legs. And in round 2, the final elimination round, Universidad de Oviedo faced AD Parla. The Madrid-based side won 2-1 at their home, but when Parla came to Oviedo they were greeted by a packed Estadio Universitario San Gregorio and a 4-2 defeat. Their hard-earned return to the Segunda B was short-lived - they finished 18th in the 2006-07 season.

Since then, Universidad de Oviedo had competed in the Tercera and the 5th tier - between the 2007-08 and 2014-15 seasons they have come 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 8th, 2nd, 7th and 19th in the Tercera. That's five out of eight seasons where the team has qualified for the playoffs - and all five times they have failed. In 2008 they were eliminated by Atlético Baleares. In 2009 they knocked out Portugalete but were eliminated by Ourense. In 2010 they were eliminated by Azuqueca. In 2011 they were eliminated by Reus Deportiu on away goals. In 2013 they knocked out Atlético Malagueño and then Granadilla but were eliminated by Cultural Leonesa after extra time.

Universidad de Oviedo, 2012

And in 2015 the team was in the regional leagues, for the first time since the 1993-94 season. The future is not bright. 15th and 12th place finishes in the fifth tier do not inspire.

But it's not supposed to. What inspires is that young people can play in the Spanish football pyramid and have a decent shot at professional football while at university. What inspires is that being in the fifth tier - just two divisions below semi-professional football - is a miracle in itself. What inspires is that it is the only team of its kind - not just some sponsorship or co-directing of the team by the university but the university "being" the team itself.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers

Last game: 8th August: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United The previous day, I was blown away by my first ever football match experience. Dulwich Hamlet impressed me, but what impressed me more was the journey. The travel to the stadium was just as enjoyable as the football itself. I had caught the groundhopping bug. There were no games scheduled for the 9th of August. There was one, near Wigan, and all I had booked earlier was a refundable bus ticket from Manchester Airport leaving at quarter past midnight. I should have refunded it. This was a mistake. This whole day was a mistake. I was only slightly hungover from the previous night, but that was nothing compared to this feeling of loss - I couldn't handle the fact that there was a game happening. And I wasn't too far away. Just three hours and a bit. They'll fly by , I thought. I was in autopilot. Something within me made me get up, grab a bag, and get out the door. This wasn't me. I wasn't trave

Non-league Incider: Cray Valley Paper Mills 4-4 Punjab United Gravesend

Last game: 9th August: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers After ripping up my groundhopping calendar, mostly because I was determined to avoid overnight travel, and partly due to other commitments, there was a period of time where non-league football took a backseat. But that period did not last long. Because of course it didn't. Secretly, I'd loved travelling over ten hours back-and-forth to watch some 10th division football. And this was 9th division football in London. When I had gone to East Dulwich exactly a week back , I had commented on how the amount of graffiti struck me as I watched from on board a southeastern train. I was going the exact same way, but much further this time - then I had stopped at Denmark Hill, now I would have to go six stations further. The graffiti I had thought was so emblematic of south London quickly disappeared, as did the tall buildings desperately cluttered together. We, and by we I mean me, were going to the suburb

Who is Raúl Martín Presa, the Mickey Mouse? Part 1. (20th August, 2017)

José María Ruiz-Mateos was the head and main shareholder of Nueva Rumasa - the company that owned Rayo and other companies - mainly specializing in dairy products. (He wasn't the president of Rayo though - his wife, Teresa Rivero, was Rayo's president). In early 2011, the directors announced a debt of over 700 million euros, that it was on the verge of bankruptcy and that staff wouldn't be paid. And the players were visibly angry about it - captain Míchel assured the press that the club would continue fighting on the pitch, but the day after the announcement was made, six key players didn’t attend training. Veteran midfielder José María Movilla spoke on radio station SER about the situation, about the fact that he had only received seven of the last eighteen months of pay, about the fact that there were a few players who couldn't even afford car repairs. When Rayo Vallecano were about to earn promotion to La Liga despite all the odds - the players not being paid,