C.D Leganés celebrates 92 years of history this Tuesday, June 23. The club celebrates its foundation anniversary on the fourth consecutive year at first division, these last years have been the best for the club on all levels: sports, social and economic.
The club was officially founded on June 23, 1928 by Félix Pérez de la Serna after continuing C.D Once Leones project. Its first president was Ramón del Hierro and its first uniform used azulgrana (blue and scarlet) shirts and white pants. The club’s first matches were played at Campo de Tiro, however on the 30’s decade the club moved to a new pitch where now Plaza de Roma is located.
By mid-40’s, the club switched its colors for green and white, supporting with this the nickname of pepineros that is used for all the people that are born or living at the city. This appellative was born on the remarked farms of cucumbers that the city counted with and that even served the Royal House. The club registered on the Castilian Federation in which manages to get promoted among the categories and reach third division in 1954. On that year the first kit is definitely modified for the current white and blue colors that represent the city.
Luis Rodríguez de Miguel move on the 60’s
The 60’s decade is known for the multiple promotions and relegation the club had, however one important milestone in the club’s history occurred on 1966: Luis Rodríguez de Miguel Stadium, the pepineros’ home for the next thirty two years was inaugurated. Seventies were similar to the previous decade: Leganés switched categories between Tercera and Regional Preferente among those years.
On the 80’s the club began to grow and compete on higher levels: On 1986 Leganés became champion of Tercera Division, however, did not manage to get promoted after loosing on the playoffs. Next year the club achieved the promotion and made its debut at Segunda División 'B' on 1987 with Jesús Polo acting as president and Díaz Pablo as manager. Players such as Moreno and Aguilera were part of the team and became idols for the fans.
Second division promotion in 1993
On 1993 the club made history after getting promoted to second division. With the commands of Luis Ángel Duque, the team finished the season first and played against Xerez, Palencia and Elche on the playoffs. On June 27, 1993 Leganés got promoted after beating Elche 3-0 at home. Antonio, Vivar Dorado, May, Peces, Dorado and Miguel Ángel had main roles on that promotion.
Leganés played for eleven consecutive seasons on the category and reached the eight position on the 1995/96 and 1996/97 seasons. Players like Etoo, Catanha, Moisés, Makukula, Puñal, Merino and Emery were part of the pepineros’ lines on those years. On February, 1998 the club mved again to their new home: Estadio Municipal Butarque with a capacity of 8.158 fans.
The second division adventure ended in 2004 with the relegation to Segunda 'B' in 2004 after loosing on the last matchday against Córdoba. It was a rare season in which the Argentinean businessman Daniel Grimbank acquired and restructured the club with top footballers from his country to leave it on the second round of the league. Jesús Polo allowed the team to remain viable and on the next season Rubén Fernández assumed as president with the support of local companies that started owning the club.
Return to Segunda 'B' in 2004 and three playoffs
Leganés competed on Segunda 'B' since 2004 with the dream of returning to the Spanish football silver category. That dream became a nightmare in the 2008/09 season in which the club had one of the hardest moments of its history because of severe economic difficulties. Fortunately, Felipe Moreno and Victoria Pavón took charge of the club’s debt and acquired most of the shares of the organization.
Since then, the club has experienced a process of modernization both on its social and sports aspects, overcoming the past economic adversities. The team disputed three promotion playoffs on 2009, 2011 and 2013, but lost on first round against Real Jaén, Badalona and Lleida. On the 2011/12 season the club survived on the category on the last match with Víctor Fernández as coach who retired as a professional football player with five matches remaining for the end of the season.
Return to Segunda and historic promotion to Primera in 2016
The 2013/14 season started with Asier Garitano as manager of the team. An intelligent and fighting team reached playoffs and that time football chanced sadness for hope and happiness when the team beat Guijuelo, Lleida and L’Hospitalet and got promoted to second division on June 22, 2014 at La Feixa Llarga Stadium with an amazing bicycle kick goal by Carlos Álvarez. Eleven buses filled with fans traveled to be next to the team that day and thousands of pepineros followed the match through a giant screen located at Plaza Mayor. The city of Leganés was full of joy.
After being at the top 10 of the league on their debut season, on June 4th, 2016, Leganés reached the unthinkable for many: the first promotion to first division on its history. It happened on the last matchday of the season at Miranda de Ebro, Pablo Insua’s goal after a corner kick defined the pepineros’ promotion. It was the end of a season in which the team grew and got to lead the competition. With the lead of Asier Garitano and an exceptional team, Leganés did the impossible and made real the dream of an entire city and generation of pepineros: Lega was going to play at first division.
Fourth consecutive season at the elite
The team’s debut could not be better: Leganés won its first match at the top at Balaídos after beating Celta 0-1. Víctor Díaz wrote his name in the club´s history as the clubs first scorer in first division. The team reached the survival on the penultimate matchday that was played at San Mamés. The second season of the team at first division would be historic after reaching the survival with more comfort and getting to play Copa del Rey semifinals against Sevilla after beating Real Madrid on the quarter finals at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Butarque Stadium got bigger featuring 12.454 seats and team’s season ticket holders increased to more than 10.000.
In 2018, Asier Garitano ended his time at the pepineros’ bench and Mauricio Pellegrino arrived. With the Argentinean coach, the team had its best performance (thirteen) and points record on first division (45). After giving continuity to the project, some bad results streak led to the arrival of Javier Aguirre to the manager position who is currently fighting with the team to continue another year in first division with the support of more than 10.300 season ticket holders and an entire city.
