Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in ...

, in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity.

History

''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under their previous name, were formed in 1918. Five years later, in 1923, the club joined the Valencian Football Federation, with Joaquín Tomás Terol being its first official president. The team spent the vast majority of its early existence in the ''

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

'', whilst also having very brief spells in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

(1939–40 – as Alicante Football Club – 1951–52 and 1956–58). For eight years in the 60's, the club acted as the feeder team for neighbours

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its ho ...

.. In the 2000s, the club firmly established itself as one of the third level's strongest sides. However, the team still failed to get promoted, frequently missing promotion via the playoffs, until 2007–08, in which Alicante were finally promoted to the Segunda División. In the same season, the team famously took

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

powerhouse

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

to task in the fourth round of the Copa del Rey, only losing in 2–3 on aggregate against the team two divisions above. Facing severe economic problems during the 2008–09 season, Alicante were immediately relegated back to the third division, despite a strong start to the season. The financial situation persisted in the following years and, on 1 July 2011, at the end of

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, the team was relegated to the fourth division after failing to pay its players on time. In June 2014, Alicante CF was dissolved and replaced by '' CFI Alicante'', who adopted its colors and its logo.

Season to season

*As ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'' ---- * 5 seasons in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the L ...

* 9 seasons in

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foo ...

* 45 seasons in

Stadium

Alicante held home games at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', inside the '' Ciudad Deportiva de Villafranqueza'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. Previously owned by the club, it was then purchased by the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, and the team held their official matches there since 1979. However, between 2001 and 2010, Alicante played at the ''

Estadio José Rico Pérez Estadio José Rico Pérez is a multi-purpose stadium in Alicante, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football matches, being home to Hércules CF. It also hosted World Cup matches when Spain organized the event in 1982. With a capacity of 2 ...

'', the home ground of

. After returning to the third division, ''Villafranqueza'' did not possess the required structures to host games in the category, and the municipal authorities refused to renew them.

Notable former players

References

External links