Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of

Castile and Leon Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to: Places Spain * Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and León, all of the Community of Madrid and most of Castilla–La Mancha * Kingdom o ...

. 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. 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

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded on 5 August 1923. In 1926, Cultural Leonesa won the Regional championship and in 1929 Cultural played the Segunda División Grupo 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 The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, Cultural Leonesa came back to the competition. In 1955, Cultural was promoted for the first time to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, 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 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. On 28 May 2017, Cultural was promoted to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

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. The link up saw Leeds players Yosuke Ideguchi and Ouasim Bouy both join Cultural Leonesa on loan as part of the unique partnership. 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

B, Group 1 and fought to be promoted back to the second tier. But it finished only in the 5th position. The club had a good start on the 2019–20 season, being in the 2nd position after first 16 games. In the 2019–2020 season, they upset Atletico de Madrid in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

Round of 32. 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. On 24 May 2025, Cultural achieved promoted to

following draw 1-1 against

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

and thanks to a superior head-to-head record against runners-up Ponferradina, returned after 7 years absence.

Club structure

Season to season

---- *1 season in

*16 seasons in

*4 seasons in Primera Federación/Primera División RFEF *36 seasons in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

*31 seasons in Tercera División/ Segunda División Grupo B (24 on 3rd tier)

Players

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Notable former players

Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.

Famous coaches

* Miguel Ángel Rubio

Stadium

Reserve team

Júpiter Leonés is the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

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

External links

Official website

Futbolme team profile

Unofficial website

Club & Stadium History at Estadios de España
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cultural Leonesa Football clubs in Castile and León Association football clubs established in 1923 1923 establishments in Spain Sport in León, Spain Segunda División clubs La Liga clubs Primera Federación clubs Multi-sport clubs in Spain