Rayo Cantabria, formerly known as Real Racing Club de Santander "B" 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 ...

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, a

Spanish football team The Spain national football team () has represented Spain in men's international football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. Spain is one of eight nationa ...

based in Santander, in the autonomous community of

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

. Founded in 1926 as a separate club, affiliated with Racing de Santander from 1951 and incorporated formally into the professional club's structure in 1993, the team currently plays in , holding home games at '' La Albericia'', with a capacity of 1,000 spectators.

History

Rayo Cantabria was founded in 1926 as Gimnástica de Miranda, later being renamed Sociedad Deportiva Rayo Cantabria. Having competed independently in the Cantabrian Regional Championship, in 1946 they were promoted to the third tier of Spanish football, the old

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, for the first time; the following campaign, they faced the biggest local club

(or ''Real Santander'' as they were known at the time), Rayo being relegated and Racing promoted. In the

1950–51 Tercera División The 1950–51 Tercera División was the 15th edition of the Spanish third tier. Format 100 teams in 6 geographic groups participated this season. The winners and runners up of each group progressed to the Promotion play-offs. They formed two gro ...

season, Rayo came up against the Racing youth team, Juventud RS with both entering the relegating playoffs; Juventud went down and folded soon after, and from that time Rayo became the Racing

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

. They went on to spend 20 consecutive years at the third level, coming close to promotion on a few occasions, also performing the important task in developing young local players, some of whom (including

Paco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as an outside left. A fast runner, Gento was referred to as the "Gale of the Cantabrian Sea" () in reference to his spee ...

, Marquitos, Ico Aguilar, Pedro Zaballa,

Vicente Miera Vicente Miera Campos (born 10 May 1940) is a Spanish retired football player and manager. A former football defender, he appeared in 139 La Liga games over ten seasons and scored two goals, mainly at the service of Real Madrid. Later, he embark ...

and

Nando Yosu Fernando Trío Zabala (8 July 1939 – 20 February 2016), known as Nando Yosu, was a Spanish football player and manager. His extensive career, as both a player and coach, was mainly associated with Racing de Santander. Playing career Born in ...

) went on to great success. They temporarily disassociated from Racing in the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons when both were in the same division. After league restructuring in the mid 1970s, Rayo played just one further season at the third level (now

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 ...

) – that was in 1987–88, and they were relegated. Further elite players produced via a spell in the team included Tuto Sañudo,

Juan Carlos Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

, Manolo Preciado,

Pedro Munitis Pedro Munitis Álvarez (born 19 June 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a forward, currently a manager. His professional career was mainly associated with Racing de Santander – he also represented Real Madrid for two ...

and José María Ceballos. In 1993 the original Rayo was dissolved in a national move to formally absorb affiliated teams into the professional clubs' structure, and ''Racing de Santander B'' took its place.El Racing B volverá a ser el Rayo Cantabria
(Racing B will be Rayo Cantabria again), Aqui Hay Pelotas, 20 June 2019 (in Spanish) A new Rayo Cantabria, who started playing as an independent club in the regional leagues from 1993, was also affiliated to Racing for four seasons, from 2003–04 to 2006–07.Rayo Cantabria
La Futbolteca (in Spanish) Racing B have since played nine seasons in Segunda B, lasting no more than two years in any single spell at that level; they would usually meet Dep. Rayo when relegated back to the fourth tier, and finished below their 'sibling' club on three occasions. In 2018, previous manager Ángel Meñaca was recognised by the city of Santander for his lifetime efforts and contributions towards the running of both the original Rayo up to 1993 and the 'new' Rayo from then on. In summer 2019, Racing de Santander successfully applied to have their B-team renamed as Rayo Cantabria going forward; the other Rayo club had been removed from the league a year earlier due to unpaid debts.El Rayo Cantabria pide amparo a ProLiga
(Rayo Cantabria asks ProLiga for protection), ProLiga, 3 July 2018 (in Spanish)

Club names

*''Gimnástica de Miranda'' (1926–1931) *''Rayo Sport de Miranda'' (1931–1941) *''Sociedad Deportiva Rayo Cantabria'' (1941–1993) *''Racing de Santander B'' (1993–2019) *''Rayo Cantabria'' (2019–)

Season to season

* As a ''farm team'' * As a ''reserve team'' ---- *10 seasons in

*5 seasons in

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Fede ...

/Segunda División RFEF *57 seasons in

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

Current technical staff

Players

Honours

(3rd tier): 1960–61 *

(4th tier): 1986–87, 1994–95, 1998–99, 2004–05 *

Copa Federación de España The Copa Real Federación Española de Fútbol, popularly known as the Copa Federación (Federation Cup) or Copa RFEF, is a Spanish football competition organised by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). It has been held since the 1993−9 ...

: 1998–99

Related teams

Deportivo Rayo Cantabria Deportivo Rayo Cantabria was a Spanish football team based in Santander, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1993 it last played in Tercera División – Group 3, holding home games at the Campo Municipal Mies de Cozada sports ...

References

External links

Racing de Santander official website

Futbolme team profile
{{Spanish football club template, Rayo Cantabria Racing de Santander Reserve team football in Spain Football clubs in Cantabria Association football clubs established in 1926 Sport in Santander, Spain 1926 establishments in Spain