Celta Vigo

Celta Vigo is a football (soccer) club from Spain.

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Real Club Celta de Vigo, S.A.D is a Spanish football league teams from Vigo in Galicia (Spain). It was founded on March 28, 1923 by merging Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. They currently play in Segunda División.

Nicknamed Los Celestes (The Sky Blues), they play in sky blue shirts and white shorts. The club's home stadium is Balaidos Stadium, which seats 32,500 spectators.

History

Foundation

R.C. Celta de Vigo was formed as a result of the ambition of Vigo's teams to achieve more at national level, where the Basque people sides had been their "bête-noire" in the Spanish Championship. The idea was to merge both teams to create a more powerful team at national level. The standard-bearer of this movement was Manuel de Castro "Handicap", a sports writer for Faro de Vigo who, from 1915, started to write in his articles about the need for a Unitarian movement. The slogan of his movement was "Todo por y para Vigo" (All for and to Vigo), which eventually found support amongst the managers of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. It was backed unanimously when De Castro himself presented the motion at the assembly of the RFEF in Madrid, on 22 June 1923.

On 12 July, 1923, at the AGM's of Vigo and Fortuna held at the Odeon Theatre and in the Hotel Moderno, respectively, the merger was approved. Thus the "Galicia Team " was born, as it was dubbed. In the last AGM of Fortuna and Vigo to approve the formation of a new club held on 10 August 1923, the members decided upon the team's name. Various names were suggested:

- Real Unión de Vigo
- Club Galicia
- Real Atlántic
- Breogán
- Real Club Olimpico

The last name was popular but they eventually decided on Real Club Celta, an ethnic race linked to Galicia (Spain) (see Celts). The first president of Celta was Manuel Bárcena de Andrés, the Count of Torre Cedeira. At this AGM, the squad was also decided, which numbered 64 players in total, that included some notable players from both Fortuna and Vigo:

- Goalkeepers: Isidro, Jim, Lilo and Rubido.
- Defenders: Otero, Pasarín, Juanito Clemente, Daniel and Kaíto.
- Midfielders: Jacobo Torres, Balbino, Queralt, Hermida, Pombo, Cruces, Córdoba, Máximo and Bienvenido.
- Forwards: Reigosa, Chiarrioni, Posada, Polo, Correa, Gerardito, Ramón González and Caride.

Celta de Vigo have played for many years in the Spanish first division, but have never been champions of the league or cup, despite having come close. Their best season was 1970-71, when they were not beaten at home and were known as the "giant-killers." They finished the season in sixth place (with the same number of points as Athletic Bilbao in fifth). This meant that Celta Vigo qualified for the UEFA Cup for the next season. Unfortunately for them, they were knocked out by Aberdeen F.C. in the first round, and were unable to recover from a 2-0 loss at home.

EuroCelta

The late 1990s (1997-2001) saw the best results in Celta's history, in which they managed to consolidate themselves as a top-six league side, culminating in La Liga 2000-01, when they did not fall below sixth the whole season. They were dubbed EuroCelta by the Spanish press.

During this period they achieved a number of famous results in the UEFA Cup, beating Liverpool F.C. in home and away games (3-1 and 1-0) and thrashing S.L. Benfica (7-0) and Juventus F.C. (4-0).

Fall from grace

Celta had a dramatic reversal of fortune in 2003-04. The La Liga 2002-03, they finished fourth in the league, putting them in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Celta entered the group phase, and eventually reached the last 16 before being knocked out by Arsenal F.C.. However, their domestic form was disastrous, and they finished last in La Liga, so they were relegated to the second level. They earned a return to the top flight at the first attempt, after finishing second in Segunda División 2004-05.

In the La Liga 2005-06, they finished sixth earning a return once more to the UEFA Cup 2006-07. They made it to the last 16 in that competition as well, before losing to SV Werder Bremen.

In the 2006-07 season, Celta finished in 18th position and were relegated to Segunda División. At the end of June 2007, Celta avoided going into administration. However, if an agreement was not put in place between Celta Vigo and its creditors within three months, then courts would declare the liquidation of the club’s assets.

Colours & badge

Celta Vigo's original team strip consisted of a red shirt, white shorts and blue socks - the colours of the flag of Vigo. This was later changed at an unknown date to the traditional sky blue and white strip - representative of the Galician flag.

Like many other Galician clubs, such as Racing de Ferrol, Celta Vigo badge is based on the red Cross of Saint James (St. James). On top of the cross sits a sky blue shield with two letter Cs (Club Celta). In 1928 Celta became one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use Real (Royal) in their names and the royal crown on their badge. This right was granted to Celta by Alfonso XIII and Celta Vigo subsequently became known as Real Club Celta de Vigo. During the Spanish Second Republic the title Real was removed from Celta Vigo's name and the royal crown was taken off Celta Vigo crest, however it was to return under the Spanish State.

Club anthem

- Download in mp3 format:
Galician:
Castilian:

Other popular songs sung by the celtistas are A Rianxeira, O Miudiño , and the Foliada Celeste.

Rivals

Celta Vigo's biggest rivals are their northern neighbours Deportivo La Coruña. Matches between the two teams are known as the Galician Local derby

Seasons

Recent seasons

!

- 6 participations in UEFA Cup
- 1 participation in UEFA Intertoto Cup
- 46 seasons in La Liga
- 27 seasons in Segunda División
- 1 season in Segunda División B
- 1 season in Tercera División

The numbers are established according to the official website:

As of 12 August 2008

The following players are registered with the Celta de Vigo B but are able to take part in senior matches.

Notable former players

- Sebastián Méndez
- Gustavo Adrián López
- Pablo Cavallero
- Fernando Cáceres
- Matías Lequi
- Carlos Fenoy
- Rubén Ángel Fernández
- Horacio Moyano
- Hermes Desio
- Nelson Vivas
- Mario Turdó
- Eduardo Berizzo
- Eduardo Coudet
- Vladimir Gudelj
- Milorad Ratković
- Mazinho
- Sylvinho
- Ademir Viera
- Baltazar Maria de Morais Júnior
- Amarildo Souza do Amaral
- Nílson Esidio Mora
- Mauricio Oliveira Anastasio
- Fabiano Soares Pessoa
- Luís Carlos Quintanilha
- Adriano Félix Teixeira
- Everton Giovanella
- Rogerío Vagner

- Doriva
- Fernando Baiano
- Luboslav Penev
- Gabriel Tamaş
- Pablo Contreras
- Stjepan Andrijasevic
- Zvonimir Boban
- Goran Jurić
- Ioannis Okkas
- Iván Kaviedes
- Mido (footballer)
- Yago Alonso-Fueyo Sako
- Claude Makélélé
- Daniel Dutuel
- Richard Dutruel
- Florian Maurice
- Peter Luccin
- Zsolt Limperger
- José Luis Borbolla
- Carlos Vela
- Rick Hoogendorp
- Jordi Cruijff
- Dan Eggen
- James Hagan
- Haim Revivo
- Gabriel Lezcano

- Juan José Jayo
- Bruno Ricardo Caires
- Jorge Cadete
- Aleksandr Mostovoi
- Valery Karpin
- Goran Đorović
- Zoran Marić
- Miloš Bursać
- Srđan Bajčetić
- Goran Milojević
- Saša Ilić (midfielder)
- Savo Milošević
- Benni McCarthy
- Miguel Muñoz
- Manuel Hermida Losada
- Pahiño
- Manolo
- Velasco
- Tomás
- Juan Sánchez
- Santiago Cañizares
- Vicente Engonga
- Juan Francisco García
- Míchel Salgado
- Albert Celades
- Catanha
- Richard Camera
- Juan Contreras
- José Luis Mosquera

- Víctor Fernández
- Luis Casas
- Ricardo Zamora
- Javier Irureta
- Milorad Pavić (footballer)
- Hristo Stoichkov

see also

Club Records
- Most league goals – 107, Hermidita (1945-1955)
- Most Primera Division league goals –
- Most goals in a season –
- Most league appearances – 235, Alexander Mostovoi (1996-2004)
- Current player with most league appearances –
- Biggest win and biggest home win – 10-1 (v. Gimnastic Tarragona, October 23, 1949)
- Biggest away win – 0-5 (v. Hercules CF, March 2, 1941)
- Biggest defeat and biggest away defeat – 10-0 (v. Athletic Bilbao, January 11, 1944)
- Biggest home defeat – 0-5 (v. Deportivo La Coruna, January 3, 2004)
- Most Home points in a season -
- Most Away points in a season - 18 (2006-2007)
- Record transfer fee paid - £7.4 million, Catanha from Málaga CF
- Record transfer fee received - £11 million, Michel Salgado to Real Madrid CF

Top goalscorers

- Hermidita 105
- Mauro 69
- Vladimir Gudelj 68
- Pahiño 61
- Alexander Mostovoi 55
- Roig 50
- Atienza 49
- Del Pino 48
- Olmedo 46
- Torres 39

Internationals

Number of capped players (with Spain) - 18
- First Capped Player - Pasarín
- - Debut Match -Italy 1-0 Spain (París, 25/05/1924)
- Last Capped Player - Ángel López
- - Debut Match - Spain 0-1 Romania (Estadio Ramón de Carranza, Cádiz, 15/11/2006)

Club Officials

is Celta's youth team. It was founded in 1990 and plays in Group I of the Segunda División B.

Trophies

Official competitions

- Copa del Rey: Runner-up 1948, 1994 and 2001.
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup

Friendly tournaments

- 13 Trofeo Ciudad de Vigo
- 8 Trofeo Memorial Quinocho
- 1 Trofeo Teresa Herrera
- 1 Copa Xunta de Galicia (winner, 2007 defeating CD Lugo 3-2).

Individual

Pichichi Trophy
- 1947-1948 - Pahiño (23)

Ricardo Zamora Trophy
- 1992-1993 - Santiago Cañizares (30 Goals/36 Games - Coefficient 0.83)
- 2002-2003 - Pablo Oscar Cavallero (27 Goals/34 Games - Coefficient 0.79)
- 2005-2006 - José Manuel Pinto Colorado(28 Goals/36 Games - Coefficient 0.78)