The club was founded on April 9, 1945. Numancia was named after the ancient Celtiberian town of Numantia, near where Soria would be later founded. Having spent a long time in the Tercera División, the club made consistent progress, reaching the first division on three occasions: 1999, 2004 and 2008. The club became first widely known in Spain in 1995–96, while still playing at the third level, for its extraordinary run in the Spanish Cup, eliminating three top flight clubs and only being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Barcelona, after Numancia drew in the first leg and took the lead in the second. Numancia's most important milestone came in 1999, when the team managed to promote to La Liga for the very first time. In the 1998–99 season, Numancia finished third in Segunda, only behind Málaga CF and Atlético Madrid B, meaning the promotion to the top tier. Their first ever season in the Spanish elite proved to be challenging. Numancia eventually finished 17th, thus avoiding an immediate relegation to Segunda. Their survival was made possible because of unexpectedly good home results. Numancia won 9 home games, drew 6, and lost only 4 games at home. Their second season in the elite was less successful, as the team finished in last place. Numancia again displayed strong results at home, winning eight of their ten wins at home. However, that was eventually not enough to avoid a drop to Segunda, after a two year spell in La Liga. Numancia spent three seasons in Segunda Division, before promotion again after the 2003–04 season, as the club finished third. Numancia'second spell in the Spanish top tier was not successful as it only won 6 games. This meant that relegation followed just one season after. Following another three years in Segunda, Numancia came back to La Liga for season 2008–09. Following a 1–3 loss at Sporting de Gijón on 2 November 2008, Numancia had conceded a total of 200 goals in the top division in slightly more than three seasons, reaching 44th in the all-time list. It battled bravely against relegation, but eventually returned to level two after just one year, as second from bottom, even though the season had started on a high note with a 1–0 home win against eventual champions Barcelona. Relegated on 2019-20 season to third division after 23 years playing between first and second division.
