Málaga CF


The Málaga Club de Fútbol, or simply Málaga, is a Spanish football team based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. The team plays in the Segunda División, the second division of Spanish football.
They won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002 and qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup, reaching the quarter-final stages. They also qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, where they were quarter-finalists. Since June 2010, the owner of the club has been Qatari investor Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani.

History

Origins

The first football club in Málaga was stablished in 1904, with the formation of the Málaga Foot-Ball Club. It was nothing more than a society intended to promote football, a new sport in the city, carried from the United Kingdom. Its first rivals were small teams formed by crews of foreign ships arriving in the local harbor. In 1907, further attempts of popularizing football were performed by the Málaga FC.
1912 saw the arrival of a rival club, the FC Malagueño, and the establishment of a great rivalry with the Málaga FC, which had merged with other minor clubs like the Málaga Racing. In 1927, the Málaga FC became the Real Málaga FC after they were granted royal patronage by Alfonso XIII.
During the 1929–30 season both the Real Málaga FC and the FC Malagueño clubs became founding members of the Tercera División. In late 1930, the Real Málaga FC, were reformed as the Málaga Sport Club.

Club merging in 1933

In 1933 the Málaga SC and the FC Malagueño merged to become the Club Deportivo Malacitano, although it wasn't a real merging at all, but a name change of the FC Malagueño, which had economic wealth and a better squad than the Málaga SC. By this operation, the CD Malacitano was able to heir the squad of the FC Malagueño, having their contracts cancelled in the other way.
In 1934 this new club made its debut in the Segunda División when the division was expanded from ten teams to twenty four. After various seasons in the Segunda División, with the competition interrupted because of the Spanish Civil War.
In 1941 the club changed their name to the Club Deportivo Málaga when the new La Rosaleda stadium was inaugurated.

First promotion to La Liga in 1949, first topflight years

In 1949, the Málaga promoted for the first time to La Liga after several seasons in the Segunda División and a couple in the third level.
With chairman Miguel Navarro Nogueroles and coach Luís Urquiri, the club managed to promote in the last play of the 1948–49 season, in second position after the Real Sociedad, and thanks to positive goal difference with the Granada CF. Notable striker Pedro Bazán, who had previously scored nine goals in a sole match against the Hércules CF on January 4, 1949 in the Segunda División. He was the top goal scorer with 266 total goals and also one of the most important players of the team.
In this first run in La Liga, the Málaga stayed there two consecutive seasons, with notable former player Ricardo Zamora as coach of the team, and until the first relegation of the club at the end of 1950–51 season, lacking just one point to maintain status.
In the subsequent seasons, the Málaga achieved two new promotions to La Liga in 1951–52 and 1953–54, being relegated after just one year in both. The 1952–53 season was notable because of a resounding 6–0 thrashing of the Real Madrid at La Rosaleda, the major result up to date of the Málaga against this club.

The golden years in the early 1970s

After several new fleeting first level promotions in the 1960s, which turned out in immediate relegations, the Málaga promoted once again in 1969–70 under the command of chairman Antonio Rodríguez López and coach Jenő Kálmár, to start a five-year top flight stay. However, president in charge Antonio Rodríguez López was brutally murdered because of Mafia issues in the year 1971, and was replaced by Rafael Serrano Carvajal for the next season.
With notable players like Miguel Ramos Vargas "Migueli", Sebastian Viberti, Juan Antonio Deusto and José Díaz Macías, the club achieved two seven league places in 1971–72 and 1973–74, a Ricardo Zamora Trophy in 1971–72 season performed by goalkeeper Deusto, and a 1972–73 run of the club in the Spanish Cup, where they were dumped out in the semifinals by the Athletic Bilbao. They also notably scored a victory on the Camp Nou for the first time after winning against the FC Barcelona at the end of the 1971–72 season. The club also established in 1973 an official anthem, Málaga La Bombonera, and from that moment the song is still the official anthem of the club.
After a polemic exit by Viberti at the end of 1973–74 season, the so-called golden years ended with a new relegation to the second level in 1974–75.

Dissolution of CD Málaga in 1992

In 1992, the CD Málaga dissolved after financial difficulties.

Club Atlético Malagueño

A former reserve club of the CD Málaga, founded on 25 May 1948, named Club Atlético Malagueño after CD Málaga took over a junior club, CD Santo Tomás, with the purpose of establishing a reserve team, took over as Málaga's main team.
Club Atlético Malagueño and CD Málaga had found themselves together in the 1959–60 Tercera División after CD Málaga was relegated at the end of the 1958–59 Segunda División. As a reserve team, the former should have been relegated to regional competition. To avoid this, they separated from their parent club and registered as an independent club within the Royal Spanish Football Federation. That move made it possible for the CA Malagueño to survive after CD Málaga suspended operations.
The 1992–93 season saw CA Malagueño playing in Tercera División Group 9. After a successful campaign, the club was promoted to Segunda División B. The following season, however, the club was relegated again and, facing financial difficulties, were in danger of folding.

Name change to Málaga CF

On 19 December 1993, in a referendum, the club's members voted in favour of changing names and, on 29 June 1994, CA Malagueño changed their name to Málaga Club de Fútbol S.A.D.
In the early 2000s, Málaga were a club rich in youth and top quality players, and boasted a more modern and developed stadium. Although they never pushed for a Champions League place, Málaga were always successful under the popular Joaquín Peiró.
They made a solitary appearance in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002, clinching their only official trophy by beating Gent, Willem II and an improving Villarreal. Málaga's run in the UEFA Cup was something of an overachievement, and ended in a defeat on penalties in the quarter-finals to Boavista, after beating Željezničar Sarajevo, Amica Wronki, Leeds United and AEK Athens.
After Peiró's retirement, a mass exodus slowly started. Darío Silva, Kiki Musampa, Dely Valdés and Pedro Contreras all left the club. Juande Ramos took over as coach and oversaw a 5–1 home thrashing of Barcelona, the club's biggest victory against the Catalan giants, with a hat-trick from loanee Salva Ballesta, who would end up missing out on the Pichichi Trophy by just two goals. Ramos, however, left for Sevilla and Gregorio Manzano took charge.

Slow decline and financial issues

Despite steering Málaga to their second consecutive tenth-placed finish, Manzano could not prevent a lacklustre side from being relegated, and they finished bottom of the league with a paltry 24 points to their name.
Málaga began the new second division season well. However, their form dipped dramatically and for two of the remaining six weeks were in the relegation zone. Málaga managed to address this situation and survived their first Segunda season.
The 2007–08 Segunda División also began impressively, with seven straight victories. Málaga seemed to be on track for promotion but, after another slump in form, they were overtaken as leaders by Numancia. They needed a victory in their final game, at home to Tenerife, to assure promotion. Two goals from Antonio Hidalgo secured a 2–1 triumph and Málaga returned to the top flight as runners-up.

Abdullah Al Thani era (2010–present)

Due to the club's economic problems, then-president Fernando Sanz found investments at Doha in Qatar to launch an ambitious project, entering in conversations with sheikh Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani. On 11 June 2010, after a week of negotiations, Al Thani became the entity's new owner, being named president on 28 July in the members' meeting.
On 28 June 2010, Jesualdo Ferreira was appointed as coach and Moayad Shatat was appointed as vice president and general manager. Following this was the signing of prominent players like Salomón Rondón and Eliseu. In November, however, Jesualdo was fired because he had not obtained the desired performance, positioning the club in the relegation places. Later, Shatat confirmed Manuel Pellegrini as coach.
With "the caretaker" in charge, it was decided to discard players of the squad and strengthen with players like centre back Martín Demichelis and midfielder Júlio Baptista. A record five consecutive La Liga wins, alongside a draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés at the start of January 2011, helped the team maintain momentum in the league, finishing the 2010–11 season in 11th place.
In preparation for the 2011–12 season, the club signed with Nike as supplier of the club's kits. Málaga also reached a collaboration agreement with UNESCO, which, in addition, became the principal sponsor of the club's kit. The more prominent signings of that season were the Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy, the ex-Lyon French midfielder, Jérémy Toulalan, and the most expensive signing in the club's history, Santi Cazorla, who arrived from Villarreal in a €21 million deal. Other less prominent players like Isco, former Spanish international midfielder Joaquín and left back Nacho Monreal, were key in the successful season which followed for Málaga. For the first time in its history, the club qualified for the Champions League after finishing the 2011–12 La Liga campaign in fourth.
In their first ever participation in the Champions League, Málaga were paired with Italian giants Milan and reigning Belgian and Russian champions Anderlecht and Zenit Saint Petersburg, respectively. Málaga made it out of the group stage unbeaten, winning against all three clubs. In the round of 16, the team drew Portuguese champions Porto, losing the first away game 1–0 while winning at home 2–0, advancing to the quarter-finals. In a highly anticipated tie against German champions Borussia Dortmund, the home game ended 0–0, leaving Malagauistas with a reasonable chance to advance on the back of a draw in the away fixture. In a second leg marked by controversial referee decisions, the scoreboard showed 1–2 at the full 90 minutes mark, seemingly ensuring Málaga's place in the semi-finals, but two late goals by Marco Reus and Felipe Santana turned the table in favour of the home team. Immediately after the elimination, club president Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani announced a formal complaint would be filed with UEFA and FIFA.
The following season, Málaga was banned by UEFA, along with other clubs for its debts, so the agency in a statement declared that the club will be excluded from a subsequent competition, for which it would otherwise qualify, in the next four seasons. However, the ban was eventually downgraded to one season and the club was excluded from the 2013–14 Europa League.
In the summer of 2013, Isco was sold to Real Madrid, Joaquín to Fiorentina and midfielder Jérémy Toulalan to Monaco. The managerial position also changed, with Bernd Schuster taking over from Manuel Pellegrini.
Following 2013, Málaga encountered a steady decline that would result in them finishing in a lower position in the league each year. On 19 April 2018, Málaga faced Levante U.D. hoping to end their run of 10 consecutive defeats that left them placed 20th in LaLiga. However, fate took a turn for the worse and Málaga conceded a goal to Levante's Emmanuel Boateng in stoppage time to see the final score at 0–1. This loss meant that Málaga would be relegated to the Segunda División, ending a run of 10 consecutive seasons in the top flight.
In 2019, Málaga came close to being promoted to La Liga, finishing third in Segunda División, but was eliminated in the first round of play-offs by Deportivo de La Coruña. For the 2019–20 Segunda División season, Víctor Sánchez del Amo will continue as coach.

Honours

Domestic

Between 1961 and 1983, the club organised its own summer tournament, the Trofeo Costa del Sol. In this first age of the tournament, the club won this competition themselves on three occasions, beating Real Madrid, Red Star Belgrade and Derby County in the finals. After a long time of inactivity from 1983 onwards, the competition was revived in 2003. Since then, the club has won the competition on five occasions, beating Newcastle United, Real Betis and Parma in the finals. All eight trophies are currently placed together in the Museo Malaguista in La Rosaleda.

Eastern Andalusia Derby

Málaga's main rivalry is with Granada CF, known as the Derby of eastern Andalusia. The two clubs are located approximately 90 kilometers away.
Updated to derby #85 played on April 6, 2019.
CompetitionPlayedGranada winsDrawsMálaga winsGranada goalsMálaga goals
La Liga248882229
La Liga Play-off211032
Segunda381210164258
Segunda Play-off210133
Segunda B835063
Tercera220052
Copa del Rey95131510
Overall8532252896107

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

Personnel

Current technical staff

Seasons

Recent seasons

European record

Season to season



  • As an independent team

  • As Málaga Club de Fútbol

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