Deportivo Alavés
Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it plays in the highest football category of The Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, La Liga, since the 2016–17 season.
It is recognized as the least successful team in the Basque Country following Athletic Club of Bilbao and Real Sociedad de Futbol of San Sebastián. Its biggest success was in 2001 when, in the year of its debut in European competition, it was one of the finalists in the 2001 UEFA Cup Final against Liverpool, being defeated 5–4 by golden goal. In 2017, the club reached the final of the Copa del Rey, losing out 3–1 to Barcelona.
The team's home kit is blue and white-striped shirt, blue shorts and white socks. It holds home matches at the 19,840-seater Mendizorrotza Stadium and uses other facilities located in Ibaia dedicated to training.
History
Founded in 1920 the initial name of the club was Sport Friends, but on 23 January 1921 the name was changed to the current one. Alavés was the first club to win promotion from the Segunda División to La Liga in 1929–30, a stint which would last three years. In its first season in Primera División Alavés finished 8th from 10 teams, just 1 point away from being relegated.In 1953–54 the club would reach the top league again for a two-year spell. With Roman Galarraga as a coach, the club reached long-awaited promotion to Segunda División in the 1973–74 season. In June 1983, after having avoided the relegation in the previous season, Alavés went down to Segunda División B, where remained until the 1985–86 campaign. After years of seriously facing disappearance which lasted well into the 1990s, Alavés finally achieved a promotion back into the Segunda División in 1994–95 after two consecutive years of winning their group in Segunda División B – created as the new third level in 1977 – but failing in the promotion play-offs.
After winning the Segunda División in 1997–98, Alavés returned to the top level after a 42-year. Following their return season in which they escaped relegation by a single point, they achieved two wins against Barcelona in the following campaign and would qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time upon finishing sixth.
between Liverpool and Alavés.
As well as concluding the domestic campaign in tenth position, in 2000–01 the Basque club reached the final of the UEFA Cup after beating Internazionale, Rayo Vallecano and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the latter in a crushing 9–2 aggregate victory. The final ended in a 4–5 loss against Liverpool, Alavés losing to an "own-golden goal" after taking the match to extra time. The match also featured two red cards and two disallowed goals in extra time in addition to the nine goals which did count, and has been described by some observers as one of the greatest showpiece games in the competition's history.
Alavés ended 2001–02 in seventh position and qualified for the UEFA Cup for a second time, although the European campaign of 2002–03 was far less successful than two years earlier, with an opening win over Ankaragücü followed by a defeat to another Turkish Süper Lig side, Beşiktaş. On 26 January 2003, the club celebrated their 100th win in La Liga after defeating Real Valladolid 3–1.
Although Alavés were relegated after 2002–03, they regained top flight status two years later. In this time, Alavés was bought by Ukrainian–American businessman Dmitry Pietrman, and several clashes followed with the club's coaches, players and fans alike. The top-division return only lasted one season as the club went through three head coaches and finished in 18th position, one point from safety. Piterman departed in 2007, leaving the club deep in debt after his tenure. After two years of battling against relegation to the third level, Alavés eventually succumbed in 2008–09.
A subsequent black period in Segunda B lasted four years until Alavés was bought by José Antonio Querejeta and were promoted again to the second division in 2013 as overall champions of the third tier, providing an opportunity to sort out its economic difficulties. Three years later, on 29 May 2016, Alavés was promoted to La Liga as second tier champions after beating Numancia 2–0 to overtake Leganés on the final day.
vs. Alavés.
On 10 September 2016, Alavés got their first win of their return season in La Liga by defeating defending La Liga champions Barcelona 2–1 at the Camp Nou. On 7 February 2017, Alavés qualified for the 2017 Copa del Rey Final after eliminating Celta de Vigo in the semi-finals of the competition. This was the first time in their history that the club had qualified for the final of the national cup, their previous best being the semi-finals in 1998 and 2004. Their opponents in the final would be Barcelona, and coincidentally the two clubs met in the league directly after their cup semi-finals; the Catalans inflicted a 6–0 defeat on Alavés in their own Mendizorrotza Stadium, exacting revenge for the result earlier in the season. Barcelona also won the final, held at the Estadio Vicente Calderón with a 3–1 scoreline, meaning there would be no return to European competition for Alavés. In the La Liga that season Alavés finished 9th with 14 wins, 13 draws and 11 losses.
Seasons
Season to season
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