UE Lleida


Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as Lérida Balompié-AEM on 30 October 1939, and became Unión Deportiva Lérida in 1947, after a merger with CD Leridano. It held home matches at Camp d´Esports, with a 13,500-seat capacity. It was dissolved in 2011. The soul of the club was reformed as Lleida Esportiu.
Lleida adopted the Catalan version of its name in 1978. The club spent most of its history in the lower divisions, but in the early 1950s and early 1990s, the club won promotion to La Liga.
During the 1990s the club was managed by Mané, Juande Ramos and Víctor Muñoz, all of whom subsequently became successful managers with other clubs. From 1987 the club organised its own summer trophy, the Ciutat de Lleida Trophy.

History

Early Lleida football clubs

Football was first introduced to Lleida in 1910 by Manuel Azoz, a Barcelona business man. Among the earliest clubs in the city were Montserrat, founded in 1913 by Marist Brothers, and FC Lleida founded in 1914. Both played their early games in the district of Pla d’en Gardeny. In 1915, the Associació Cultural Lleidatana was founded by Catalan nationalists.
By 1917 two other clubs, Club Colonial and, began playing at the Camp de Mart. In 1918 FC Joventut was formed by left-wing Catalan republicans and during the 1920s they emerged as the city’s strongest side.
In 1919, Lleida became the first club to use the Camp d´Esports, but this team was dissolved in 1927. Other clubs of the 1920s included AE Lleida Calaveres, Lleida Sport Club and AEM Lleida, all of which disappeared during the 1930s.

Lérida Balompié and CD Leridano

After the Spanish Civil War, former members of AE Lleida Calaveres, Lleida Sport Club and AEM Lleida formed Lérida Balompié-AEM. After playing in regional leagues for four seasons they made their debut in the fourth division in 1943. The following year, the club split into two separate clubs, Lérida Balompié and AEM.
Meanwhile, in 1941 Spanish nationalists formed CD Leridano, and a local rivalry developed between that club and Lérida Balompié. On March 9, 1947, these two sides merged to become Unión Deportiva Lérida. The new team retained both the blue and white colours and club shield of Lérida Balompié, the first president of the new club being Eduard Estadella.

First golden era

UD Lérida enjoyed a golden age in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when they progressed from the third to the first division in just three seasons. In 1949, they won the third-tier and, the following season, 1949–50, they made their debut in Segunda División.
The club achieved their biggest league in history in this season, 9–2 win against CD Lugo, as it also finished runner-up in the league, which meant promotion to the topflight for the first time ever. However, during its debut season, it was heavily defeated on several occasions: 9–0 to CD Málaga, 10–1 to Deportivo de La Coruña and 10–0 to Athletic Bilbao, being ultimately relegated back. Lleida's first eleven in the first division was: Rivero, Rigau, Telechea, Carrillo, Esquerda, Roca, Gausí, Pellicer, Ramón, Bidegain and Fustero.

The Mané era

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lleida enjoyed a second solid moment, under coach Mané. He joined the club in 1988 and took it from Segunda División B to La Liga.
1993–94 was the second topflight experience for the club; in spite of a 1–0 win over the FC Barcelona Dream Team at the Camp Nou, and another against Real Madrid, 2–1 at home, Lleida only won seven times altogether and was relegated once again.
The 1994–95 season saw the club finish third in the second division, with a subsequent promotion play-off defeat against Sporting de Gijón. In 2001, the team returned to level three and, in 2004–05 and the following campaign, played again in the second division. From 1996 and during an entire decade, legendary player Miguel Ángel Rubio served as its manager.

Liquidation

On 10 May 2011, Lleida was placed in a liquidation auction due to a €28 million debt. On 12 July, the team's seat was acquired by local entrepreneur Sisco Pujol, with the new club being named Lleida Esportiu.

Season to season

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey
1939/406—
1940/4161st
1941/4251st
1942/4346th
1943/4433ª9thFourth round
1944/4533ª9thDNP
1945/4633ª10thDNP
1946/4733ª3rdDNP
1947/4833ª4thFifth round
1948/4933ª1stSecond round
1949/5022ª2ndFirst round
1950/5111ª16thDNP
1951/5222ª7thDNP
1952/5322ª6thSecond round
1953/5422ª3rdDNP
1954/5522ª10thDNP
1955/5622ª12thDNP
1956/5722ª20thDNP
1957/5833ª2ndDNP
1958/5933ª7thDNP

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey
1959/6033ª6thDNP
1960/6133ª6thDNP
1961/6233ª6thDNP
1962/6333ª4thDNP
1963/6433ª2ndDNP
1964/6533ª2ndDNP
1965/6622ª11thRound of 32
1966/6722ª12thRound of 32
1967/6822ª12thFirst round
1968/6933ª5thDNP
1969/7033ª10thFirst round
1970/7141stDNP
1971/7233ª5thSecond round
1972/7333ª4thSecond round
1973/7433ª11thThird round
1974/7533ª15thDNP
1975/7633ª5thDNP
1976/7733ª9thThird round
1977/7832ªB16thSecond round
1978/7932ªB11thThird round

SeasonDivisionTierPlaceCopa del Rey
1979/8032ªB6thThird round
1980/8132ªB10thSecond round
1981/8232ªB14thFirst round
1982/8332ªB10thDNP
1983/8432ªB8thFirst round
1984/8532ªB6thSecond round
1985/8632ªB4thRound of 16
1986/8732ªB2ndFirst round
1987/8822ª6thThird round
1988/8922ª19thRound of 32
1989/9032ªB1stFirst round
1990/9122ª6thThird round
1991/9222ª5thFourth round
1992/9322ª1stRound of 16
1993/9411ª19thFifth round
1994/9522ª3rdRound of 16

SeasonDivisionTierPlaceCopa del Rey
1995/9622ª11thSecond round
1996/9722ª11thRound of 16
1997/9822ª5thSecond round
1998/9922ª11thThird round
1999/0022ª5thRound of 16
2000/0122ª22ndSecond round
2001/0232ªB9thRound of 32
2002/0332ªB8thFirst round
2003/0432ªB1stDNP
2004/0522ª15thRound of 16
2005/0622ª19thFourth round
2006/0732ªB14thSecond round
2007/0832ªB13thDNP
2008/0932ªB8thDNP
2009/1032ªB11thDNP
2010/1132ªB5thDNP

Official

Club

Only international players or UEFA Champions League winners. Flags represent national teams player appeared for.