Third promotion of UD Almería to Spanish top-flight
The 2021/22 season will go down, as well as the past 2012/13 and 2006/07 campaigns, in the Club's history. Fourth time for Almeria city in the elite level football
UD Almería’s away win over CD Leganes sealed their third long-awaited promotion to the top tier of Spanish football, after a scintillating campaign in which the Rojiblancos have shown strong performances consistently that have help them consolidate their hold onto top positions of the LaLiga SmartBank table throughout the championship. The 2021/22 season will go down, as well as the past 2012/13 and 2006/07 campaigns, in the Club's history.
Since 2001, Almería appear under the acronym of UD, managing to enter, shortly after, in the Spanish second tier to remain in professional football since then and star in the most important stage of Almeria-based football. The team performed a brilliant 2006/07 campaign, with former-head coach Unai Emery in the driving seat, who inspired them to live for the first time the unforgettable experience of playing against the best clubs in Spain. At the qualifying level, the side came runners-up in the second tier, moving up to the top flight courtesy of an emphatic 3-1 win over SD Ponferradina.
This promotion gave way to four years on the bounce in which the Indálicos would compete fiercely, bursting with pride in the top tier, leading to big games and great results against Real Madrid CF, Sevilla FC, Atlético de Madrid... and even qualifying for the Spanish Cup semi-final.
At the end of the 2010/11 season, they were relegated to the second-tier Segunda Division. However, it took UD Almeria only two years to be back in the big time. After an oh-so-close campaign in which the Rojiblancos nearly made it, in the 2012/13 season with Javi Gracia as the head coach, UD Almeria qualified for the play-offs; they beat UD Las Palmas and Girona FC to celebrate their return to the top tier. Once again, promotion was achieved at the Mediterraneo with Girona FC receiving a severe drubbing in the Andalusian south coast.
UD Almería competed for two seasons in the top flight. At the end of 2014/15 campaign, the Club did not manage to avoid the drop and went back down to the second tier, having experienced moments of qualifying difficulty and escaping from third-tier Segunda Division ‘B’ on the last Matchday on two occasions. It was before the start of the 2019/20 season when Turki Alalshikh became the new owner of the Club and his ambitious project made UD Almeria clear candidates for promotion to LaLiga Santander; two back-to-back playoffs wrecked the Rojiblancos’ hopes until they proved third time lucky this 2021/22 season and won promotion at last!
On the other hand, this will be the fourth time that Almeria city will be the scene of Primera Division fixtures, given the fact that Agrupación Deportiva Almería coached by José María Maguregui clinched promotion in the 1978/79 campaign. This Almeria-based club played for two consecutive campaigns in the top tier of Spanish football.