Celta de Vigo

R.C. Celta de Vigo
Full name Real Club Celta de Vigo S.A.D
Nickname(s) Celtiñas (Little Celts)
Celtistas
Celestes (Sky Blues)
Founded 1923
Ground Estadio Balaídos
(Capacity: 32,500)
Chairman Flag of Spain Carlos Mouriño
Manager Flag of Spain Pepe Murcia
League Segunda División
2007-08 Segunda División, 16th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours

Real Club Celta de Vigo Sociedad Anonima Deportiva is a Spanish football team from Vigo in Galicia. It was founded on March 28, 1923 by merging Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. They currently play in Spain's Second Division.

Nicknamed Celtiñas (Galician for little celts), they play in sky-blue shirts and white shorts. The club's home stadium is Balaídos, which seats 32,500 spectators.[1]

Contents

History

Foundation

R.C. Celta de Vigo was formed as a result of the ambition of Vigo's teams to achieve more at national level, where the Basque sides were their "bête-noire" in the Spanish Championship. The idea was to merge both teams to create a more powerful team at national level. The standard-bearer of this movement was Manuel De Castro "Handicap", sports writer for Faro de Vigo who, from 1915, started to write in his articles about the need for a unitarian movement. The slogan of his movement was "Todo por y para Vigo" (All for and to Vigo), which eventually found support amongst the managers of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. It was backed unanimously when De Castro himself presented the motion at the assembly of the National Federation in Madrid, on 22 June 1923.

On 12 July 1923, at the AGM's of Vigo and Fortuna held at the Odeon Theatre and in the Hotel Moderno, respectively, the merger was approved. Thus the "Galicia Team " was born, as it was dubbed. In the last AGM of Fortuna and Vigo to approve the formation of a new club held on 10 August 1923, the members decided upon the team's name. Various names were suggested:

The last name was popular but they eventually decided on Real Club Celta, an ethnic race linked to Galicia (see Celts). The first president of Celta was Manuel Bárcena de Andrés, the Count of Torrecedeira. At this AGM, the squad was also decided, which numbered 64 players in total, that included some notable players from both Fortuna and Vigo:

Celta de Vigo have played for many years in the Spanish first division, but have never been champions of the league or cup, despite having come close. Their best season was 1970-71, when they were not beaten at home and were known as the "giant-killers." They finished the season in sixth place (with the same number of points as Athletic Bilbao in fifth). This meant that the team qualified for the UEFA Cup for the next season. Unfortunately for them, they were knocked out by Aberdeen in the first round, and were unable to recover from a 2-0 loss at home.

Club colours & badge

Celta's original team strip consisted of a red shirt, white shorts and blue socks - the colour's of the flag of Vigo. This was later changed at an unknown date to the traditional sky blue and white strip - representative of the Galician flag.

Like many Galician clubs, such as Racing de Ferrol, the badge is based on the red cross of Santiago (St. James). It also has the royal crown, hence the name Real Club Celta de Vigo.

EuroCelta

The late 1990s (1997-2001) saw the best results in Celta's history, in which they managed to consolidate themselves as a top-six league side, culminating in 2000-01, when they did not fall below sixth the whole season. They were dubbed EuroCelta by the Spanish press.

During this period they achieved a number of famous results in the UEFA Cup, beating Liverpool in home and away games (3-1 and 1-0) and thrashing S.L. Benfica (7-0) and Juventus F.C. (4-0).

Fall from grace

Celta had a dramatic reversal of fortune in 2003-04. The previous season, they finished fourth in the league, putting them in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Celta entered the group phase, and eventually reached the last 16 before being knocked out by Arsenal. However, their domestic form was disastrous, and they finished penultimate in La Liga, so they were relegated to the second level. They earned a return to the top flight at the first attempt, after finishing second in in 2004-05's Segunda.

In the 2005-06 season, they finished sixth earning a return once more to the UEFA Cup. They made it to the last 16 in that competition as well, before losing to SV Werder Bremen.

In the 2006-07 season, Celta finished in 18th position and were relegated to Segunda División. At the end of June, Celta avoided going into administration. However, if an agreement was not put in place between the club and its creditors within three months, then courts would declare the liquidation of the club’s assets.

Club anthem

Galician: [1] Castilian: [2]

Other popular songs sung by the celtistas are A Rianxeira, O Miudiño , and the Foliada Celeste.

The Galician derby

The Galician derby is between Celta Vigo from the south and their northern rivals Deportivo La Coruña

Teams P W D L F A
CELTA VIGO vs Deportivo 64 24 16 24 82 91

Trophies

Official competitions

Friendly tournaments


Recent history

Season Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Europe Notes
1997/1998 1D 6 38 17 9 12 54 47 60
1998/1999 1D 5 38 17 13 8 69 41 64 UC quarter-final
1999/2000 1D 7 38 15 8 15 45 43 53 UC quarter-final
2000/2001 1D 6 38 16 11 11 51 49 59 final UC quarter-final
2001/2002 1D 5 38 16 12 10 64 46 60 UC 2nd round
2002/2003 1D 4 38 17 10 11 45 36 61 UC 3rd round
2003/2004 1D 19 38 9 12 17 48 68 39 ECL last 16 relegated
2004/2005 2D 2 42 22 10 10 55 38 76 promoted
2005/2006 1D 6 38 20 4 14 45 33 64 last 16
2006/2007 1D 18 38 10 9 19 40 59 39 UC last 16 Relegated to 2ª División
2007/2008 2D 16 42 13 13 16 56 55 52

Pichichi & Zamora trophies

Pichichi

Zamora

Top goalscorers in La Liga

Current squad

The numbers are established according to the official website:www.celtavigo.net and www.lfp.es

As of 12 August 2008

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Spain GK Ismael Falcón
2 Flag of Bolivia DF Juan Manuel Peña
3 Flag of Spain MF Roberto Lago
4 Flag of Spain MF Borja Oubiña
5 Flag of Algeria FW Kamel Ghilas
6 Flag of Spain DF Rubén
7 Flag of Uruguay DF Fernando Fajardo
8 Flag of Argentina MF Ariel Rosada
9 Flag of Spain FW David Rodríguez
10 Flag of Spain MF Roberto Trashorras
11 Flag of Brazil MF Danilo
12 Flag of Brazil DF George Lucas
No. Position Player
13 Flag of Spain GK Antonio Notario
15 Flag of Spain MF Óscar Díaz
16 Flag of Spain DF Francisco Noguerol
17 Flag of Brazil DF Fabiano Lima
18 Flag of Latvia FW Māris Verpakovskis
19 Flag of Spain MF Jonathan Vila
20 Flag of Spain MF Michu
21 Flag of Spain MF Dani Ábalo
22 Flag of Brazil FW Dinei
23 Flag of Spain DF Edu Moya
25 Flag of Brazil MF Renan Fernandes
Flag of Spain DF Richi

Transfers Out 2008-09

No. Position Player
-- Flag of Spain GK José Manuel Pinto (to FC Barcelona)
-- Flag of Spain GK Esteban (to UD Almería)
-- Flag of Spain MF Antonio Núñez (to Real Murcia)
-- Flag of Uruguay MF Ernesto Canobbio (to Real Valladolid)
-- Flag of Spain MF Vitolo (loaned to Aris Thessaloniki)
-- Flag of Spain MF Jorge (to UD Las Palmas)
-- Flag of Brazil MF Roberto Souza (to Leixões SC)
-- Flag of Argentina MF Matías Lequi (Free agent)
-- Flag of Cyprus MF Okkas (to AC Omonoia)
-- Flag of Spain MF Agus (to Real Madrid Castilla)
-- Flag of Serbia MF Goran Maric (to Barcelona B)
-- Flag of Spain MF Jesús Perera (to Rayo Vallecano)
-- Flag of Spain MF Fernando Sales (to Hércules CF)
-- Flag of Spain MF Adrián (to Getafe CF)
-- Flag of Brazil MF Diego Costa (to Albacete Balompie)
-- Flag of Spain MF Antonio Guayre (to C.D. Numancia)
-- Flag of Spain MF Mario Suárez (to Real Mallorca)
-- Flag of Ghana MF Quincy (to Birmingham City)

Foreigners 2007-08

Only three non-EU nationals can be registered (and be given a number) for the first team. Those with European ancestry can claim a passport from the nation their ancestors came from. e.g. Gustavo López can claim a Spanish passport as he has Spanish ancestry. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim a Spanish passport by playing in Spain for 5 years.

Internationals

Number of capped players (with Spain) - 18

Statistics 2007-08

Segunda División Position Pts P W D L F A
Celta de Vigo 16 52 42 13 13 16 56 55

Notable former players

  • Flag of Algeria Djamel Belmadi
  • Flag of Argentina Sebastián Méndez
  • Flag of Argentina Gustavo López
  • Flag of Argentina Pablo Cavallero
  • Flag of Argentina Fernando Cáceres
  • Flag of Argentina Carlos Fenoy
  • Flag of Argentina Rubén Fernández
  • Flag of Argentina Horacio Moyano
  • Flag of Argentina Hermes Desio
  • Flag of Argentina Nelson Vivas
  • Flag of Argentina Mario Turdó
  • Flag of Argentina Eduardo Berizzo
  • Flag of Argentina Eduardo Coudet
  • Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vladimir Gudelj
  • Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Goran Jurić
  • Flag of Brazil Mazinho
  • Flag of Brazil Sylvinho
  • Flag of Brazil Ademir
  • Flag of Brazil Baltazar
  • Flag of Brazil Amarildo
  • Flag of Brazil Flag of Spain Catanha
  • Flag of Brazil Nílson
  • Flag of Brazil Mauricio
  • Flag of Brazil Fabiano
  • Flag of Brazil Luisinho
  • Flag of Brazil Adriano Teixeira
  • Flag of Brazil Everton Giovanella
  • Flag of Brazil Rogerío Vagner
  • Flag of Brazil Edú
  • Flag of Brazil Doriva
  • Flag of Brazil Baiano
  • Flag of Bulgaria Luboslav Penev
  • Flag of Bulgaria Petar Zanev
  • Flag of Chile Mauricio Pinilla
  • Flag of Chile Pablo Contreras
  • Flag of Croatia Stjepan Andrijasevic
  • Flag of Croatia Zvonimir Boban
  • Flag of Ecuador Iván Kaviedes
  • Flag of Egypt Mido
  • Flag of Spain Flag of Equatorial Guinea Vicente Engonga
  • Flag of France Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Claude Makélélé
  • Flag of France Daniel Dutuel
  • Flag of France Richard Dutruel
  • Flag of France Florian Maurice
  • Flag of France Peter Luccin
  • Flag of Hungary Zsolt Limperger
  • Flag of Mexico José Luis Borbolla
  • Flag of Mexico Carlos Vela
  • Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Spain Jordi Cruijff
  • Flag of the Netherlands Rick Hoogendorp
  • Flag of Norway Dan Eggen
  • Flag of Northern Ireland James Hagan
  • Flag of Israel Haim Revivo
  • Flag of Paraguay Gabriel Lezcano
  • Flag of Peru José del Solar
  • Flag of Peru Juan José Jayo
  • Flag of Portugal Bruno Caires
  • Flag of Portugal Jorge Cadete
  • Flag of Russia Aleksandr Mostovoi
  • Flag of Russia Flag of Estonia Valery Karpin
  • Flag of Serbia Goran Đorović
  • Flag of Serbia Milorad Ratković
  • Flag of Serbia Zoran Marić
  • Flag of Serbia Miloš Bursać
  • Flag of Serbia Srđan Bajčetić
  • Flag of Serbia Goran Milojević
  • Flag of Serbia Savo Milošević
  • Flag of Serbia Saša Ilić
  • Flag of South Africa Benni McCarthy
  • Flag of Spain Albert Celades
  • Flag of Spain Miguel Muñoz
  • Flag of Spain Hermidita
  • Flag of Spain Pahiño
  • Flag of Spain Santiago Cañizares
  • Flag of Spain Juanfran
  • Flag of Spain Michel Salgado
  • Flag of Uruguay Richard Camera
  • Flag of Uruguay Juan Contreras
  • Flag of Ukraine Mlavey Lmair
  • Flag of SpainFlag of Venezuela José Luis Mosquera

see also Cat:Celta de Vigo footballers

Famous coaches

see also Cat:Celta de Vigo managers

Records

Staff

President Flag of Spain Carlos Mouriño
Vice Presidents Flag of Spain Ricardo Barros Hermida, Jesús García García & Raúl López López
Director of football Flag of Spain Ramón Martínez
Director of Youth Teams Flag of Spain José Luis Molina “Chuti”
Club Delegate Flag of Spain José Ricardo Fernández
Administrative Director Flag of Spain María José Herbón
Head of PR Flag of Spain José Carlos Bastos

Coaching staff

Head coach Flag of Spain Pepe Murcia
Assistant coach Flag of Venezuela José Luis Mosquera
Fitness coaches Flag of Spain Joan Rodríguez Barnada, Miguel Martínez González
Goalkeeping coach Flag of Spain Patxi Villanueva

Celta B

Celta de Vigo B is Celta's youth team. It was founded in 1989 and plays in Group I of the Segunda División B.

Other statistics

References

External links