UD Almería

Almería

Full name	Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D.
Founded	1989
Ground	Estadio del Mediterráneo, Almería, Andalusia, Spain (Capacity: 22,000)
Manager	Juan Manuel Lillo
League	La Liga
2009–10	La Liga, 13th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1989, it currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos, with a 22,000-seat capacity.

History

AD Almería was a team that played in the first division between 1979–81, but disappeared in 1982, and was arguably UD Almería's predecessor. In 1989, a club named Almería Club de Fútbol was born, but in 2001 was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería. After playing one season in the second division, they got relegated to the third and the fourth divisions.

After spending several seasons in the second level, Almería side was first promoted to the top flight after finishing runner-up in 2006–07. After some outstanding performances, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08. At the club's helm was coach Unai Emery, as striker Álvaro Negredo finished team topscorer with 13 goals.

After Emery left for Valencia CF, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in, but was sacked on December 21, 2008, after a string of poor results, without ever reaching the last three. Mexican Hugo Sánchez took the job, and fared slightly better, for a final mid-table position.

Achievements/milestones

• Promoted to Segunda División in 1994–95
• Relegated to Segunda División B in 1996–97
• Relegated to Tercera División in 1998–99
• Promoted to Segunda División B in 1999–00
• Promoted to Segunda División in 2001–02
• Promoted to La Liga in 2006–07

Season to season

• 4 seasons in La Liga
• 6 seasons in Segunda División
• 6 seasons in Segunda División B
• 2 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Current squad

The numbers are established according to the official website, http://www.udalmeriasad.com and www.lfp.es Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Diego Alves 2 DF Michael Jakobsen 3 DF Marcelo Silva 4 DF Hernán Pellerano 5 FW Kalu Uche 6 MF Miguel Ángel Luque 7 MF Miguel Ángel Nieto 8 MF Albert Crusat 9 MF Diego Valeri 10 FW José Ortiz (captain) 11 MF Pablo Piatti 13 GK Esteban

No. Position Player 14 DF Baltasar Rigo 15 MF Corona 16 DF Michel 17 MF Juanma Ortiz 18 DF Santi Acasiete (vice-captain) 19 MF Modeste M'Bami 20 FW Leonardo Ulloa 21 DF Carlos García 22 MF Fabián Vargas 23 FW Henok Goitom 25 MF Hernán Bernardello

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Guilherme (at Real Valladolid)

From Almería B

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 26 DF Trujillo 28 MF Galán 31 GK Álvaro

No. Position Player 32 FW Nikita Andreev -- FW José Ramón

For other players, visit Almería B

Notable former players

• Ranko Popović

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Futbolme.com profile