| Full name | Real Club Celta de Vigo, S.A.D. | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Los Celestes (The Sky Blues) Los Celtiñas (The Lovely/Little Celts) |
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| Founded | August 23, 1923 | ||
| Ground | Balaídos (Capacity: 32,500) |
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| President | Carlos Mouriño 1 | ||
| Head Coach | Paco Herrera | ||
| League | Segunda División | ||
| 2010-11 | 6th | ||
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| Current season | |||
Real Club Celta de Vigo (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal ˈkluβ ˈθelta ðe ˈβiɣo]), simply referred to as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, currently playing in the Segunda División. It was founded on March 28, 1923 following the merger of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Fortuna Foot-ball Club.
Nicknamed Los Celestes (The Sky Blues), they play in sky blue shirts and white shorts. The club's home stadium is Balaídos, which seats 32,500 spectators.[1]
Celta 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. They were unable to recover from a 2-0 loss at home.
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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 had been 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", a sports writer for the 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 Royal Spanish Football 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 "Team of Galicia" 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 Torre Cedeira. At this AGM, the squad was also decided, which numbered 64 players in total, that included some notable players from both Fortuna and Vigo:
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 2001-02, when they did not fall below sixth the whole season. They were dubbed EuroCelta by the Spanish press. In February 2001 the IFFHS declared Celta the best team of the world during that period, as a consequence of the fantastic results. The most important players during Alexander Mostovoi and Valery Karpin and Haim Revivo. The squad counted also with other international players such as the goalkeeper Pablo Cavallero, the midfielder Claude Makelele, the winger Gustavo López or the strikers Catanha and Benny McCarthy, among others.
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 after eliminating Slavia Praga, and eventually reached the last 16 before being knocked out by Arsenal. However, their domestic form was disastrous, and they finished second to the last in La Liga, so they were relegated to the second level. Although their squad was heavily dismantled, 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 Werder Bremen.
In the 2006—07 season, Celta finished in 18th position and were relegated to Segunda División. At the end of June 2007, 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.
Due to the huge debt, the club was forced to sell many players and make tremendous cuts in the club's finances. Since then, they have been relying mainly in the reserves team, combined with some inexpensive signings. During the first three seesons in Segunda División the club struggled hard to avoid relegation, amid fears of the club's disappearance. This was a period of high inestability, with constant changes of managers and players. In the season 2010-2011, the signings of the striker David Rodríguez, the winger Enrique de Lucas and the manager Paco Herrera turned the situation and the club finished 6º, performing a fantastic season and qualifying for the promotion. Nevertheless, they were eliminated in the first knockout by Granada CF on the penalty shootout, after an aggregate of 1-1.
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| Celta Vigo's original home colours (1923). |
Celta Vigo's original team strip consisted of a red shirt, black shorts and blue socks. This was later changed at an unknown date to the traditional sky blue and white strip - representative of the Galician flag.
Like many other Galician clubs, such as Racing de Ferrol, the club badge is based on the red cross of Santiago (St. James). On top of the cross sits a sky blue shield with two letter Cs (Club Celta). In 1923 Celta became one of several Spanish football clubs that were granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use Real (Royal) in their names and the royal crown on their badge. This right was granted to Celta by Alfonso XIII and the club subsequently became known as Real Club Celta de Vigo. During the Spanish Second Republic (1931—1936) the title Real was removed from the club's name and the royal crown was taken off the club crest, however it was to return under the Spanish State.
Celta Vigo have the longest-running sponsorship deal in Spanish football. Going back to the 1985-86[2] season, Citroën, the biggest employer in Vigo, and in Galicia, has been their official shirt sponsor. Their business deal with kit supplier, Umbro, is also one of the longest-running ones - Umbro's regional headquarters are based in nearby Redondela.
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt partner |
|---|---|---|
| 1982–1986 | Adidas | None |
| 1986–2010 | Umbro | Citroën |
| 2010– | Li-Ning |
Other popular songs sung by the celtistas are A Rianxeira, O Miudiño, and the Foliada Celeste.
Celta Vigo's biggest rivals are their northern neighbours Deportivo La Coruña. Matches between the two teams are known as the Galician derby.
| Teams | P | W | D | L | F | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs Deportivo | 64 | 24 | 16 | 24 | 82 | 91 |
| Season | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Cup | Europe | Notes | ||
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| 1997/98 | 1D | 6 | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 54 | 47 | 60 | ||||
| 1998/99 | 1D | 5 | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 69 | 41 | 64 | UC | quarter-final | ||
| 1999/00 | 1D | 7 | 38 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 45 | 43 | 53 | UC | quarter-final | ||
| 2000/01 | 1D | 6 | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 51 | 49 | 59 | Final | UC | quarter-final | UI: winner |
| 2001/02 | 1D | 5 | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 64 | 46 | 60 | 2nd round | UC | 2nd round | |
| 2002/03 | 1D | 4 | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 45 | 36 | 61 | 2nd round | UC | 3rd round | |
| 2003/04 | 1D | 19 | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 48 | 68 | 39 | Quarter-final | ECL | last 16 | relegated |
| 2004/05 | 2D | 2 | 42 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 55 | 38 | 76 | 2nd round | promoted | ||
| 2005/06 | 1D | 6 | 38 | 20 | 4 | 14 | 45 | 33 | 64 | Last 16 | |||
| 2006/07 | 1D | 18 | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 40 | 59 | 39 | Round of 32 | UC | last 16 | Relegated to 2ª División |
| 2007/08 | 2D | 16 | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 56 | 55 | 52 | 2nd round | |||
| 2008/09 | 2D | 17 | 42 | 10 | 17 | 14 | 46 | 56 | 48 | Round of 32 | |||
| 2009/10 | 2D | 12 | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 38 | 44 | 52 | Quarter-final | |||
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The numbers are established according to the official website:www.celtavigo.net 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.
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Number of capped players (with Spain) - 18
| President | Carlos Mouriño |
| Vice Presidents | Ricardo Barros Hermida, Jesús García García & Raúl López López |
| Director of Football | Miguel Torrecilla |
| Director of Youth Teams | Antonio Otero |
| Club Delegate | José Ricardo Fernández |
| Administrative Director | María José Herbón |
| Head of PR | José Carlos Bastos |
| Head coach | Paco Herrera |
| Assistant coach | Carlos Hugo García Bayón |
| Fitness coaches | Gerardo Izaguirre |
| Goalkeeping coach | Patxi Villanueva |
Celta de Vigo B is Celta's youth team. It was founded in 1990 and plays in Group I of the Segunda División B.
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