Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Palma, the capital of the island of Mallorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 20 November 1920, its first men's team currently plays in Segunda Federación, the fourth tier of Spanish football, hosting games at the Estadi Balear with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Its first women's team is active in the Segunda Federación, the third division, playing at Son Malferit. Besides, its youth academy has around a dozen of teams.
Atlético Baleares reached the Segunda División, the second tier, on two occasions, participating for a total four seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, it disputed 16 seasons of the extinct Segunda División B, claiming the title on three occasions, and 3 seasons of the Primera Federación. Still, Atlético Baleares has most often been present in the Tercera División.
Its origins are related to the working class of Palma, and already in the 1920s, Atlético Baleares became the main rival of RCD Mallorca, the island's most successful club. This rivalry, commonly dubbed the Palma derby, has stayed alive until the present, despite the low number of direct confrontations during the last decades.
Atlético Baleares was known as Baleares FC until 1942, when it adopted its current name after a fusion with Athletic FC. Still, many fans call the club by its old name.
Name Development
Baleares Football Club (1920–1940) Club de Fútbol Baleares (1940–1942) Club Deportivo Atlético-Baleares (1942–1943) Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares (1943–2012) Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, SAD (2012–present)
Current usage For decades, there have colloquially been two ways to refer to the club: Atlético Baleares, the club's complete name, and Baleares, the club name until the fusion with Athletic FC in 1942. The usage of the latter name can be explained with an important nuance regarding that fusion: the identity of Baleares was maintained, which meant that the fusion was popularly experienced as an absorption process of Athletic by Baleares. This is also why Atlético Baleares is widely acknowledged as a continuation of Baleares.
Moreover, there exists a second nuance when it comes to the choice of which name to use for the club. Mallorca is an island where two languages coexist: the local variety of Catalan, the original language, and Spanish, the dominant language. Still, Catalan is the vernacular language among many inhabitants and the most used language among supporters of Atlético Baleares. In Catalan, the club is referred to as Atlètic Balears or simply Balears, while Atlético Baleares and Baleares are the Spanish denominations. The most used name among the supporters is Atlètic Balears.
Symbols
Hymn The music and lyrics of the hymn of Atlético Baleares are composed by Pere Cladera. Originally sung in Spanish, the Catalan version (1996) is made by Rafel Pericàs Ballester and is the version that is still used by the club before matches and official acts.
The lyrics of the hymn are the following:
L’equip nostre s’anomena com les Illes, amb elles s’identifica i representa amb honor. Són els nostres els colors de la mar blava com també el de la llum clara de la nostra tradició. És aposta que els grans amb els infants junts suport els hi donam i tots plegats els animam. I així totes les grans gestes recordam per això plegats cantam. L’Atlètic és el més gran. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. És l’escut que portam damunt el cor allò que més ens motiva a lluitar pel més bo. Entre noltros no hi ha classes socials, l’amor a n’el Balears és l’única condició. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, l’Atlètic és el millor!
Translation to English:
Our team is named like the Islands; it identifies with these and represents them with honor. Our colors are of the blue sea and the bright light of our tradition. It’s a bet that the adults, together with the children, give support to the players and that everyone encourages them. And this way, we remember all the big gestures, which is why we sing together. Atlètic is the greatest. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. It’s the crest that we wear on our hearts that motivates us most to fight for the most beautiful. Between us, there are no social classes; our love for Balears is the only condition. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, oe, oe, oe. Atlètic, Atlètic, Atlètic is the best!
Crest The crest used since the fusion between Baleares FC and Athletic FC in 1942 has remained much the same, only undergoing small aesthetic changes over time. Before that moment, Atlético Baleares used a completely different crest.
The superior part is round and has two spikes at the sides. The middle part of the exterior is vertical, and when going down, the sides come together before ending in a point. During the first decades of its existence, the crest had a slightly different shape.
The inside of the crest, laying over a brown ball at the top, consists of three parts that can be divided horizontally:
The upper part includes a castle or fortification surrounded by a blue sea, white clouds, and a blue sky. This part has undergone some changes over the years, including small changes of colour and shape. The middle part consists of a white background with the official name of the club, CD Atlético Baleares, in the middle. This part has also undergone slight variations, from the handwritten name in 1942 to the current font. The lower part consists of three blue vertical stripes on a white background, a reference to the club's colours. This part has not undergone any change over the years.
In the 21st century, different versions of the crest with the club's name in Catalan been designed by supporters, but these have never been accepted as official.
Kit Since its foundation in 1920, Atlético Baleares has always played in a kit that consists of blue and white vertical stripes. The number, width, and tone of the blue stripes have varied over the years. The colours refer to the logo of Isleña Marítima, the employer of the founding members of Mecánico FC, one of the clubs from which Atlético Baleares was born.
Mascot The mascot of Atlético Baleares is Ferreret, an endemic Majorcan midwife toad, named after the Catalan word for the toad. The mascot has been designed by the artist Antoni Bibiloni Palmer, known in the artistic world as Bibi, in the 1990s. Currently, he handed the rights to the mascot to the Atlético Baleares Foundation, which is responsible for administrating and managing its image.
In 2009–10, a new version of Ferreret was presented, which introduced the presence of the mascot at the home matches and official acts. In the 2020s, Ferreret stopped appearing often.
History For a long time, the history of the club had not been researched, which has only happened in the 21st century. That is why many still trace the origin of the club back to 1942, even though it has been proven and widely accepted that 1920 is the actual foundational year of Atlético Baleares.
The origins (1920)
Mecánico FC On 3 April 1920, an article about the foundation of new football teams in Palma appeared in the local newspaper Última Hora. The following sentence stood out in the text:
While football used to be a sport for the middle or upper class, this was the first time a working-class group created a football team, concretely a group of workers at Isleña Marítima, complemented by naval machinists that were doing an internship at the company. This team adopted the name of Mecánico FC (in Catalan: Mecànic FC).
Their shirts were based on the colours of the company: three vertical blue stripes on a white background, inspired by the initials I-M on the blue background of the original logo of Isleña Marítima. The workers did not have to spend money on elaborating shorts, as they were able to cut their blue overalls. The members gathered in the café Can Rasca (Carrer de Sant Miquel, 67, which used to be 187, right next to the Carrer dels Oms) in Palma. The team lacked a field and played on an esplanade at the Moll de Palma, very close to the former offices of Isleña Marítima.
Fundición Carbonell (or Mallorca FC) In the same edition of the newspaper cited earlier, another phrase stood out:
A team founded by workers of the Fundición Carbonell, a small metalworking company in the city. The team initially used the same name of the company and subsequently adopted the name Mallorca FC. The team colors consisted of a totally white T-shirt and pants. Mallorca FC had its club house in café Can Meca (Carrer Arxiduc Lluís Salvador, at cornering the Avingudes) in Palma and Carbonell played its games in a field called sa Síquia Reial, located between Avinguda del Comte de Sallent and Carrer Blanquerna in the same city.
Birth of Baleares FC (1920) Later in 1920, Mallorca FC left its social premises and moved to Can Rasca, the clubhouse of Mecánico FC. Given their similar work and social class, the members of both clubs got along well and decided to merge to form a more powerful club. Thus, on 14 November or 20 November (depending on the source), a constitutional assembly was held, in which the fusion of Mecánico FC and Mallorca FC was approved under the name Baleares Football Club. The name was unanimously accepted by the attendees, who considered it representative of the social profile of the club. The club house of Baleares remained in the café Can Rasca. The pitch that the new club would use would be that of Mallorca FC, sa Síquia Reial. As for the kit, the white and blue striped T-shirt of Mecánico FC and the white pants of the Mallorca FC were adopted.
The new club debuted on 21 November 1920, winning 5–0 in the Tirador velodrome against Veloz Sport Balear, which was one of the most potent teams at the time.
The 1920s and 1930s. Growth and consolidation In 1921, Baleares played its first major tournament: the Copa Ayuntamiento, organized by the Municipality of Palma, and finished second behind RS Alfonso XIII FC (currently known as RCD Mallorca). Afterward, Baleares has been a regular in local competitions.
Soon, a fierce rivalry between those two teams developed, a rivalry that transcended sports. On the one hand, RS Alfonso XIII FC was a team followed and supported by the most well-off classes, as well as by the Spanish monarchists, while on the other hand, Baleares has its origins in the humblest estates and in Republicanism. The rivalry between these teams still exists and is called the Palma derby.
Due to the growth of the club, Baleares moved to the Son Canals Stadium, which opened in 1923 and remained its home for decades. Meanwhile, the club participated in the Regional Balearic Championship, first organized in 1923 by the Catalan Football Federation and since 1926 by the Balearic Islands Football Federation until its disappearance in 1940. Baleares was always in the front line of the competition: it finished as runner-up of the Mallorcan Championship on nine occasions, only surpassed by RS Alfonso XIII FC or CE Constància from Inca. It won the Mallorcan Championship in the 1927–28 season but lost the Balearic Championship final to UD Mahón, the champion of Menorca, by 1–0.