Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at Nou Estadi Castàlia, which has a capacity of 15,500 seats.
History
Football first appeared in the town in 1911, and after a period of time under the consecutive denominations "Deportivo", "Castalia", "Gimnástico", "Cultural" and "Cervantes", Club Deportivo Castellón was founded on 22 July 1922. After a short period of inactivity in the 1930s (which saw SC de La Plana and Athletic Club Castellón take proeminence of football in the city), the club returned in 1939, already in the second division.
The club featured periodically in the top flight, finishing fifth in 1972–73 and adding a Cup final appearance with a team featuring Vicente del Bosque, who later moved to Real Madrid, serving the club as both a player and coach.
On 29 August 1991, in an extraordinary assembly, the conversion of the club to S.A.D. was approved. The first team had just relegated into division two, and would drop another level to the third three years later, in a spell which would last more than one decade.
In the 2004–05 season, Castellón finished fourth in Segunda B, eventually winning its promotion playoffs (both matches) and achieving a return to the silver category. The club's stint in the division would last five years, as relegation would befall in 2009–10, with the Valencian Community outfit ranking last, 13 points behind the following team.
On 18 July 2011, due to the team not paying its players, Castellón was excluded from the third division, being relegated to the fourth.Castellnou 2005 no paga y el CD Castellón militará la próxima temporada en Tercera División (Castellnou 2005 does not pay and CD Castellón will play in Tercera División next season); La Plana al Día, 18 July 2011 In June 2017, former player Pablo Hernández became joint owner of the club, leading a consortium alongside Angel Dealbert, businessman Vicente Montesinos and others.
On 21 March 2018, Castellón beat the record of seasonal tickets in the fourth division previously held by Real Oviedo with 12,700, establishing the new record at 12,867. On 24 June 2018, it returned to the third tier after a seven-year absence. On 26 July 2020, Castellón promoted back to second division after 10 years by beating Cornellà in final play off promotion, but they were immediately relegated in the 2020–21 season.
In July 2022, Greek-Canadian businessman Haralabos Voulgaris acquired control of the club, becoming its president and majority shareholder; by September he held 96% of Castellón's shares. Under Voulgaris, Castellón adopted a data-led approach to recruitment and began working with Jamestown Analytics. Voulgaris combined Jamestown's analysis with his own observations and other analytical work, including previous use of the consultancy Pitch32.
On 5 May 2024, Castellón were promoted back to the second division after three years in the third tier, after Córdoba was defeated by already-relegated Recreativo Granada. In the 2024–25 season they finished in 17th place, narrowly avoiding relegation by two positions. Despite a challenging campaign, the team managed to retain their status in the division. A stronger season followed in 2025–26, as the club finished sixth to take part in the promotion play-offs, losing narrowly to Almería.
Season to season
SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey192933ª3rdQuarter-finals1929–3033ª1stRound of 161930–3122ª5thQuarter-finals1931–3222ª7thRound of 161932–3322ª10thRound of 161933–344—1934–35DNP—1935–36DNP—1939–4022ª4th—1940–4122ª1stRound of 161941–4211ª8thRound of 161942–4311ª4thRound of 161943–4411ª5thRound of 161944–4511ª8thQuarter-finals1945–4611ª8thFirst round1946–4711ª14thQuarter-finals1947–4822ª12thQuarter-finals1948–4922ª8thFourth round1949–5022ª16thSecond round1950–5133ª3rd—SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1951–5233ª6th—1952–5333ª1st—1953–5422ª5th—1954–5522ª12th—1955–5622ª16th—1956–5722ª20th—1957–5833ª2nd—1958–5933ª12th—1959–6033ª2nd—1960–6122ª13thRound of 321961–6233ª3rd—1962–6333ª10th—1963–6433ª1st—1964–6533ª1st—1965–6633ª1st—1966–6722ª3rdRound of 321967–6822ª10thRound of 321968–6933ª1st—1969–7022ª11thRound of 321970–7122ª6thRound of 32 SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1971–7222ª2ndRound of 161972–7311ª5thRunners-up1973–7411ª16thRound of 161974–7522ª6thFourth round1975–7622ª12thFirst round1976–7722ª14thSecond round1977–7822ª14thThird round1978–7922ª11thFirst round1979–8022ª5thFourth round1980–8122ª1stFourth round1981–8211ª18thThird round1982–8322ª15thFirst round1983–8422ª10thRound of 161984–8522ª12thQuarter-finals1985–8622ª5thRound of 161986–8722ª4thFourth round1987–8822ª11thQuarter-finals1988–8922ª1stThird round1989–9011ª14thSecond round1990–9111ª19thFourth roundSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1991–9222ª15thRound of 161992–9322ª10thFourth round1993–9422ª17thFourth round1994–9532ª B4thSecond round1995–9632ª B6thFirst round1996–9732ª B9thFirst round1997–9832ª B5th—1998–9932ª B9th—1999–200032ª B7th—2000–0132ª B10thFirst round2001–0232ª B13thFirst round2002–0332ª B1st—2003–0432ª B4thSecond round2004–0532ª B4thSecond round2005–0622ª12thFirst round2006–0722ª14thRound of 322007–0822ª5thSecond round2008–0922ª7thRound of 322009–1022ª22ndSecond round2010–1132ª B10thSecond round SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey2011–1243ª9th—2012–1343ª4th—2013–1443ª15th—2014–1543ª1st—2015–1643ª3rdSecond round2016–1743ª4th—2017–1843ª2nd—2018–1932ª B15thSecond round2019–2032ª B1stFirst round2020–2122ª21stSecond round2021–2231ª RFEF13thSecond round2022–2331ª Fed.3rd—2023–2431ª Fed.1stRound of 322024–2522ª17thSecond round2025–2622ª6thFirst round2026–2722ªTBD
11 seasons in La Liga 44 seasons in Segunda División 3 seasons in Primera Federación 14 seasons in Segunda División B 21 seasons in Tercera División
Current squad
Reserve team
Out on loan
Current technical staff
Honours Segunda División: 1940–41, 1980–81, 1988–89 Segunda División B: 2002–03 Tercera División: 1929–30, 1952–53, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69 (third level until 1976–77) Campeonato de Valencia: 1928–29, 1929–30 Copa de la Liga (second division): 1983–84 Copa del Rey: Runner-up 1972–73
Notable players
Leonardo Ulloa Mario Cabrera Dani Pendín Gustavo Reggi Ihar Hurynovich Bernard Barnjak Mauricio Romero Mladen Mladenović Sergio Barila Juan Epitié Juvenal Emilio Nsue José Luis Rondo Henri Dumat Kenji Fukuda Nduka Ugbade Igor Dobrovolski Dragan Punišić Rade Tošić Pichi Alonso José Araquistáin Pascual Babiloni Luis Cela Ángel Dealbert Božur Matejić Vicente del Bosque José Ferrer Miguel Ángel Lotina César Martín Gaizka Mendieta Miguel Ángel Juan Planelles Roberto Antonio Ruiz Enrique Saura Rubén Torrecilla Pablo Hernández Walter Peletti Đorđe Vujkov Florin Andone
References
External links