Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; Sporting Alavés), usually known as Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 23 January 1921 as Sport Friends Club, the club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
It is recognized as the third-most successful team in the Basque Country following Athletic Club of Bilbao and Real Sociedad of San Sebastián. Its biggest success was in 2001 when, in the year of its debut in European competition, it reached the 2001 UEFA Cup Final, where it played against Liverpool. It was defeated 5–4 on a golden goal. In 2017, the club reached the final of the Copa del Rey, losing 3–1 to Barcelona.
The team's home kit is blue and white-striped shirt, blue shorts and white socks. It holds home matches at the 19,840-seater Mendizorrotza Stadium and uses other facilities located in Ibaia dedicated to training.
History
Founded in 1920, the initial name of the club was Sport Friends, but on 23 January 1921 the name was changed to the current one, and this is considered the official foundation date. Alavés was the first club to win promotion from the Segunda División to La Liga in 1929–30, a stint which would last three years. In its first season in Primera División Alavés finished 8th from 10 teams, just 1 point away from being relegated.
In 1953–54 the club would reach the top league again for a two-year spell. With Roman Galarraga as a coach, the club won a long-awaited promotion to Segunda División in the 1973–74 season. In June 1983, after having avoided relegation in the previous season, Alavés went down to Segunda División B, where it remained until the 1985–86 campaign. After years of seriously facing disappearance which lasted well into the 1990s (playing in the fourth tier during the late 1980s), Alavés finally achieved a promotion back into the Segunda División in 1994–95 after two consecutive years of winning their group in Segunda División B – created as the new third level in 1977 – but failing in the promotion play-offs.
After winning the Segunda División in 1997–98, Alavés returned to the top level after a 42-year hiatus. Following their return season in which they escaped relegation by a single point, they achieved two wins against Barcelona in the following campaign and would qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time upon finishing sixth (to date, their highest-ever placing, coming just 12 years after their lowest-ever: eighth in their group in the fourth level).
As well as concluding the domestic campaign in tenth position, in 2000–01 the Basque club reached the final of the UEFA Cup after beating Internazionale, Rayo Vallecano and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the latter in a crushing 9–2 aggregate victory. The final ended in a 4–5 loss against Liverpool, Alavés losing to an "own-golden goal" after taking the match to extra time. The match also featured two red cards and two disallowed goals in extra time in addition to the nine goals which did count, and has been described by some observers as one of the greatest showpiece games in the competition's history.The greatest matches of all time ; The Daily Telegraph, 4 July 2007
Alavés ended 2001–02 in seventh position and qualified for the UEFA Cup for a second time, although the European campaign of 2002–03 was far less successful than two years earlier, with an opening win over Ankaragücü followed by a defeat to another Turkish Süper Lig side, Beşiktaş. On 26 January 2003, the club celebrated their 100th win in La Liga after defeating Real Valladolid 3–1.
Although Alavés were relegated after 2002–03, they regained top-flight status two years later. In this time, Alavés was bought by Ukrainian–American businessman Dmitry Pietrman, and several clashes followed with the club's coaches, playersCarreras denuncia el "trato vejatorio" de Piterman (Carreras denounces "vexatious treatment" by Piterman) ; 20 Minutos, 16 February 2006 and fans alike.Dimitri Piterman llama "subnormales" a los aficionados del Alavés (Dimitri Piterman calls Alavés' fans "morons") ; 20 Minutos, 22 February 2006 The top-division return only lasted one season as the club went through three head coaches and finished in 18th position, one point from safety. Piterman departed in 2007, leaving the club deep in debt after his tenure. After two years of battling against relegation to the third level, Alavés eventually succumbed in 2008–09.
A subsequent black period in Segunda B lasted four years until Alavés was bought by José Antonio Querejeta and were promoted again to the second division in 2013 as overall champions of the third tier, providing an opportunity to sort out its economic difficulties. Three years later, on 29 May 2016, Alavés was promoted to La Liga as second-tier champions after beating Numancia 2–0 to overtake Leganés on the final day.
On 10 September 2016, Alavés got their first win of their return season in La Liga by defeating defending La Liga champions Barcelona 2–1 at the Camp Nou. On 7 February 2017, Alavés qualified for the 2017 Copa del Rey Final after eliminating Celta de Vigo in the semi-finals of the competition. This was the first time in their history that the club had qualified for the final of the national cup, their previous best being the semi-finals in 1998 and 2004. Their opponents in the final would be Barcelona, and coincidentally the two clubs met in the league directly after their cup semi-finals; the Catalans inflicted a 6–0 defeat on Alavés in their own Mendizorrotza Stadium, exacting revenge for the result earlier in the season. Barcelona also won the final, held at the Estadio Vicente Calderón with a 3–1 scoreline, meaning there would be no return to European competition for Alavés. In the La Liga that season Alavés finished 9th with 14 wins, 13 draws and 11 losses. In the 2021–22 season, Alavés were relegated following defeat on the penultimate matchday by Levante (who also went down) to end their six-year stay in La Liga, the longest top-flight run in the club's history. The following season saw the club achieve promotion back to La Liga at the first attempt, winning the play-off final 0–1 against fellow relegated side Levante to ensure their return to the top tier for the 2023–24 season.
Seasons
Season to season SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey192922ª3rd Round of 161929–3022ª1stQuarter-finals1930–3111ª8thRound of 161931–3211ª9thQuarter-finals1932–3311ª10th1933–3422ª10th1939–4022ª8thRound of 161940–4133ª1stSecond round1941–4222ª3rd1942–4322ª8thRound of 161943–4433ª2ndFifth round1944–4533ª3rdRound of 161945–4633ª5th1946–4733ª7th1947–4833ª10thThird round1948–4933ª12thFirst round1949–5033ª10th1950–5133ª2nd1951–5222ª9th1952–5322ª4thRound of 16SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1953–5422ª1stRound of 161954–5511ª10thRound of 161955–5611ª14th1956–5722ª5th1957–5822ª7th1958–5922ª13thFirst round1959–6022ª13thFirst round1960–6133ª1st1961–6222ª4thRound of 161962–6322ª8thRound of 161963–6422ª16thRound of 161964–6533ª1st1965–6633ª3rd1966–6733ª7th1967–6833ª1st1968–6922ª14th1969–7033ª9thFirst round1970–7141st1971–7233ª7thFirst round1972–7333ª3rdSecond round SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1973–7433ªSecond round1974–7522ª16thThird round1975–7622ª15thSecond round1976–7722ª8thSecond round1977–7822ª11thQuarter-finals1978–7922ª9thQuarter-finals1979–8022ª9thRound of 161980–8122ª8thRound of 161981–8222ª17thThird round1982–8322ª1983–8432ª B3rdSecond round1984–8532ª B3rdThird round1985–8632ª BSecond round1986–8743ª7thFirst round1987–8843ª8th1988–8943ª2nd1989–9043ª1990–9132ª B2ndSecond round1991–9232ª B4thThird round1992–9332ª B1stThird roundSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1993–9432ª B1stThird round1994–9532ª BFirst round1995–9622ª7thSecond round1996–9722ª13thSecond round1997–9822ªSemi-finals1998–9911ª16thThird round1999–200011ª6thRound of 162000–0111ª10thRound of 322001–0211ª7thRound of 162002–0311ªRound of 162003–0422ª4thSemi-finals2004–0522ªRound of 322005–0611ªThird round2006–0722ª17thRound of 162007–0822ª17thThird round2008–0922ªSecond round2009–1032ª B5thFirst round2010–1132ª B3rdFirst round2011–1232ª B6thThird round2012–1332ª BRound of 16 SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey2013–1422ª18thThird round2014–1522ª13thRound of 322015–1622ªThird round2016–1711ª9thRunners-up2017–1811ª14thQuarter-finals2018–1911ª11thRound of 322019–2011ª16thFirst round2020–2111ª16thRound of 322021–2211ªSecond round2022–2322ªRound of 162023–2411ª10thRound of 162024–2511ª15thSecond round2025–2611ª14thQuarter-finals2026–2711ªTBD
21 seasons in La Liga 38 seasons in Segunda División 12 seasons in Segunda División B 22 seasons in Tercera División 1 season in Categorías Regionales
Recent seasons {|class="wikitable" ! Season ! Div ! Pos. ! Pld ! W ! D ! L ! GF ! GA ! Pts !Cup !colspan=2|Europe !Notes |- |2013–14 |2A |align=right |18th |align=right|42||align=right|13||align=right|12||align=right|17 |align=right|57||align=right|57||align=right|51 ||Third round
|2014–15 |2A |align=right |13th |align=right|42||align=right|14||align=right|11||align=right|17 |align=right|49||align=right|53||align=right|53 ||Round of 32
|2015–16 |2A |align=right |1st |align=right|42||align=right|21||align=right|12||align=right|9 |align=right|49||align=right|35||align=right|75 ||Third round
|bgcolor=lightgreen|Promoted |- |2016–17 |1 |align=right |9th |align=right|38||align=right|14||align=right|13||align=right|11 |align=right|41||align=right|43||align=right|55 |bgcolor=silver|Runners-up
|2017–18 |1 |align=right |14th |align=right|38||align=right|15||align=right|2||align=right|21 |align=right|40||align=right|50||align=right|47 ||Quarter-finals
|2018–19 |1 |align=right |11th |align=right|38||align=right|13||align=right|11||align=right|14 |align=right|39||align=right|50||align=right|50 ||Round of 32
|2019–20 |1 |align=right |16th |align=right|38||align=right|10||align=right|9||align=right|19 |align=right|34||align=right|59||align=right|39 ||First round
|2020–21 |1 |align=right |16th |align=right|38||align=right|9||align=right|11||align=right|18 |align=right|36||align=right|57||align=right|38 ||Round of 32
|2021–22 |1 |align=right |20th |align=right|38||align=right|8||align=right|7||align=right|23 |align=right|31||align=right|65||align=right|31 ||Second round
|bgcolor=pink|Relegated |- |2022–23 |2A |align=right | 4th |align=right | 42 |align=right | 19 |align=right | 14 |align=right | 9 |align=right | 47 |align=right | 33 |align=right | 71 |Round of 16
|bgcolor=lightgreen|Promoted in Play-off |- |2023–24 |1 |align=right | 10th |align=right | 38 |align=right | 12 |align=right | 10 |align=right | 16 |align=right | 36 |align=right | 46 |align=right | 46 |Round of 16
|2024–25 |1 |align=right | 15th |align=right | 38 |align=right | 10 |align=right | 12 |align=right | 16 |align=right | 38 |align=right | 48 |align=right | 42 |Second round
|2025–26 |1 |align=right | 14th |align=right | 38 |align=right | 11 |align=right | 10 |align=right | 17 |align=right | 44 |align=right | 56 |align=right | 43 |Quarter-finals
Seasons in Europe Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate2000–01UEFA Cup First round Gaziantepspor0–03–43–4 Second round Lillestrøm SK1–32–23–5 Third round Rosenborg1–11–34–2 Round of 16 Inter Milan3–30–25–3 Quarter-finals Rayo Vallecano3–02–14–2Semi-final Kaiserslautern5–11–49–2Final Liverpool5–42002–03UEFA Cup First round Ankaragücü1–23–01–5 Second round Beşiktaş1–11–01–2
Players Current squad
Reserve team
Out on loan
Kits The team wore kits from the Danish brand Hummel for several seasons. In the 2017–18 season, they started wearing new kits from Kelme. They had an agreement with Kelme until 2022. That same year, the team signed a new agreement with the German company Puma for four seasons.
For the launch of the new brand, they choose to bring back the traditional vertical stripes and keep the original black pants.
Symbols