Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D.Historia – Nombre del club (History – Club name) ; Las Palmas' official website is a professional football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club currently compete in Segunda División, the 2nd tier of the Spanish football league system following their relegation from La Liga in the 2024–25 season. Nicknamed Los Amarillos, the club was founded on 22 August 1949 as a result of a merger between five clubs in the Canary region. The club initially played in the Estadio Insular before beginning hosting their home matches at the Estadio Gran Canaria in 2003.
Las Palmas have been Segunda División champions four times, in 1953–54, 1963–64, 1984–85 and 1999–2000, and have won the Segunda División B twice, in 1992–93 and 1995–96. They have been runners-up in La Liga once, in 1968–69, and runners-up in the Copa del Rey, in 1977–78. Las Palmas is the only side in Spanish football to achieve back-to-back promotions to La Liga in their first two seasons. They had a 19-year run in the competition, ending in 1982–83 and has been promoted to La Liga on four additional occasions since that time, achieving it recently in 2022–23.
Since its foundation, the club has played with yellow and blue as their primary and secondary colours. They have a fierce rivalry with neighbouring island Tenerife, with whom they contest the Canary Islands derby. The two clubs are among the most isolated professional football clubs in Europe since they play their away games on the distant Spanish mainland.
History Foundation
A decade after the Spanish Civil War, football in Las Palmas faced numerous challenges and difficulties. The financial situations of Las Palmas’ five biggest clubs, Real Club Victoria, Marino FC, CD Gran Canaria, Atlético Club, and Arenas Club, were deteriorating rapidly due to their financial strength of being able to compete for players against Spain's top clubs. A new registration law by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, which limited players to a maximum of a two-year contract, resulted in the clubs in Las Palmas being unable to retain their academy players for extended periods. Consequently, many players relocated to the Spanish mainland to continue their football careers in national competitions. As a result, Eufemiano Fuentes Díaz, president of Marino CF, went to a meeting in Madrid to change the legislation of contracts to a minimum of four years. A different proposal was also presented, stating that all Spanish clubs were prohibited from signing players in the Canary region with the exception if they were first-team players who had already passed the stage of being academy players. These proposals were delayed and denied by the RFEF.
During this time, clubs continued to see their debts increase, leading to the possibility of defunction. The Vice President of the Las Palmas Football Federation, Manuel Rodríguez Monroy, proposed a merger of the five teams comprising the regional competition, aiming to compete in national competitions and resolve the economic situation as a result. The purpose of this proposal was to present a compelling case to the RFEF for allowing the Canary Islands to participate in national competitions, enabling Canarian footballers to compete without relocating to the Spanish mainland. This proposal was presented towards the president, Adolfo Miranda Ortega, who among other board members agreed. On 4 February 1949, a letter was sent to the presidents of the five clubs, proposing a potential merger to compete in the national competitions. The first meeting was held on 28 February 1949 in Alameda de Colón, Las Palmas with the representatives of the five merging clubs attending. Gran Canaria, Atlético and Arenas promptly agreed to the proposal due to their finances whilst Marino and Victoria remained wary of the repercussions it could have on the club and its fans. From there, the representatives agreed to meet every Monday and create a collaborative group that would be known as the Fusion Presentation.
After more than a month of deliberations, Miranda and Monroy were delegated the role of requesting a transfer into the Spanish Second Division via a letter to the RFEF. The letter was sent on 4 April 1949 but the proposition was rejected for being to detriment for the other teams and that it would alter the regulation of promotions. However, Ricardo Cabot, a secretary in the RFEF, resumed the proposition towards the board members and, on 6 June 1949, following a meeting in Madrid that Miranda and Monroy attended, it was announced by telegram that Canary Islands football was accepted into the third division of Spanish football. The acceptance allowed the merger of Arenas Club and CD Gran Canaria, both of whom gave up their headquarters and trophies, to form under the name Unión Deportiva Las Palmas as the first phase for total integration.
On 16 August 1949, the Fusion Presentation had their last meeting where after coming in contact with Marino and Victoria stated the clubs would not merge as of yet due to difficult financial situation. This led to refusals to financially support the lease of the Las Palmas Stadium for UD Las Palmas to play its games in the 1949–50 season. As a result, a "Magna Assembly" was held by Monroy on 22 August 1949 at Real Club Náutico. After a successful meeting in which all five clubs unanimously agreed towards the final proposition presented by Monroy, Unión Deportiva Las Palmas was officially established at 8 p.m. on 22 August 1949. A committee was established with José del Río Amor as the club's first president and Monroy appointed as the club's first vice president. The headquarters of Las Palmas was located in the Plazoleta Luis Antunez.
Las Palmas’ first training session was held on 16 September 1949 with new manager, Pancho Arencibia. Juan Santana Macías, a winger from Atlético, was the first player signed by the club and was present during the training session. On 9 October 1949, Las Palmas played their first match against Marino with Antoñito Jorge scoring the first goal in their history of a 2–1 win at Las Palmas stadium. Antoñito played three seasons for Las Palmas, scoring 11 goals in their promotion campaign towards the Second Division.
1949–1963 In their debut competitive season, the club secured 2nd place in a group that included CD Tenerife, Imperial de Murcia, SD Ceuta, CD Toledo, and UD Melilla, earning promotion to the Second Division. Las Palmas played their first derby match against Tenerife on 30 April 1950, at the Santa Cruz Stadium, winning 2–1. Their first away match outside the islands was on 21 May 1950, against Toledo at the Palomarejos Stadium, resulting in a 5–2 victory. However, on 25 June 1950, Las Palmas suffered a 2–0 defeat in their last league match against Melilla, which initially threatened their chances of promotion. Fortunately, Imperial de Murcia, who sat third in the table, also faced defeat, securing Las Palmas' certified promotion to the Second Division. One of Las Palmas' first signed players and starter, Antonio Vieira, died from illness on 4 April 1951. His funeral was held in the Church of San Pablo and a tribute match was held with locals in which Las Palmas won 3–1. In the club's participation in the 1950–51 Second Division, the club achieved a second consecutive promotion to the First Division, following a 4–1 victory over Málaga on 8 July 1951 that sent the club to first place of the table. Las Palmas became the first club in Spanish football to gain promotion twice consecutively to the First Division despite being two years old at the time. By the end of the season, Las Palmas’ first goalkeeper, Manolo Montes, was sold to Atletico Madrid in 1951 for a fee of 375,000 Pt. Nicknamed "El Patrón", Montes made 55 official appearances for Los Amarillos and became the first player to be sold by the club.
The following season saw Las Palmas relegated down to the Second Division after coming 15th with 9 wins, 4 draws and 17 losses. In the club's first match of the season, Las Palmas would lose 4–1 to Real Madrid at the newly inaugurated Insular Stadium on 9 September 1951. A hat-trick from Pahiño and a goal from Luis Molowny sealed Madrid's win whilst Juan Cedrés scored the first goal in the division for Las Palmas. The following games saw defeat to Celta (5–2), Sevilla (5–0) and Deportivo La Coruña (3–1) before the club earned their first point to Racing Santandar after a 1–1 draw on 23 September 1951. The poor run of form convinced the club's personnel to sign more experienced players with Manolo Torres and Beneyto, both signing from Málaga on 14 October 1951 for a combined total of 1,000,000 Pt. The club achieved their first win of the season two days later, defeating Atlético Tetuán 4–1 with two goals from Torres on his debut and another two from Tacoronte. Additionally, the first foreign player for Las Palmas, Jean Luciano, who signed from Real Madrid, made his debut on 16 December 1951 in a 6–0 defeat to Real Zaragoza at Torrero Stadium.
In January 1952, goalkeeper José “Pepín” Casas Gris was signed as a replacement for Montes and for a starting position after goalkeepers Viera and González were having poor performances in recent matches. Born in Valencia, Pepín became the first player from the Peninsular region to represent Las Palmas. He arrived at the Hotel of Santa Brígida, Las Palmas from Alicante on 5 January 1952. On 26 March 1952, Las Palmas played Millonarios de Bogotá in a match that contained the likes of Alfredo Di Stéfano. The Colombian team at the time was considered the best in South America and had remained undefeated against the likes of Porto, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia during their tour in Europe. Las Palmas triumphed 3–2 over Millonarios with Di Stéfano scoring his first goal in Spain whilst Las Palmas became the only European team to have defeated Millonarios. In the 1952–53 season, manager Luis Valle Benítez, who managed Las Palmas in their promotion campaign to the First Division, resigned on 6 October 1952. The club remained in the Second Division until the 1953–1954 season when they achieved promotion back to the First Division. The club won their first title in their history under Satur Grech after finishing first in the table, jointly becoming winners with Alavés. On 27 December 1953, Las Palmas played their first derby match against Tenerife in a national competition. Los Amarillos drew both matches they played against Tenerife, the last being on 25 April 1954 where a goalless draw led to Las Palmas' promotion at the Santa Cruz Stadium.