Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol or Real Madrid B is a Spanish football team that plays in . It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats.
Reserve teams in Spain play in the same league system as their senior team rather than a separate league. Reserve teams, however, cannot play in the same division as their senior team. Therefore, Real Madrid Castilla are ineligible for promotion to the La Liga as long as Real Madrid plays there. Consequently, they must play at least one level below their main side and they are not eligible to play in the Copa del Rey. In addition, only under-23 players, or under-25 players with a professional contract, can switch between senior and reserve teams.
History
AD Plus Ultra In 1948, Agrupación Deportiva Plus Ultra, a local amateur team, then playing in the Tercera División, agreed to become a feeder club for Real Madrid. Originally formed in 1930, the team took its name from the national motto of Spain. Real gave AD Plus Ultra financial support and in return were given first refusal on the club's best players. By 1949, they made their debut in the Segunda División and in 1952, the club became the official Real reserve team. In 1959, they reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Generalísimo, losing 7–2 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Granada.
During the 1950s and 1960s, future senior Real Madrid players and Spanish internationals such as José María Zárraga, Enrique Mateos, Ramón Marsal, Pedro Casado, Juan Manuel Villa, José María Vidal, Fernando Serena and Ramón Grosso all spent time at the club, and Juan Alonso finished off his career there. The singer Julio Iglesias played as a goalkeeper for the club in the early 1960s until injury ended his football career. Miguel Muñoz began his coaching career at the club. In 1972, Plus Ultra folded because of the demise of the insurance company of the same name, and their position in the Tercera División was taken by Castilla Club de Fútbol, the new reserve team for Real Madrid, on 21 July.
Castilla CF
As Castilla CF, the team enjoyed something of a golden age. During this era, with a team that included Agustín, Ricardo Gallego and Francisco Pineda, Castilla reached the final of the 1979–80 Copa del Rey. During their cup run, they beat four Primera División teams, including Hércules, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Sporting de Gijón. The latter two eventually finished second and third in the Primera División. In the final, they played Real Madrid but lost 6–1. Because Real also won the Primera División, however, Castilla qualified for the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup. Despite beating West Ham United 3–1 in the opening game at the Santiago Bernabéu, they lost the return 5–1 after extra time and went out in the first round. Castilla reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey on three further occasions, in 1984, 1986, and 1988.
In 1984, with Amancio Amaro as coach, Castilla won the Segunda División. Amaro's tenure as coach saw the rise of the famous La Quinta del Buitre – Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel, and Miguel Pardeza. Castilla were ineligible for promotion, however, because Real Madrid were already in the Primera División. In the 1987–88 season, they finished third in the Segunda División, but were once again ineligible for promotion.
Real Madrid B In 1991, the Royal Spanish Football Federation banned the use of separate names for reserve teams and Castilla CF became known as Real Madrid Deportiva and then Real Madrid B. In the early 1990s, two former Castilla players, Vicente del Bosque and Rafael Benítez, began their coaching careers with the team. In 1997, the team was relegated to the Segunda División B, but despite this, they continued to produce internationally acclaimed players. These have included Raúl, Guti and Iker Casillas, who all became established members of the senior Real Madrid team.
Real Madrid Castilla In the 2004–05 season, coach Juan Ramón López Caro guided the team back to the Segunda División and the team subsequently revived the El Castilla name and became known as Real Madrid Castilla. In 2006, the new stadium of the club's training facilities Ciudad Real Madrid was named the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium and Francisco Moreno Cariñena became the first independent chairman in 16 years. In this year, the team also has continued to produce quality players such as Roberto Soldado and Álvaro Arbeloa.
In the 2006–2007 season, the team was relegated to the Segunda División B under the management of ex-Real Madrid legend Míchel after occupying 19th place in the league in a disappointing season. Míchel received a lot of criticism and accepted all the blame for the team's bad performances, especially for those who had a wonderful season in the 2005–06 season, such as Rubén de la Red, Esteban Granero and Javi García. The reserves produced other quality players, including Juan Mata and Álvaro Negredo.
Real Madrid Castilla was promoted back to the Segunda División at the end of the 2011–12 season after beating Cádiz in the play-offs with an aggregate of score 8–1 and this year the club produced one quality player, Dani Carvajal who was sold to Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 before he returned to Real Madrid in 2013 to play with the first team.
In the 2013–14 season, three quality players Nacho, Álvaro Morata and Jesé were promoted to the first team, and then Castilla was relegated after being defeated by Real Murcia in the last matchday of the season.
Since 2014 when they played in the third division, Castilla continued to produce other quality players, including Lucas Vázquez, Fernando Pacheco, Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, Sergio Reguilón, Óscar Rodríguez, Achraf Hakimi and Fran García.
After the resumption of competitions in the 2020–21 season, the team finished runner-up in their group and qualified to play in the promotion system to the new categories of Spanish football after a restructuring of the same by the RFEF for the 2021–22 season. In the promotion playoffs, the team finished third, which secured their place in the Primera Federación. They also had the chance to move up to the Segunda División, but they were eliminated in the semifinals by Ibiza. The team was thus one of those that premiered the new Primera Federación, being placed in Group II. In 2022–23 season, Castilla placed in Group I and finished in third place, they have chance promotion to Segunda División, but they were eliminated in the final play off by Eldense. In the 2023–24 season, still under the direction of Raúl González, they finished in tenth position. In 2024–25 season, Castilla failed achieved to play off promotion to Segunda and finished in sixth position, this year one of quality player Raúl Asencio made his debut with first team and become part of first team following injuries to the defenders in the first team.
Starting of 2025–26 season, Raúl left as Castilla head coach and replaced by Álvaro Arbeloa.
Season by season
As AD Plus Ultra SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1940–4143rd1941–4232nd1942–4335th1943–4451st1944–4547th1945–4642nd1946–4733ª5th1947–4833ª5thFirst round1948–4933ª1stSecond round1949–5022ª3rdThird round1950–5122ª7thDNQ1951–5222ª12thDNQ1952–5322ª15thFirst round1953–5433ª3rd1954–5533ª1st1955–5622ª15thSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1956–5733ª1st1957–5822ª7th1958–5922ª10thQuarter-finals1959–6022ª4thSecond round1960–6122ª7thFirst round1961–6222ª7thFirst round1962–6322ª16thFirst round1963–6433ª1st1964–6533ª3rd1965–6633ª1st1966–6733ª2nd1967–6833ª1st1968–6933ª3rd1969–7033ª3rdSecond round1970–7133ª11thFirst round1971–7233ª10thSecond round As Castilla CF SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1972–7333ª4thFirst round1973–7433ª4thThird round1974–7533ª4thThird round1975–7633ª3rdFirst round1976–7733ª4thSecond round1977–7832ª B2ndSecond round1978–7922ª7thThird round1979–8022ª7thRunners-up1980–8122ª11thFourth round1981–8222ª8thThird roundSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1982–8322ª6thSecond round1983–8422ª1stQuarter-finals1984–8522ª5thSecond round1985–8622ª12thQuarter-finals1986–8722ª17thFirst round1987–8822ª3rdQuarter-finals1988–8922ª15thSecond round1989–9022ª18thFirst round1990–9132ª B1stN/A
As a reserve team SeasonTierDivisionPlace1991–9222ª16th1992–9322ª6th1993–9422ª6th1994–9522ª8th1995–9622ª4th1996–9722ª18th1997–9832ª B2nd1998–9932ª B3rd1999–200032ª B5th2000–0132ª B7th2001–0232ª B1st2002–0332ª B6th2003–0432ª B2nd2004–0532ª B1st2005–0622ª11th2006–0722ª19th2007–0832ª B5th2008–0932ª B6th2009–1032ª B8th2010–1132ª B3rdSeasonTierDivisionPlace2011–1232ª B1st2012–1322ª8th2013–1422ª20th2014–1532ª B6th2015–1632ª B1st2016–1732ª B11th2017–1832ª B8th2018–1932ª B4th2019–2032ª B7th2020–2132ª B / 2021–2231ª RFEF10th2022–2331ª Fed.3rd2023–2431ª Fed.10th2024–2531ª Fed.6th2025–2631ª Fed.5th2026–2731ª Fed.
33 seasons in Segunda División 6 seasons in Primera Federación/Primera División RFEF 22 seasons in Segunda División B 20 seasons in Tercera División
European record European Cup Winners' Cup: Season Round Club Home Away Aggregate1980–811R West Ham United3–11–5 (aet)4–6
Honours Segunda División Winners (1): 1983–84 Copa del Rey Runners-up (1): 1979–80 Segunda División B Winners (4): 1990–91, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2011–12 Tercera División Winners (6): 1948–49, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1967–68 Teide Trophy Winners (5): 2001, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2024
Players Current squad
From Real Madrid C and Youth academy
Players on loan
Personnel Current technical staff Position Staff Head coach Julián López de Lerma Assistant coach Miguel Barrio Víctor Cea Goalkeeping coach Diego López Field delegate David Casado Team delegate José Javier Padilla Fitness coach Marcos Chena Doctor Elena Isla Juan Ignacio Marco Physiotherapist Tirso Llorente
Last updated: 3 June 2026 Source: Real Madrid CF
Coaches
As AD Plus Ultra José Quirante (1948–1951) Antonio Bonet (1951–1952) Francisco Trinchant (1952–1959) Miguel Muñoz (1959–1960) José Gil Montero (1960) Louis Hon (1960–1961) Luis Pasarín (1961–1963) Francisco Trinchant (1963) Julio Martialay (1963–1965) Juan Santisteban (1968–1969) Pablo Olmedo (1969–1970) Enrique Bescós (1970–1971) Manuel Peñalva (1971–1972) As Castilla CF Antonio Ruiz (1972–1974) Manuel Sanchís (1974–1977) Juan Santisteban (1977–1979) Juanjo (1979–1981) Juan Santisteban (1981–1982) Amancio Amaro (1982–1984) Ramón Grosso (1984) Juan Santisteban (1984–1987) Ramón Grosso (1987) Vicente del Bosque (1987–1990) As a reserve team Mariano García Remón (1990–1993) Rafael Benítez (1993–1995) Francisco García Hernández (1994) Sergio Egea (1995–1997) Ramón Grosso (1997) Toni Grande (1997) Francisco García Hernández (1997) Miguel Ángel Portugal (1997–1999) Francisco García Hernández (1999–2000) Francisco Buyo (2000–2001) Juan Ramón López Caro (2001–2005) Miguel Ángel Portugal (2005–2006) Míchel (2006–2007) Juan Carlos Mandiá (2007–2008) Julen Lopetegui (2008–2009) Alejandro Menéndez (2009–2011) Alberto Toril (2011–2013) Manolo Díaz (2013–2014) Zinedine Zidane (2014–2016) Luis Miguel Ramis (2016) Santiago Solari (2016–2018) Manolo Díaz (2018–2019) Raúl (2019–2025) Álvaro Arbeloa (2025–2026) Julián López de Lerma (2026–)
Records Players in bold are still active with club.
Top scorers
All competitions (excluding Third Division and regional) RankingNationalityNameYearsGoals1Roberto Soldado2002–20067021979–1982503Álvaro Morata2010–2013454Sergio Arribas2020–2023415Miguel Bernal1977–198140Emilio Butragueño1982–1984Joselu2010–20128Luis García2001–20033791974–1976, 1977–1981321980–1985Míchel1981–1984Jesé2011–2013Mariano Díaz2014–2016Cristo González2017–2019
Most appearances
All competitions