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Sporting Gijon)
Real Sporting de Gijón is an Spanish football team from Gijón, Asturias. Established 1 June 1905. They currently play in La Liga, Primera División. Known as Rojiblancos because of their red and white striped jerseys. Their home field is El Molinón stadium, the oldest professional football field in Spain. It's been in use since 1908, and is located on the site of an old watermill, hence the stadium's name, the Spanish word for "big mill".
[edit] History
The club was established in 1905 with the name Sporting Gijonés, Anselmo López being the first president. King Alfonso XIII accepted the Royal patronage of the club for the Spanish crown in 1912, introducing the term "Real" (Spanish for "Royal") to its name, becoming Real Sporting Club Gijonés. In 1916 a new change took place to adopt today's denomination, Real Sporting de Gijón. From 1941 until the 1970s, due to a temporary law forbidding the use of foreign words in football club names, the team's official denomination was Real Gijón.
In 1944, the club was promoted into First Division for the first time, and played thereafter in both the first and second divisions, achieving greatest success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, competing for league and national cup titles and laying the groundwork for a 21-year continuous stretch in La Liga. During this period, Sporting competed in the UEFA Cup six times, losing in the Round of 32 four times, and the Round of 16 twice, most recently in 1991-92.
Following a disastrous 1998 campaign, the club was relegated to Second Division, where they played for a ten seasons stretch. On 15 June 2008, the club secured promotion back to Primera for the 2008-09 season. In the 08-09 season their best victories have came against Valencia (2-3) and Sevilla (1-0). In their first five games of the 08-09 season, they allowed 20 goals. The 08-09 season also saw them break La Liga record of 29 consecutive games without a draw. They played 33 games before their only draw of the season, 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao on 3rd May 2009.
The team's historic rival is Real Oviedo. When both teams play in the same division, they compete in the Asturian derby. This derby is currently on hold as Oviedo are playing in third level.
[edit] Club colours and crest
The club's colours, red and white, were chosen from the colours of Gijón's flag.
From 1931 to 1936, during the Spanish Second Republic, the royal crown in Sporting's crest was temporarily replaced by a mural crown.
[edit] Season to season
[edit] Current squad
As of 1 July 2009.
The players with numbers over 25 are registered with the B team.
[edit] Notable players
see Cat:Sporting de Gijón footballers
[edit] Famous coaches
see also Cat:Sporting de Gijón managers
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Manuel Vega-Arango
Joan Josep Nogués, 1952-54
Vicente Miera
Vujadin Boškov, 1983-84
Bert Jacobs
