Real Unión

Full name	Real Unión Club, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Txuri-beltz (White-black)
Founded	15 May 1915 (1915-05-15)
Ground	Gal, Irun, Basque Country, Spain
Capacity	5,000[1]
Owner	Unai Emery
President	Ricardo García
Head coach	Fran Justo
League	Primera Federación – Group 1
2022–23	Primera Federación – Group 2, 13th of 20
Home colours Away colours

Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home matches at the 5,000-seater Stadium Gal.^[2] Real Unión was one of the founding members of La Liga in 1929. The club spent four seasons in the Spanish elite, suffering relegation in 1932. Real is yet to return to the top tier, spending the rest of its history bouncing between the second and fourth tiers of Spanish football.

History

Real Unión squad of 1916.

Real Unión were among the early pioneering Spanish football teams and, along with fellow Basque clubs Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Arenas Club de Getxo were founding members of La Liga, in 1928. The club was formed in 1915 following the merger of Irún Sporting Club and Racing Club de Irún. The former was founded in 1902 as Irún Foot-Ball Club, changing its name in 1907. The latter, formed in 1908, had already won the 1913 Copa del Rey, beating Athletic Bilbao 1–0 in a replayed final. The club was briefly known as Unión Club Irún before Alfonso XIII gave the club royal approval, but during the Second Spanish Republic the club reverted to this name.

Real Unión then won the Copa del Rey a further three times, beating Real Madrid in 1918^[3] and again in 1924 (with former Derby County and England striker Steve Bloomer acting as their coach). In 1927 they defeated Arenas Getxo in the first all-Basque final. The latter two finals both ended in 1–0 victories, with José Echeveste netting the winner on both occasions. In 1922 they were runners-up, losing 5–1 to FC Barcelona. In 1930 they participated in the Coupe des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, a predecessor of the UEFA Champions League since the champions of all major European football nations were invited, although it has never been entirely clear why Unión was invited as they had finished sixth in the 1929–30 La Liga. Nonetheless, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Slavia Prague.^[4] The club was relegated from La Liga in 1932.

In 1920, when Spain made their international debut at the Olympic Games, the club provided the squad with two players—Eguiazábal and Patricio, the latter scoring Spain's first-ever goal in international football in a 1–0 victory over Denmark on 28 August 1920.^[5] Another Real Unión player, René Petit, took part in the same Olympic Games with France. In the 70s and 80s, Spanish internationals Javier Irureta and Roberto López Ufarte began their career with the club.

On 11 November 2008, in the 2008–09 Copa del Rey against Real Madrid, Real Unión lost 3–4 at the Santiago Bernabéu, but secured a famous aggregate victory following a 3–2 home victory in the first leg (away goals rule). It was the first time in history that Real Madrid were eliminated by a Segunda División B team at home.^[6]

The club finally returned to the Segunda División in 2009 after a 44-year absence, successively defeating CE Sabadell FC (2–1 aggregate) and AD Alcorcón (3–1) in the 2008–09 promotion play-offs. However, it would be a short-lived return, as the team was immediately relegated, after ranking 21st.

Season to season

Copa de España 1924 final, Real Unión 1–0 Real Madrid.

Real Unión squad of 1931

• 4 seasons in La Liga
• 10 seasons in Segunda División
• 3 seasons in Primera Federación
• 27 seasons in Segunda División B
• 40 seasons in Tercera División
• 7 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Current squad

As of 6 September 2023.^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Txusta (captain) 3 DF  ESP Roger Riera 4 DF  ESP Antonio Montoro 5 DF  ESP Iván Pérez 6 MF  ESP Jagoba Beobide 7 FW  ESP Antón Escobar 8 MF  ESP Julen Azkue 9 FW  ESP Asier Benito 10 MF  ESP Quique Rivero 11 FW  ESP Alain Oyarzun 12 FW  ESP Peru Ruiz (on loan from Cádiz Mirandilla) 13 GK  ESP Unai Agirre

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  ESP Iñigo Muñoz 15 DF  ESP Imanol Baz 16 MF  ESP Ander Vidorreta 17 DF  ESP José Carlos Márquez 18 DF  ESP Miguel Santos 19 DF  ESP Victor Eimil 20 MF  ESP Alberto Solís 21 MF  ESP Asier Córdoba 22 DF  ESP Julio Martínez 23 MF  ESP Alex Cerdá (on loan from Atlético Levante) 24 FW  ESP Andoni Arzak (on loan from Real Sociedad B)

Reserve team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF  ESP Ander Herrero 27 MF  ESP Erik Arregi

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 FW  ESP Aimar Blanco

Honours

• Copa del Rey: Winners (3)^{[8][9][lower-alpha 1]} 1918, 1924, 1927
  • Runners-up: 1922
• Copa Federación de España: Winners 2014–15
• Segunda División B: Winners:^{[lower-alpha 2]} 2002–03,^{[lower-alpha 3]} 2008–09^{[lower-alpha 4]}
• Tercera División: Winners1957–58,^{[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6]} 1963–64;^{[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 7]} 1991–92,^{[lower-alpha 8][lower-alpha 9]} 1992–93^{[lower-alpha 8][lower-alpha 10]}
• North Regional Championship: Winners 1917–18^[3][10]
• Gipuzkoa Championship: Winners (8) 1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31^[11]
• RFEF Basque tournament: Winners 1998–99, 2014–15

Notable former players

Category:Real Unión footballers

Former coaches

• Steve Bloomer
• Javier Zubillaga

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Real Unión Club.

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)