# 2012–13 Real Sociedad season

The 2012–13 season was Real Sociedad's 67th season in La Liga. The club's league campaign surpassed all expectations as 4th spot was achieved and the team qualified for the Champions league play-off round.

## Season summary

The season began with mixed results. A series of home wins and away defeats were reminiscent of previous season's frustration. A convincing win in the Basque derby was the only exception during this disappointing period. Early in November, the club suffered a Copa del Rey defeat away to Segunda División side Córdoba. This was followed by a league defeat at home against 19th-ranked team Espanyol. With the match still in play, fans at the stadium called for Montanier's resignation.
In the Copa del Rey, the team was incapable of overturning the first leg's deficit and exited the competition.

### An exceptional run

With an away victory to Málaga, Real Sociedad began a run that stretched from mid-November to the end of the season where the team suffered only two defeats. The team found stability with a 4–2–3–1 formation comprising Asier Illarramendi and Markel Bergara in the double 6 and Xabi Prieto just ahead of them as an attacking midfielder.

### Race for fourth

In April, it became clear that either Real Sociedad or Valencia would capture the fourth-place spot. On 28 April, a decisive match between these two took place at Anoeta. Real Sociedad was capable of coming back and won the match, thus opening a five-point gap with Valencia. In the following weeks, however, Valencia won three-straight games while Real Sociedad dropped points. Before the last matchday, Real Sociedad were two points behind Valencia and had to travel to relegation-threatened Deportivo de La Coruña. Real Sociedad won their match and Valencia lost theirs, sending the Basque team to fourth place and securing a spot at the UEFA Champions League play-off round.
Real Sociedad scored 70 goals that season, more than any other club bar Real Madrid and Barcelona and had the fourth-best defence.
Towards the end of the season, when it seemed like Philippe Montanier was about to renew his contract, he signed a contract with Rennes instead. Montanier was awarded the Ramón Cobo trophy, given to the best manager, by the Royal Spanish Football Federation's coaches committee.

### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 38 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 103 | 42 | +61 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Atlético Madrid | 38 | 23 | 7 | 8 | 65 | 31 | +34 | 76 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Real Sociedad | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 70 | 49 | +21 | 66 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Valencia | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 67 | 54 | +13 | 65 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Málaga | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 53 | 50 | +3 | 57 | |
* ↑ Since the 2012–13 Copa del Rey champions Atlético Madrid and runners-up Real Madrid qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, the 5th, 6th and 7th placed teams qualified for the group stage, play-off round, and third qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League respectively.
* ↑ Málaga was excluded from participating in any UEFA club competition in 2013–14 season as a punishment for not complying with UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. Málaga appealed against this UEFA ban, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the decision of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.

### Dispute over TV broadcasting rights

Early in 2012, Real Sociedad filed lawsuit against Mediapro on the grounds that payments were not in time or were incomplete. This escalated to a legal case that was eventually won by Real Sociedad. The media group was told to pay what had been established in the contract and €7 million as compensation. Real Sociedad was in addition declared free to sign a broadcasting contract with whoever they wanted to. Weeks before the start of the new season Real Sociedad agreed a 3-year deal with Canal +. Mediapro appealed this decision and in May a provincial court declared that the infringement was not serious enough to justify the €7 million compensation. Real Sociedad had to refund this amount.

## Transfers
### Players leaving the club (summer)

| Player | New Team | Fee |
| Mikel Aranburu | Retired | End of contract |
| Borja Viguera | Alavés | End of contract |
| Toño Ramírez | Guadalajara | End of contract |
| Vadim Demidov | Eintracht Frankfurt | €500,000 |

#### Loan out

| Player | Team |
| Joseba Llorente | Osasuna |
| Jeffrey Sarpong | Hércules |

#### Loan end

| Player | To |
| Carlos Vela | Arsenal |

### Players leaving the club (winter)

| Player | New Team | Fee |
| Jeffrey Sarpong | | Contract rescinded |

### Players joining the club (summer)
#### Signings

| Player | From | Fee |
| Chory Castro | Mallorca | Free agent |
| Carlos Vela | Arsenal | |

#### Loan in

| Player | From |
| José Ángel | Roma |

#### Loan return

| Player | From |
| Jeffrey Sarpong | NAC Breda |

## Squad

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 | CHI | Claudio Bravo |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Carlos Martínez |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Mikel González |
| 4 | MF | ESP | Gorka Elustondo |
| 5 | MF | ESP | Markel Bergara |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Iñigo Martínez |
| 7 | MF | FRA | Antoine Griezmann |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Asier Illarramendi |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Imanol Agirretxe |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Xabi Prieto |
| 11 | FW | MEX | Carlos Vela |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Eñaut Zubikarai |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Rubén Pardo |
| 15 | DF | ESP | Ion Ansotegi |
| 16 | MF | NED | Jeffrey Sarpong |
| 17 | MF | FRA | David Zurutuza |
| 18 | MF | URU | Chory Castro |
| 19 | DF | ALG | Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba |
| 20 | DF | ESP | José Ángel |
| 21 | FW | URU | Diego Ifrán |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Dani Estrada |
| 23 | MF | ESP | Javi Ros |
| 24 | DF | ESP | Alberto de la Bella |

## Start formations
### Starting XI

Lineup that started most of the club's competitive matches throughout the season.

## Matches
### Legend

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Copa del Rey
## Sources

* ↑ "Philippe Montanier, prochain entraîneur du Stade Rennais F.C." (in French). staderennais.com/. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
* ↑ "Philippe Montanier, galardonado con el 'Premio Ramón Cobo' como mejor entrenador de Primera en 2012-13" (in Spanish). europapress.es. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
* ↑ "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League 2013/14" (PDF). Nyon: UEFA. March 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
* ↑ "Malaga have second year of European ban waived by Uefa". BBC. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
* ↑ "UEFA welcomes CAS decision on Málaga". UEFA. 11 June 2013. Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
* ↑ "La Real Sociedad demanda a Mediapro por impagos" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
* ↑ "La Real Sociedad demanda a Mediapro por impagos" (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
* ↑ "Acuerdo con el operador DTS para la cesión de los derechos audiovisuales" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
* ↑ "La Audiencia Provincial se pronuncia sobre el conflicto entre Mediapro y la Real Sociedad" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
* ↑ "Transfer perfekt: Demidov wechselt zur Eintracht" (in German). Eintracht Frankfurt. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
* ↑ "La Real cierra el traspaso de Demidov al Eintracht por medio millón de euros" (in Spanish). El Diario Vasco. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
* ↑ Joseba Llorente loaned to Osasuna ; Realsociedad.com
* ↑ Joseba Llorente will play for Osasuna this season Archived 2012-08-03 at the Wayback Machine ; osasuna.es
* ↑ "Acuerdo para la rescisión del contrato de Sarpong" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. January 7, 2012.
* ↑ http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/carlos-vela-finalises-real-sociedad-switch Archived 2012-08-12 at the Wayback Machine: "Carlos Vela finalises Real Sociedad switch." Arsenal.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
* ↑ José Angel loaned to Real Sociedad ; Realsociedad.com
* ↑ Definite shirt numbers for the 2012-13 season announced ; realsociedad.com
* ↑ El Córdoba aprovecha el mal de la Real Sociedad fuera de casa (in Spanish)
* ↑ Fuera de la Copa (Real Sociedad 2-2 Córdoba) (in Spanish)
vte2012–13 in Spanish football :
Summer transfers
Winter transfers :