Real Oviedo

Real Oviedo (Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere, opened on 30 September 2000, and is the largest sports stadium in Asturias. In the all-time league table for the Spanish top division (La Liga), Oviedo ranks 18th, as it has played 38 seasons.
The club had 21,517 season ticket holders in the 2023–2024 season and their fans are called "Carbayones". The club's local rivals are Sporting Gijón on the sea coast to its north, with whom the club contests the Asturian derby.
Real Oviedo has also a women's team, called Real Oviedo Femenino. It has played several times in the Spanish first division (Liga F) but now it competes in the third tier (Segunda Federación Femenina).
Founded in 1926 after a merger of Stadium Ovetense and Real Club Deportivo Oviedo. The first one was founded by young people who had studied in England, where the "foot-ball" was already popular. And the second club was founded a few years later by a split in the first. Carlos Tartiere served as the inaugural president when the club was established. Oviedo first reached La Liga seven years later.
Their attacking quartet of Emilín, Galé, Herrerita and Isidro Lángara (all represented Spain in this period), as well as Casuco and Ricardo Gallart modernised the game with their pace and running off the ball tied with sharp passing and one-touch football, played in a style 30/40 years before its time, being dubbed Delanteras Eléctricas ("The electric forwards"); all this was connected with a rigid training and fitness regime started by a former manager of the club, Englishman Fred Pentland.
Lángara won the Pichichi Trophy three years in a row prior to the Spanish Civil War, as Oviedo broke all scoring records (174 goals in 62 league games). With the outbreak of the conflict, however, the team broke up: Lángara emigrated to South America, Herrerita and Emilín signed with FC Barcelona, Galé with Racing de Santander and Gallart with Racing de Ferrol.
When football in the country resumed in 1939, Oviedo could not play 1939–40 season, as their pitch was deemed unplayable – Francisco Franco's troops had used the stadium as an ammunition dump. During the following decades, the club bounced back between the first and second levels, the high point being a best-ever third position in 1962–63 (ranking joint-first with Real Madrid after the first 15 rounds), while the lowest was the side's first relegation to Segunda División B, in 1978 (for a single season).
With the FIFA World Cup to be held in Spain in 1982, the Carlos Tartiere Stadium was completely renewed, the first match being held with the Chile national team, 0–0. In 1984–85 Oviedo won the soon-to-be-defunct Spanish League Cup (second division), after successively defeating UD Salamanca, Bilbao Athletic, CF Lorca Deportiva, CE Sabadell FC and Atlético Madrileño (the latter with a 2–1 aggregate in the final).
In 1988 Oviedo returned to the top division, after ousting RCD Mallorca in the promotion playoffs (2–1 on aggregate, with striker Carlos, who would feature prominently for the club in the following years, scoring one of the goals), and remained in that level for 13 consecutive seasons – in 1990–91 it finished sixth, qualifying for the first time for Europe, and being knocked out in the first round by Genoa C.F.C. of Italy (2–3). Oviedo bounced back from that defeat immediately, with a 2–1 win at the Camp Nou over Barcelona.
After that successful year, there were more brilliant seasons and others where relegation was narrowly dodged (in 1998 Real Oviedo succeeded in a relegation playoff to stay up after beating UD Las Palmas). In a nutshell, the Carbayones had an outstanding run in La Liga during the 1990s with a team which lined up top international players. In 1992 Real Oviedo as well as most Spanish football clubs was forced to become public limited sports company. The initial capital stock for Real Oviedo amounted to €3.6 million.
On 4 October 1995, Real Oviedo played its 1,000th game in La Liga.
In 2000, the new Carlos Tartiere Stadium with 30,500 seats became Real Oviedo's new ground. It was officially opened on 20 September 2000 with a match between Real Oviedo and Partizan Belgrade, where Real Oviedo lost 0–2 to the Serbian side. Three days before, Real Oviedo and UD Las Palmas had got a 2–2 draw on the first fixture in the 2000–01 season.
After being relegated two consecutive times, Real Oviedo suffered severe economic troubles, which, when coupled with a profound lack of institutional support from the city's government, resulted in the team's inability to pay its players. The club was then forced to drop all the way to the fourth division of Spanish football, for the 2003–04 season; at this point the team nearly folded but eventually recovered and regrouped, returning to level three in the following campaign.
Oviedo lasted two further campaigns before dropping down a level again. In another playoff against a Mallorca team – this time the reserves, the club returned again to the third division, after a penalty shootout; however, its survival remained at risk in the following years, due to continuing financial difficulties.
The financial dire straits continued into the 2012–13 season, when Oviedo called on supporters to buy shares in the club. A few footballers, notably Santi Cazorla, Juan Mata, Michu and Adrián who all started their careers there, offered their financial support in an attempt to save the club from bankruptcy – the club had until 17 November to raise €2 million in order to prevent closure.
On 17 November 2012, Carlos Slim, at the time the richest person in the world, invested $2.5 million in the club, therefore gaining a controlling stake.
On 31 May 2015, Oviedo confirmed their return to the Spanish Segunda División after a thirteen-year absence with a 2–1 aggregate victory over Cádiz in the 2015 Segunda División B play-offs. In the 2023–24 Segunda División, Oviedo finished sixth, earning a spot in the promotion play-offs, where they reached the final, winning the first leg 1–0, but lost 2–1 on aggregate to Espanyol.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.
The Asturian derby has been closely contested throughout its history and the two teams have met 117 times in all competitions. Real Oviedo have won 49 times, while Sporting de Gijón have done so in 38 games; 30 draws have been produced.
Sporting won the first match ever played, a 2–1 win for the Regional Championships on 6 December 1926. The first top flight derby took place during the 1944–45 season, and honours were split over the two games: Oviedo won its home fixture 2–1, but lost by a record 0–6 at El Molinón.
The inaugural second level season, 1929, also brought two local derbies – Oviedo thrashed Sporting 6–2 at home, while Sporting won 3–2 in the return fixture. On 15 March 1998, the last contest in the top level took place, and Oviedo emerged victorious 2–1 at the Tartiere, eventually managing to stay afloat (only through the play-offs though) whilst the Rojiblancos suffered direct relegation as 20th and last.
After the first relegation in its history to Tercera División, the historical record of the category was established in the 2003–04 season, with 10,759 season ticket holders, up to that time, the record was for Málaga CF in 1995 with 4,200. Oviedo fans have also established some other Spanish records, such as the record attendance for a Tercera División regular game (16,573 people vs Oviedo ACF) or the record attendance for a Segunda B promotion game (27,214 people vs Mallorca B).
Real Oviedo achieved its season ticket holders record in the 2023–24 season with 21,517 people. Their fans are gathered in more than 90 "peñas" (officially, club-affiliated supporters' groups), which are organized by APARO (Asociación de Peñas Azules del Real Oviedo). Oviedo's most notorious and hardcore "peña" is Symmachiarii, considered as the club "ultras".
Real Oviedo supporters maintain friendly relations with fans of Deportivo La Coruña, Real Valladolid and Sevilla and internationally with fans of Genoa, Apollon Smyrnis F.C. and Žilina.
The reserve team, which plays since 2022 in the fourth level (Segunda Federación), was formerly named Vetusta. Vetusta was also the original name of the team, before the Royal Spanish Football Federation decree which banned unique reserve club names in the early 1990s.
On 28 August 2017, women's club Oviedo Moderno CF signed an agreement with Real Oviedo for using their name and their blue and white colors, instead of their classic black and green, since the 2017–18 season, with the aim to be completely integrated into the structure of the club for the 2018–19 season onwards. The club formerly used the blue and white colors for the 2016–17 promotion play-offs.
Oviedo currently plays in Segunda Federación, the Spanish third tier.