page_title: RCD Mallorca
section_title: The Early Years
hierarchical_section_title: RCD Mallorca / History / The Early Years
caption_attribution_description: Español: Acta fundacional del RCD Mallorca en 1916.
context_page_description: Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish football club based in Palma on the island of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916 they currently play in the Segunda División, holding home games at the Visit Mallorca Stadium with a 23,142-seat capacity.
  The club had its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reaching a best-ever 3rd place in La Liga in 1999 and 2001 and winning the Copa del Rey in 2003 following final defeats in 1991 and 1998. Mallorca also won the 1998 Supercopa de España and reached the 1999 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final.
  Mallorca traditionally play in red shirts with black shorts and socks.
context_section_description: Founded on the 5 March 1916, what would later become RCD Mallorca was registered at the Spanish Football Federation under the name of Alfonso XIII Foot-Ball Club.
  
  Weeks after its establishment, the club wasted little time forming the directors of Alfonso XIII FBC, headed by engineer Adolfo Vázquez Humasqué and eight other football fans. Their first stadium, the Buenos Aires field, was ignagurated with a competitive fixture against FC Barcelona just 20 days after registering further fast-tracked development. Despite the fixture ending in a disappointing 8-0 defeat, it was not long before King Alfonso XIII himself requested the royal adoption of ‘Real’ in the team's title, therefore becoming Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII Foot-Ball Club.
  In 1917, the Catalan Federation granted Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII admission into the second tier league championship as an unofficial champion of the Balearic Islands. Booking a place in the final, Los Bermellones went on to record their first title with a resounding 3-1 victory over Futbol Club Palafrugell, in Barcelona.
  Until the 1930s, the board of directors managed to organise fixtures against peninsular clubs such as RCD Espanyol and Real Murcia, while also hosting rare exhibitions against foreign sides including: Ajax in 1923, Uruguay’s national team in 1925, Chilean outfit Colo-Colo in 1927 and one of the Czech Republic’s oldest teams, Prague Meteor, in 1930.
  In 1931, following the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic which prohibited any form of reference to monarchy, the club was renamed to Club Deportivo Mallorca.
  Although major fixtures and competitions across Spain were soon interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936, the squad enjoyed a highly successful spell by winning every possible championship they entered into, as football on the island remained resistant to the deferral experienced throughout the country. When the war finally ended, matches with teams from the Peninsula were quick to resume and the Second Division was inaugurated, based on five groups of eight teams each.
  It was during a period in the Second Division that, on 22 September 1945, the time had come to wave goodbye to Buenos Aires Field and up sticks to Es Fortí, a 16,000-maximum capacity stadium which would be called home for over half a century and undergo several expansions. A line-up featuring forward Sebastián Pocoví, defender Saturnino Grech and goalkeeper Antoni Ramallets beat Jerez 3-0 on the opening game of the new campaign the following day, with Carlos Sanz scoring Es Fortí’s first goal in front of packed-out terraces. The title Es Fortí was short-lived however, with the board later changing the name of the stadium to Lluís Sitjar, in honour of the man who had driven the construction of the field.
  During the 1949-1950 season, the Balearic club recovered their “Real” title, becoming Real Club Deportivo Mallorca
caption: Founding charter of Alfonso XIII Football Club in 1916.
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