Granada CF facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Granada

Full name	Granada Club de Fútbol
Nickname(s)	Nazaríes (Nasrids)
Short name	GCF
Founded	6 April 1931; 94 years ago (1931-04-06) as Club Recreativo Granada
Ground	Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes
Ground Capacity	21,600
Owner	Jiang Lizhang (through Daxian 2009 SL)
President	Sophia Yang
Head coach	Fran Escribá
League	Segunda División
2023–24	La Liga, 20th of 20 (relegated)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Granada Club de Fútbol, often just called Granada, is a professional Spanish football team. It is based in the city of Granada, which is in the Andalusia region of Spain. The club currently plays in the Segunda División, which is Spain's second-highest football league.

Granada was started in 1931 as Club Recreativo Granada. Their home games are played at the Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes. The club has spent many seasons in Spain's top league, La Liga. They even reached the final of the Copa del Rey (a big cup competition) in 1959. More recently, in 2020, Granada played in a European competition for the first time, reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

History of Granada Football Club

How the Club Started

Granada Club de Fútbol began on April 6, 1931. It was first called Recreativo de Granada. The very first president was Julio López Fernández. He helped get the club officially registered.

The team's first football game was on December 6, 1931. They played against Deportivo Jaén and won 2–1. Antonio Bombillar scored the first goal in the club's history! Their first home game was two weeks later. Granada won that match 1–0 at the Campo de Las Tablas stadium. In their first season, they finished second and moved up to a higher league.

Playing in La Liga

After moving up through different leagues, Granada reached La Liga (Spain's top league) in the 1941–42 season. Their first La Liga match was a 1–1 draw against Celta on September 28, 1941. César Rodríguez Álvarez scored Granada's first goal in the top division. That season, they had big home wins, like 8–0 against Real Oviedo and 6–0 against Barcelona.

From the 1940s to the 1980s, Granada often moved between the top league and the second division. Their best time was in the late 1960s and mid-1970s. During this period, they stayed in the top league for eight seasons in a row. They also reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey four times. Their highest league finishes were sixth place in the 1971–72 and 1973–74 seasons. In 1972, they won 9 of their last 10 home games, beating big teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid.

In 1959, Granada had a very special moment. They were the runner-up in the Copa del Rey. In the final game, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, they lost 4–1 to Barcelona. Ramón Carranza scored Granada's only goal.

Chart showing Granada CF's league performance over the years

In the 1980s, Granada spent less time in the second division. They were relegated to the third division in 1985. They returned to the second division for one season in 1987–88 but were relegated again.

Tough Times and Comeback

Granada spent many years in the third division. In 2002–03, they even dropped to the fourth division because they couldn't pay their players. After four seasons there, Lorenzo Sanz, a former president of Real Madrid, helped the club. With his support, Granada moved back up to the third division.

In 2009, the club faced big money problems and was almost shut down. A solution came when Granada partnered with an Italian club called Udinese Calcio. This deal allowed Granada to use many players from Udinese. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Granada won their group and moved up to the second division after 22 years!

Granada players Youssef El-Arabi and Adalberto Peñaranda playing against SD Eibar in 2016

A match between Deportivo de La Coruña and Granada.

In the 2010–11 season, Granada finished fifth in the second division. On June 18, 2011, they won the promotion play-offs. This meant they returned to the top division (La Liga) after 35 years!

In 2016, a Chinese businessman named Jiang Lizhang became the new owner of the club. After six seasons in La Liga, the team was relegated in 2016–17.

Under their new manager, Diego Martínez, Granada returned to La Liga in 2018–19. The next season, they finished seventh in La Liga. This earned them a spot in the UEFA Europa League, their first time in a European competition! They also reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals. In the Europa League, they made it to the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Manchester United. In 2022, the team was relegated again. However, in the 2022–23 season, Granada won the second division and returned to La Liga. Sadly, they were relegated again in the 2023–24 season.

Granada's League History

Granada has played in different Spanish football leagues over the years:

• 27 seasons in La Liga (the top league)
• 35 seasons in the Segunda División (second league)
• 22 seasons in the Segunda División B (third league)
• 5 seasons in the Tercera División (fourth league)
• 2 seasons in the Regional Leagues

Players

Current Squad

Here are some of the players currently in Granada's main team:

No. Position Player 1 GK Luca Zidane 2 DF Rubén Sánchez (on loan from Espanyol) 3 DF Miguel Ángel Brau 4 DF Miguel Rubio 5 DF Pablo Insua 6 MF Martin Hongla 7 FW Lucas Boyé 8 MF Gonzalo Villar 9 FW Shon Weissman 10 FW Myrto Uzuni 11 FW Georgiy Tsitaishvili (on loan from Dynamo Kyiv) 12 DF Ricard Sánchez 13 GK Marc Martínez

No. Position Player 14 DF Ignasi Miquel (3rd captain) 15 DF Carlos Neva (vice-captain) 16 DF Manu Lama 17 FW Theo Corbeanu 18 FW Kamil Jóźwiak 19 MF Reinier (on loan from Real Madrid) 20 MF Sergio Ruiz 22 FW Pablo Sáenz 23 MF Manu Trigueros 24 DF Loïc Williams 25 GK Diego Mariño 30 FW Siren Diao (on loan from Atalanta)

Reserve Team Players

Some players also play for the reserve team, Club Recreativo Granada:

No. Position Player 26 FW Sergio Rodelas 27 FW Sérigné Faye 28 DF Oscar Naasei Oppong 29 GK Fran Árbol

No. Position Player 32 MF Juanma Lendínez 33 GK Íker García 34 DF Lucas Pérez

Players on Loan

Sometimes players are loaned to other clubs for a period:

No. Position Player MF Gerard Gumbau (at Rayo Vallecano until 30 June 2025)

Club Achievements and Trophies

Granada CF has won several titles throughout its history:

National Titles

• Segunda División (4 times): They won the second division in 1940–41, 1956–57, 1967–68, and 2022–23.
• Segunda División B (3 times): They won the third division in 1982–83, 1999–00, and 2009–10.
• Tercera División (3 times): They won the fourth division in 1933–34, 2003–04, and 2005–06.
• Copa del Rey: They were the runners-up once, in 1958–59.

Regional Tournaments

• Andalucia Cup (1 time): 1932–33
• Andalucia Championship reservations (1 time): 1971–72

Friendly Trophies

• Antonio Puerta Trophy (1 time): 2010

Individual Awards

Some Granada players have won special awards for scoring many goals:

• La Liga: Enrique Porta was the top scorer in La Liga in 1971–72.
• Segunda División: Miguel (1964–65), Rafa (1955–56), and Myrto Uzuni (2022–2023) were top scorers in the Segunda División.

Playing in Europe

Granada CF made its first appearance in a European competition in the 2020–21 season. They played in the Europa League. They had to play several qualifying rounds:

• They beat Teuta (Albania) 4–0.
• They beat Locomotive Tbilisi (Georgia) 2–0.
• They beat Malmö FF (Sweden) 3–1.

After qualifying, they played in the group stage:

• They beat PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) away, but lost at home.
• They drew twice with PAOK (Greece).
• They beat Omonia (Cyprus) twice.

Granada finished second in their group and moved on to the knockout rounds.

In the knockout rounds, they continued to do well:

• They beat Napoli (Italy) 3–2 on total score over two games.
• They beat Molde (Norway) 3–2 on total score over two games.
• In the quarter-finals, they played against Manchester United (England). They lost both games 0–2, so Manchester United won 4–0 on total score. This ended Granada's first amazing European journey.

Derby of Eastern Andalusia

The "Eastern Andalusia Derby" is a special football match. It is played between Granada and their rivals, Málaga. These games are always exciting!

Here's a quick look at their matches up to September 20, 2024:

Granada's Home Stadium

Granada playing at Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes against Gimnàstic in 2010

When Granada CF was first founded, they played at a stadium called Campo de Las Tablas. This stadium opened on December 20, 1931.

A few years later, on December 23, 1934, a new stadium called Estadio Los Cármenes was opened. Granada played there until 1995. Then, they moved to their current home, the Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium. This stadium was opened on May 16, 1995. The first game there was a friendly match between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen. Granada CF played their first game there in the summer of 1995.

The stadium first held 16,212 people. After Granada CF moved up to La Liga in 2011, it was made bigger to hold 22,524 fans.

When the team got promoted to the First Division in 2019, the stadium was improved. The grass was replaced, seats were fixed and painted, and white seats were added to spell "Granada CF" and "1931". The club's official store was also made bigger. The lighting system was updated to meet the requirements of La Liga. The club is also working to make a long-term agreement for the stadium. They plan to rebuild the stadium corners, add shops and entertainment areas, and improve sponsor areas.

• Field Size: 105 meters long by 68 meters wide
• Address: C/ Pintor Manuel Maldonado s/n
• Opening Date: May 16, 1995, with a game between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen (1–0)
• First Granada CF Game: August 22, 1995, Granada vs. Real Betis (4–1) in the Granada Trophy

Team Kit and Colours

When the club first started, their uniforms were blue and white striped shirts with white shorts. After the Spanish Civil War, the club's owners bought new shirts. They could only find red and white striped shirts, and these became the official colours from then on.

In the 1970s, the club changed the stripes from vertical to horizontal. For a while, the kit changed between horizontal and vertical stripes. But since the 2004–05 season, the team decided to stick with the horizontal stripe pattern.

Shirt Sponsors and Manufacturers

Here's a list of companies that have made Granada's kits and sponsored their shirts:

Coaches of Granada CF

Many different coaches have led the Granada football team over the years. Here are some of them:

Images for kids

• 

  Fuente de las Batallas in Granada, a meeting point for fans during celebrations.

See also

In Spanish: Granada Club de Fútbol para niños