Recreativo de Huelva

R.C. Recreativo de Huelva
Full name	Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D.
Founded	1889
Ground	Estadio Nuevo Colombino,; Huelva, Andalucia, Spain
Capacity	21,600
Chairman	Francisco Mendoza Taboada
Manager	Francisco Javier López Castro
League	Segunda División
2008/09	La Liga, 20th
Home colours	Away colours

Real Club Recreativo de Huelva is a Spanish football club. The club was starting in 1889. It is the oldest football team in Spain.

The Club

Real Club Recreativo de Huelva is a Spanish football team formed on December 23 1889. This makes it the oldest football team in Spain, formed by Dr McKay and overseas British workers at the Rio Tinto mines. Originally named Huelva Recreation Club. Due to its long-standing existence (it is the oldest surviving team of Spanish professional soccer), the team is often referred to as El Decano ("the dean") of the Spanish football fraternity.

Commonly known as Recre, they play in white with blue vertical stripes and white shorts. Their home ground is the Nuevo Colombino stadium that seats 19,860.

After three seasons in Segunda División (Spanish second division), Recre achieved promotion to top flight after beating Numancia Soria on June 4, 2006, mathematically securing promotion with two matches left to be played. El Decano is again among the elite of Spanish football for the 2006/07 season.

Name

1889-? Huelva Recreation Club
?-present R.C. Recreativo de Huelva

Honours

Champions of Andalucía from 1903 to 1914.
Reached Primera División for 1978-79 (under coach Eusebio Ríos), 2002-2003 (under coach Lucas Alcaraz) and 2005-2006 (under coach Marcelino Garcia Toral).
Defeated finalists in Copa del Rey in 2003.

League position

Season	League	Position
2000/01	Segunda División	6th
2001/02	Segunda División	3rd
2002/03	La Liga	18th
2003/04	Segunda División	6th
2004/05	Segunda División	5th
2005/06	Segunda División	Champions
2006/07	La Liga	8th
2007/08	La Liga	16th
2008/09	La Liga	20th

Former position

1957/58 : Segunda División - 15th / Group B
1959/60 : Segunda División - 13th / Group B
1961/62 : Segunda División - 5th / Group B
1962/63 : Segunda División - 5th / Group B
1963/64 : Segunda División - 11th / Group B
1964/65 : Segunda División - 9th / Group B
1965/66 : Segunda División - 11th / Group B
1966/67 : Segunda División - 11th / Group B
1967/68 : Segunda División - 13th / Group B
1974/75 : Segunda División - 14th
1975/76 : Segunda División - 10th
1976/77 : Segunda División - 9th
1977/78 : Segunda División - 2nd
1978/79 : La Liga - 18th
1979/80 : Segunda División - 12th
1980/81 : Segunda División - 16th
1981/82 : Segunda División - 14th
1982/83 : Segunda División - 10th
1983/84 : Segunda División - 12th
1984/85 : Segunda División - 10th
1985/86 : Segunda División - 9th
1986/87 : Segunda División - 5th
1987/88 : Segunda División - 15th
1988/89 : Segunda División - 5th
1989/90 : Segunda División - 19th
1998/99 : Segunda División - 12th
1999/00 : Segunda División - 21st

Foreigners 2006/07

Only three non-EU nationals can be on the pitch at anytime. Those with European ancestry can claim a passport from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim a Spanish passport by playing in Spain for 3 years.