Mérida AD

Asociación Deportiva Mérida, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2013 it is a successor club of CP Mérida, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1.

Mérida

Full name	Asociación Deportiva Mérida, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Romanos Pecholatas
Founded	19 February 2013; 12 years ago (19 February 2013) as Mérida Asociación Deportiva
Ground	Estadio Romano, Mérida, Extremadura, Spain
Capacity	14,600[1]
Owner	Best Intentions Analytics Limited (100%)
President	Cliff Crown
Head coach	Fran Beltrán
League	Primera Federación – Group 1
2024–25	Primera Federación – Group 2, 4th of 20
Website	h admerida.es
Home colours Away colours

History

The club was founded on 19 February 2013 and six days later, it was registered in General Registry of Sports Entities of Extremadura.^[2] Mérida UD was dissolved later in 2013 and Mérida AD bought their place in Tercera División.^[3]

On 30 May 2015, the club was promoted to Segunda División B after defeating CD Laredo 2–1 on aggregate in the playoffs.^[4] On 27 August that year, the team competed in the Copa del Rey for the first time, losing 0–3 at home to Peña Sport FC in the opening round.^[5]

In 2017–18, the club were given a bye to the second round of the cup, where they lost 2–0 at CF Fuenlabrada.^[6] The season ended with relegation back to the fourth tier after a 2–2 aggregate defeat (away goals) to Coruxo FC in the relegation play-offs,^[7] but the club bounced back a year later with a penalty shootout win against UD Socuéllamos.^[8]

After a league restructuring in 2021, Mérida was placed in the new fourth-tier Segunda División RFEF. That season, they came runners-up in their group to Córdoba CF and achieved promotion via the play-offs with a 2–0 extra-time win over CD Teruel.^[9]

In 2025, the Matthew Benham-led holding group Best Intentions Analytics Limited (BIA) acquired the club.^[10]

Season to season

Season	Tier	Division	Place	Copa del Rey
2013–14	4	3ª	2nd
2014–15	4	3ª	1st
2015–16	3	2ª B	8th	First round
2016–17	3	2ª B	5th
2017–18	3	2ª B	16th	Second round
2018–19	4	3ª	1st
2019–20	3	2ª B	19th	Second round
2020–21	3	2ª B	6th / 4th
2021–22	4	2ª RFEF	2nd
2022–23	3	1ª Fed.	8th	Second round
2023–24	3	1ª Fed.	12th
2024–25	3	1ª Fed.	4th
2025–26	3	1ª Fed.

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• 4 seasons in Primera Federación
• 5 seasons in Segunda División B
• 1 season in Segunda División RFEF
• 3 seasons in Tercera División

Current squad

As of 23 September 2025.^[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  HUN Adrián Csenterics (on loan from MTK Budapest) 3 DF  ESP Javi Lancho 4 DF  ESP Luis Pareja 5 DF  ESP Javi Domínguez 6 MF  ESP Miki Muñoz 7 FW  ESP Chiqui 8 MF  ESP Martín Solar 9 FW  ESP Álvaro García 10 FW  ESP Carlos Doncel 11 FW  ESP Javi Areso 12 FW  POR Rui Gomes 13 GK  ESP Pablo Cacharrón

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  ESP Juan Artola 15 DF  ESP Gaizka Martínez 16 MF  ESP Miguel Capitas 17 MF  ESP Victor Corral (on loan from Ceuta) 18 MF  GER Benjamin Dibrani 19 DF  ESP Felipe Alfonso 20 FW  ESP Jacobo Martí 21 MF  ESP Raúl Beneit 22 DF  ESP Manu Rivas 23 DF  ESP Eudald Vergés 24 FW  POR Rodrigo Pereira

Stadium

Mérida plays its home games at Estadio Romano, with a capacity of 14,600 spectators.^[12]

• Google map for Estadio Romano

Managerial history

• Ángel Alcazar (2015)
• Antonio Gómez (2016)
• José Miguel Campos (2016)
• Bernardo Plaza (2016)
• Eloy Jiménez (2016–17)
• Mehdi Nafti (2017)^[13][14]
• Loren Morón (2017–18)
• Mehdi Nafti (2018)^[15][16]
• Santi Amaro (2019)
• Diego Merino (2019–20)
• Juanma (2020)
• Dani Mori (2020–21)
• Miguel Rivera (2021)
• Juan García (2021)
• Javier Álvarez de los Mozos (2021–22)
• Juanma (2022–23)
• Sergi Guilló (2024–25)
• Fran Beltrán (2025–)