UD Almería

Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [uˈnjon depoɾˈtiβ(a) almeˈɾi.a]) is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as Almería Club de Fútbol until 2001, when it was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería.^[2] The club currently plays in the Segunda División, and plays their home games at the 17,400-seat capacity UD Almería Stadium.^[3][4]

Almería

Full name	Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Cowboys La Unión Almeriensistas UDA Indálicos Rojiblancos
Founded	26 July 1989; 36 years ago (1989-07-26) as Almería Club de Fútbol
Ground	UD Almería Stadium
Capacity	17,400[1]
Owner	SMC Group
President	Mohammed Al-Khereiji
Head coach	Rubi
League	Segunda División
2024–25	Segunda División, 6th of 22
Website	udalmeriasad.com
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

History

The first football club in Almería was founded in 1909: el Almería Foot-Ball Club.^[5] Since then, several Almería football clubs appeared and disappeared. One of them was AD Almería, a team that played in La Liga between 1979 and 1981, but disappeared in 1982, and was arguably UD Almería's predecessor.

In 1989, a club named Almería Club de Fútbol was born, but in 2001 was renamed Unión Deportiva Almería. On 19 January 2001 the mayor of Almería Santiago Martínez Cabrejas announced in the city council that the new club UD Almería had been formed after the merger of two city teams - Polideportivo Almería and Almería CF.^[6] But UD Almería was not official until 28 June 2001, when Almería CF approved at the General Meeting of Shareholders the renaming.^[6] After playing one season in the second division, it was relegated to the third and the fourth divisions.

After spending several seasons in the second level, Almería side was first promoted to the top flight after finishing runner-up in the 2006–07 season. After some outstanding performances, as the away win against Deportivo de La Coruña 3–0 in the first La Liga match, the team achieved a final 8th league place in 2007–08.^[6] At the club's helm was coach Unai Emery, as striker Álvaro Negredo finished team topscorer with 13 goals.

UD Almería players facing Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in 2011

After Emery left for Valencia CF, Gonzalo Arconada stepped in,^[7] but was sacked on 21 December 2008, after a string of poor results, albeit without ever reaching the last three.^[8] Mexican Hugo Sánchez took the job, and fared slightly better, for a final mid-table position.

In 2010–11, Almería reached the semifinals of the Copa del Rey for the first time ever.^[6] In the league, however, the club was finally relegated after a four-year spell in the top flight; in November 2010, coach Juan Manuel Lillo was fired after a 0–8 home loss against FC Barcelona (precisely the team that ousted the Andalusians in the domestic cup's last-four, with the same score, but on aggregate),^[9][10] and his successor José Luis Oltra met the same fate,^[11] in April 2011.^[12] He was replaced by Roberto Olabe.^[13]

Chart of UD Almería league performance 1929-present

After two seasons in the second level, Almería returned to the main category of Spanish football on 22 June 2013, after defeating Girona FC in the play-offs. After the departure of manager Javi Gracia, the club appointed their former player and manager of the reserves at the time Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez;^[14] the team eventually managed to survive in 2013–14, finishing 16th.^[15][16]

Francisco was sacked in December 2014, after only managing two points out of 24,^[17] and was later replaced by Juan Ignacio Martínez.^[18] "JIM" also only lasted until April of the following year,^[19] and even with new manager Sergi Barjuán,^[20] the club was relegated after finishing 19th.^[21][22]

In the 2018–19 season, Almería finally escaped the tough fight for the permanence in Segunda División until the last matches as during 3 previous seasons. This time they were closer to the promotion play-offs to La Liga, and finished 10th from 22 teams participated.^[23]

Turki Al-Sheikh during a press conference in 2019

On 2 August 2019, Turki Al-Sheikh became the owner of the club, replacing Alfonso García Gabarrón.^[24] He appointed Mohamed El Assy as general director,^[25] Dario Drudi as sporting director, who replaced Miguel Ángel Corona,^[26] and manager Óscar Fernández was replaced by Pedro Emanuel.^[27] On 5 November 2019, it was announced Guti replaced Emanuel.^[28] On 26 June 2020, he was ceased and replaced by Mario Silva,^[29][30] who was himself replaced by José Gomes on 27 July.

In August 2021, UD Almería (Mohamed El Assy) and the Ayuntamiento de Almería [es] (Ramón Fernández-Pacheco Monterreal [es]) agreed to a lease on the operation of the municipally owned Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos for a 25-year period.^[31] In June 2022, the club achieved promotion to the first division by sealing a 1st position in the table, respectively, on the very last match day of the season, after spending seven years in the second tier.

In the 2023–24 season, UD Almería started the season with record of 28 league games without a win between 11 August 2023 to 11 March 2024. At last, the club secured a victory against Las Palmas οn 17 March 2024. However, they were relegated to second division after a 1–3 loss to Getafe on 27 April 2024, ending their two-year stay in top tier.^[32]

In May 2025, UD Almería underwent a significant ownership change, with Saudi investment consortium SMC Group, led by Mohammed Al-Khereiji, acquiring the club from Turki Al-Sheikh.^[33]

Season to season

See also: List of UD Almería seasons

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 1989–90 5 Reg. Pref. 1st 1990–91 5 Reg. Pref. 3rd 1991–92 5 Reg. Pref. 2nd 1992–93 4 3ª 2nd 1993–94 3 2ª B 11th Fourth round 1994–95 3 2ª B 2nd Second round 1995–96 2 2ª 16th Second round 1996–97 2 2ª 17th Second round 1997–98 3 2ª B 7th First round 1998–99 3 2ª B 18th 1999–2000 4 3ª 4th 2000–01 3 2ª B 11th 2001–02 3 2ª B 3rd 2002–03 2 2ª 18th Round of 32 2003–04 2 2ª 13th Round of 32 2004–05 2 2ª 14th Second round 2005–06 2 2ª 6th First round 2006–07 2 2ª 2nd Third round 2007–08 1 1ª 8th Round of 32 2008–09 1 1ª 11th Round of 16

Season Level Division Place Copa del Rey 2009–10 1 1ª 13th Round of 32 2010–11 1 1ª 20th Semi-finals 2011–12 2 2ª 7th Round of 32 2012–13 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32 2013–14 1 1ª 17th Round of 16 2014–15 1 1ª 19th Round of 16 2015–16 2 2ª 18th Round of 32 2016–17 2 2ª 15th Second round 2017–18 2 2ª 18th Second round 2018–19 2 2ª 10th Round of 32 2019–20 2 2ª 4th First round 2020–21 2 2ª 4th Quarter-finals 2021–22 2 2ª 1st Round of 32 2022–23 1 1ª 17th First round 2023–24 1 1ª 19th Second round 2024–25 2 2ª 6th Round of 16 2025–26 2 2ª TBD

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• 8 seasons in La Liga
• 18 seasons in Segunda División
• 6 seasons in Segunda División B
• 2 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Players

As of 14 August 2025^[34]

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  ESP Andrés Fernández 2 MF  ESP Arnau Puigmal 3 DF  ESP Álex Muñoz 4 DF  POR Nélson Monte 5 MF  ESP Selvi Clua 6 MF  POR André Horta (on loan from Braga) 7 MF  BRA Lázaro 8 MF  POR Gui Guedes 10 MF  ESP Nico Melamed 11 MF  ESP Sergio Arribas 12 FW  BRA Léo Baptistão 13 GK  ESP Fernando Martínez

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  GHA Iddrisu Baba 16 DF  ESP Marcos Luna 17 MF  SEN Dion Lopy 18 DF  ITA Federico Bonini 19 FW  CMR Patrick Soko 20 DF  ESP Álex Centelles 21 DF  ESP Chumi 22 DF  CUW Daijiro Chirino 23 MF  ESP Adri Embarba 29 MF  SRB Stefan Džodić 31 GK  ESP Bruno Iribarne 36 FW  MNE Marko Perović

Reserve team

Main article: UD Almería B

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 32 DF  ESP Pedro Fidel

Other players under contract

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 — GK  POR Luís Maximiano — DF  ESP Edgar González — MF  ARG Lucas Robertone

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  MLI Ibrahima Koné — FW  GNB Marciano Tchami

Out on loan

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 — DF  ESP Álex Pozo (at Jagiellonia Białystok until 30 June 2026) — DF  MOZ Bruno Langa (at Pafos until 30 June 2026) — MF  ESP Rubén Quintanilla (at Eldense until 30 June 2026)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Arvin Appiah (at Amiens until 30 June 2026) — FW  URU Juan Manuel Gutiérrez (at Defensa y Justicia until 30 June 2026) — FW  SRB Marko Milovanović (at Alverca until 30 June 2026)

Technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Rubi
Assistant coach	Jaume Torras
Chief of fitness coach	Xavi Gil
Fitness coach	Manel García Víctor Fortes
Goalkeeping coach	Diego Tuero Ricardo Molina
Technical assistant	Joan Ferrer Joan Carrillo
Rehab fitness coach	Álvaro Cano
Kit man	Mateo Ruiz Juan Ventaja Bernardo Hernández
Kit woman	Mari César Herminia César
Chief of medical services	Sebastián Jiménez
Physiotherapy coordinator	Cid Andrade
Physiotherapist	Pedro Serrano Carlos Fernández Edu Antequera
Nutritionist	José González

Last updated: 20 November 2024
Source: UD Almería (in Spanish)

Notable players

Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.

• Sofiane Feghouli
• Hernán Bernardello
• Pablo Piatti
• Óscar Ustari
• Diego Valeri
• Diego Alves
• Paulo Jamelli
• Felipe Melo
• Michel Macedo
• Jonathan Zongo
• Modeste M'bami
• Hans Martínez
• Lorenzo Reyes
• Fabián Vargas
• Luis Suárez
• Thievy Bifouma
• Mate Bilić
• Michael Jakobsen
• Sena
• Henok Goitom
• Iddrisu Baba
• Ferenc Horváth
• Tomer Hemed
• Ibrahima Koné
• Sander Westerveld
• Ramon Azeez
• Kalu Uche
• Diego Barreto
• Peque Benítez
• Santiago Acasiete
• Miguel Rebosio
• Hélder Barbosa
• Nélson Marcos
• Constantin Gâlcă
• Veljko Paunović
• Dion Lopy
• Srđan Babić
• Bruno
• Álvaro Cervera
• Juan Cervián
• Corona
• Albert Crusat
• Esteban
• Esteban Navarro
• Fernando
• Francisco
• Carlos García
• Julio
• López Rekarte
• Luna
• Mané
• Álvaro Negredo
• José Ortiz
• Juanma Ortiz
• Juan Portillo
• Raúl Sánchez
• Fernando Soriano
• Ángel Trujillo
• Verza
• Aleix Vidal
• Teerasil Dangda
• Julio Álvarez
• Darwin Núñez
• Ivica Barbarić

See also: Category:UD Almería players

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup Finals, while playing for Almería.

• Kalu Uche (2010)
• Ramon Azeez (2014)
• Srđan Babić (2022)

Uniform

Almería's uniform in the 2020–21 season.

Period	Kit Manufacturer	Sponsors
2001–07	Cejudo	Obrascampo
2007–08	UDA
2008–10		None1
2010–12	Rasán	Urcisol
2012–19	Nike
2019–20	Adidas	Arabian Centres
2020–22	Puma
2022–	Castore	Khaled Juffali Co.

¹ The shirt contained messages such as Isla del Fraile or Corredor de Vida.

Honours

• Segunda División
  • Champions (1): 2021–22

See also

• UD Almería B – Almería's B team
• AD Almería
• List of managers
• List of statistics