Next season, they’ll return to where they historically belong, as one of the most respected and prestigious clubs in Spain. So, let’s take a look at five facts that may have slipped our minds.
Real Oviedo are a top 20 team in LALIGA EA SPORTS history
Although Real Oviedo haven’t played in Spanish football’s top flight since 2001, this club used to be a regular fixture in the highest division in the land. In fact, if looking at the all-time league table for points collected in Spanish football’s top flight, Real Oviedo would sit 19th, ahead of clubs such as UD Las Palmas, Getafe CF and Rayo Vallecano.
The fans saved the club from insolvency
Following relegation out of LALIGA EA SPORTS at the end of the 2000/01 season, Real Oviedo tumbled down the divisions and went as low as the fourth tier. The club’s future was in jeopardy, with financial issues and the threat of insolvency impacting the institution.
In order to save the club, there was a mobilisation of Real Oviedo fans, led by the most prominent and international academy graduates and by famous journalists.
They shared the club’s story via social media, sparking a global movement, and the club now has more than 45,000 shareholders spread across more than 125 countries and five continents.
Santi Cazorla fulfilled his lifelong dream by bringing his boyhood club back to LALIGA EA SPORTS
One of the members of the current Real Oviedo squad is Santi Cazorla, who joined the club in 2023 at the age of 38. The midfielder is a native of the region and came through the Real Oviedo youth academy, although he never played for the first team before moving to Villarreal CF in 2003.
That’s why it was a dream come true when he finally wore the blue shirt and made his debut with the senior team two decades later. In the 2024/25 LALIGA season, he achieved the dream of returning to LALIGA EA SPORTS.
The season Real Oviedo sat out
Following the Spanish Civil War, when football was preparing to return in Spain with the 1939/40 season, the club and city of Oviedo were struggling.
As such, the club asked the authorities if they could sit out the season but keep their place in the top flight given that they’d finished third in 1935/36, the final season before the war.
The petition was accepted and Real Oviedo didn’t play in 1939/40, before returning to the top flight the next year.
Their derby has a Mexican element
Real Oviedo’s biggest rivals are Real Sporting, a club from the city of Gijón, also in Asturias. In recent years, this rivalry has developed a Mexican twist.
That’s because Grupo Pachuca acquired a majority holding of the shares of Real Oviedo in 2022, while Grupo Orlegi similarly became the majority shareholder of Real Sporting that same year.
With both these groups having Mexican origins, it’s little surprise to learn that both clubs now have significant followings in the Central American country.