Celta de Vigo

Football club infobox
clubname = R.C. Celta de Vigo


fullname = Real Club Celta de Vigo S.A.D
nickname = "Celtiñas" (Little Celts)
"Celtistas"
"Celestes" (Sky Blues)| founded = 1923
ground = Estadio Balaídos
capacity = 32,500
chairman = flagicon|Spain Carlos Mouriño
manager = flagicon|Spain Pepe Murcia
league = Segunda División
season = 2007-08
position = Segunda División, 16th
shirtsupplier= Umbro
shirtsponsors= Citroën
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=AAD0FF|body1=AAD0FF|rightarm1=AAD0FF|shorts1=ffffff|socks1=AAD0FF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ff8c00|body2=ff8c00|rightarm2=ff8c00|shorts2=000000|socks2=ff8c00

Real Club Celta de Vigo Sociedad Anonima Deportiva is a Spanish football team from Vigo in Galicia. It was founded on March 28, 1923 by merging Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. They currently play in Spain's Second Division.

Nicknamed "Celtiñas" (Galician for "little celts"), they play in sky-blue shirts and white shorts. The club's home stadium is Balaídos, which seats 32,500 spectators. [ [http://www.fussballtempel.net/uefa/ESP.html Stadium profile at Fussballtempel.net] ]

History

Foundation

R.C. Celta de Vigo was formed as a result of the ambition of Vigo's teams to achieve more at national level, where the Basque sides were their "bête-noire" in the Spanish Championship. The idea was to merge both teams to create a more powerful team at national level. The standard-bearer of this movement was Manuel De Castro "Handicap", sports writer for "Faro de Vigo" who, from 1915, started to write in his articles about the need for a unitarian movement. The slogan of his movement was "Todo por y para Vigo" (All for and to Vigo), which eventually found support amongst the managers of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. It was backed unanimously when De Castro himself presented the motion at the assembly of the National Federation in Madrid, on 22 June 1923.

On 12 July 1923, at the AGM's of Vigo and Fortuna held at the Odeon Theatre and in the Hotel Moderno, respectively, the merger was approved. Thus the "Galicia Team " was born, as it was dubbed. In the last AGM of Fortuna and Vigo to approve the formation of a new club held on 10 August 1923, the members decided upon the team's name. Various names were suggested:

* Real Unión de Vigo
* Club Galicia
* Real Atlántic
* Breogán
* Real Club Olimpico

The last name was popular but they eventually decided on Real Club Celta, an ethnic race linked to Galicia (see Celts). The first president of Celta was Manuel Bárcena de Andrés, the Count of Torrecedeira. At this AGM, the squad was also decided, which numbered 64 players in total, that included some notable players from both Fortuna and Vigo:

*Goalkeepers: Isidro, Jim, Lilo and Rubido.
*Defenders: Otero, Pasarín, Juanito Clemente, Daniel and Kaíto.
*Midfielders: Jacobo Torres, Balbino, Queralt, Hermida, Pombo, Cruces, Córdoba, Máximo and Bienvenido.
*Forwards: Reigosa, Chiarrioni, Posada, Polo, Correa, Gerardito, Ramón González and Caride.

Celta de Vigo have played for many years in the Spanish first division, but have never been champions of the league or cup, despite having come close. Their best season was 1970-71, when they were not beaten at home and were known as the "giant-killers." They finished the season in sixth place (with the same number of points as Athletic Bilbao in fifth). This meant that the team qualified for the UEFA Cup for the next season. Unfortunately for them, they were knocked out by Aberdeen in the first round, and were unable to recover from a 2-0 loss at home.

Club colours & badge

Celta's original team strip consisted of a red shirt, white shorts and blue socks - the colour's of the flag of Vigo. This was later changed at an unknown date to the traditional sky blue and white strip - representative of the Galician flag.

Like many Galician clubs, such as Racing de Ferrol, the badge is based on the red cross of Santiago (St. James). It also has the royal crown, hence the name Real Club Celta de Vigo.

EuroCelta

The late 1990s (1997-2001) saw the best results in Celta's history, in which they managed to consolidate themselves as a top-six league side, culminating in 2000-01, when they did not fall below sixth the whole season. They were dubbed "EuroCelta" by the Spanish press.

During this period they achieved a number of famous results in the UEFA Cup, beating Liverpool in home and away games (3-1 and 1-0) and thrashing S.L. Benfica (7-0) and Juventus F.C. (4-0).

Fall from grace

Celta had a dramatic reversal of fortune in 2003-04. The previous season, they finished fourth in the league, putting them in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Celta entered the group phase, and eventually reached the last 16 before being knocked out by Arsenal. However, their domestic form was disastrous, and they finished penultimate in "La Liga", so they were relegated to the second level. They earned a return to the top flight at the first attempt, after finishing second in in 2004-05's "Segunda".

In the 2005-06 season, they finished sixth earning a return once more to the UEFA Cup. They made it to the last 16 in that competition as well, before losing to SV Werder Bremen.

In the 2006-07 season, Celta finished in 18th position and were relegated to "Segunda División". At the end of June, Celta avoided going into administration. However, if an agreement was not put in place between the club and its creditors within three months, then courts would declare the liquidation of the club’s assets.

Club anthem

* Download in mp3 format:Galician: [http://www.celtavigo.net/images/himnos/himno.zip] Castilian: [http://www.celtavigo.net/images/himnos/himno_castellano.zip]

Other popular songs sung by the "celtistas" are A Rianxeira, O Miudiño , and the Foliada Celeste.

The Galician derby

The Galician derby is between Celta Vigo from the south and their northern rivals Deportivo La Coruña

*Top Scorers:
**Perera - 15 goals
**Canobbio - 7 goals
**Diego Costa - 6 goals
*Top Goalkeepers:
**Esteban - 37 goals in 26 Matches
**Pinto - 17 goals in 16 Matches

Notable former players

Celta "B"

Celta de Vigo "B" is Celta's youth team. It was founded in 1989 and plays in Group I of the "Segunda División B".

Other statistics

*Associates Members: 25,000
*Fan Groups: 107

References

External links

* [http://www.celtavigo.net/ Official website] es icon