Recreativo de Huelva

Football club infobox
clubname = Recreativo de Huelva


fullname = Real Club Recreativo de Huelva
nickname = "Recre"
"El Decano" (The Dean)
founded = December 23, 1889
"(as Huelva Recreation Club)"
ground = Nuevo Colombino,
Huelva, Andalucia,
Spain
capacity = 19,860
chairman = flagicon|Spain Francisco Mendoza
manager = flagicon|Spain Lucas Alcaraz
league = La Liga
season = 2007-08
position = La Liga, 16th
pattern_la1=_blueshoulders|pattern_b1=_bluestripes|pattern_ra1=_blueshoulders
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=000080|body2=000080|rightarm2=000080|shorts2=000080|socks2=000080

Real Club Recreativo de Huelva is a Spanish football team, founded on December 23 1889. This makes it the oldest football team in Spain.

Foundation/Early history

It all began courtesy of Dr.Alexander Mackay and overseas British workers at the Rio Tinto mines, and it was originally named "Huelva Recreation Club". Due to its long-standing existence (it is the oldest surviving team of Spanish professional football), the team is often referred to as "El Decano" ("the oldest one") 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. They have hosted the Trofeo Colombino there, since 1965.

After three seasons in "Segunda División", "Recre" achieved promotion to the top flight after beating CD Numancia on June 4, 2006, mathematically securing promotion with two matches left to be played.

2006-08: La Liga promotion/Consolidation

The new season in "La Liga" was one of overachievements. They finished eighth in the table, at 54 points. Among the victories was a 3-0 win against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu and 2-0 against Valencia CF. The club's leading goalscorer was Florent Sinama-Pongolle with 12 goals to his name. Coach Marcelino García Toral announced on May 30, 2007 that he would leave the club at the end of the season, subsequently joining Racing de Santander, after also being the coach that previously achieved the 2006 promotion for Recreativo.

"Everything in life has a beginning and an end, and this is the moment to end my time at Recre," Marcelino told a news conference.

This fueled speculation in June 2007 that Recreativo had offered Danish legend Michael Laudrup a contract to coach the club in 2007-2008. According to Laudrup's agent, the negotiations were ongoing and "very serious." However, Laudrup turned down the offer, and took the vacant manager's job at Getafe CF in July 2007. "Recre"' season was a rocky one, as they only achieved to maintain first division status in the very last matchday, drawing with Real Valladolid 1-1. Also, Real Mallorca's 3-2 success against Real Zaragoza, contributed to Huelva's final 16th position.

Honours

*Champions of Andalusia from 1903 to 1914.
*Reached "La Liga" in 1978-79 (under coach Eusebio Ríos), 2002-2003 (under Lucas Alcaraz) and 2005-2006 (García Toral).
*Spanish Cup runners-up, 2003.

Current squad

"The numbers are established according to the official website: [http://www.recreativohuelva.com www.recreativohuelva.com] and [http://www.lfp.es www.lfp.es]

"As of August 25, 2008"

Non-EU foreigners 2006/07

In the Spanish league only three non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team. 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.

In addition, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas, due to the Kolpak ruling. However, "Recre" currently have no players on their first-team squad who are ACP nationals.

Famous players

"see also cl|Recreativo de Huelva footballers"

Famous coaches

* Eusebio Ríos
* Víctor Espárrago
* Joaquín Caparrós
* Lucas Alcaraz
* Marcelino García Toral
* flagicon|Spain Manolo Zambrano

External links

* [http://www.recreativohuelva.com Official website]