Club Profile: Sevilla F.C.
Sevilla F.C. came into existence on October 15th, 1905 after the Civil Governor of Seville passed a decree announcing the creation of the professional football club. Sevilla is the oldest football club from Seville.
The football scene in Spain has been dominated by the two big teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, almost for the entire history of the domestic competitions, but Sevilla has been one of those clubs that has always looked like threatening to change that, along with Valencia and Atlético Madrid.
Sevilla have only won the league title once. Right after the Second World War, in 1946, the club from Southern Spain managed to hold on to first place and celebrated their first, and only, title in their history. A period of mediocrity followed that success in the league, as they drifted in and out of top flight football in Spain through the 70s and 80s. Relegation came to the club for the last time in 2000, when they finished in last place, with a very modest total of 28 points.
Since then, the club has gone through some sort of resurgence. A combination of the appointment of new Coach Joaquin Caparros, and a new team President in Jose Maria del Nido, earned the team a promotion back to the top division in Spain, the La Liga. The new President Jose Maria added some much needed financial stability to the club, which helped them get better on the field too. In 2004, the President approved a very unpopular transfer of a home-grown star player in Jose Antonio Reyes to Arsenal for an initial fee of 10.5 Million Pounds. The fee was used to make additions to the team which had reached its first semifinal (Copa del Ray) in more than two decades, and went on to bigger and better things.
The club went from an average Spanish team to one of the most recognizable clubs in Europe after two outstanding seasons, beginning with the 2005-2006 season. Having finished 6th in the previous season, the club secured a place in the UEFA Cup. What followed was a truly remarkable story, as the club defeated a number of teams that were stronger than them on paper, including Lokomotiv Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Schalke 04, en route to the final, where they played another unlikely finalist in the English side, Middlesbrough. The final in Eindhoven was as one-sided as any seen in European football, as Sevilla scored 4 goals without a reply to lift their first ever European Trophy.
After defeating Barcelona in the final of the 2006 UEFA Super Cup, Sevilla went into the 2006-2007 UEFA Cup as firm favourites to lift the trophy. They lived up to the pre-tournament hype and retained the cup to become only the second team in history after Real Madrid to do so.
Since then, Coach Ramos left for England and the club appeared to be heading for decline once again, but success in the Copa del Ray last season and a third place finish in the league has meant that the club is on the way up once again. The Champions League will bring in some much needed revenue and Sevilla will be looking to add some strength to their team so that they can build on what has been a remarkable decade for them.
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