Whilst football has been played in Teruel since 1917, this regional capital did not have an organised championship until 1931. Many of the clubs who competed in those early years did not reappear after the Civil War and it took until the summer of 1940 for a federated club to emerge from the town. The club, Teruel Club de Fútbol initially played in the lower leagues of the Aragonese Regional Championship, but following the Spanish Federation's decision of 1943 to offer clubs from regional capitals a place in the Tercera, the club was reformed as Union Deportiva Teruel. After a promising few seasons the club folded with high debts, primarily due to the travel commitments of playing teams from Valencia and the Balearic Islands. For a few seasons, Sociedad Deportiva Turolense represented the town, but they went under at the end of the 1952-53 season. The town's current representative Club Deportivo Teruel, was founded in September 1954 and by 1956, had made its way into the Tercera.
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| Teruel in 1964 & the barely developed La Pinilla stands in the foreground |
Early matches were played at Campo de Ensanche before a move was made to the current location of La Pinilla in 1964. Football had been played on this site since 1930 when it was known as La Viaducto, but the current stadium was opened on 8 September 1957 when CD Teruel played Osasuna in a friendly. Curiously, CD Teruel continued to play at the Campo de El Ensanche until 1964, when they finally moved to La Pinilla. In 1969, the club was relegated to the regional leagues and they would stay their until 1984. During their time in the regional league, CD Teruel moved to the smaller Campo Masiá Adolfo, but returned to La Pinilla in 1987 when the club won promotion to Segunda 2b for the first time. The high point of their four season stay was a fourth place finish in the 1988-89 season, but two years later the club was relegated following a calamitous season that saw only five wins. There followed 20 consecutive seasons in the Tercera before a second Tercera title was won in 2009-10 and promotion to Segunda 2B was secured when SD Noja were disposed of in the play-offs. CD Teruel's stay in Segunda B ended after three seasons with relegation back to the Tercera in June 2013.
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| The Estadio de Pinilla starts to look its age |
The Estadio La Pinilla features a simple main stand with a propped cover on the west side of the ground. It is around 35 metres in length and features four broad bands of red & blue seats, either side of a narrow central seated area for club officials. To the right of the stand is a short uncovered terrace, with faded red steps. Opposite is the main terrace with its steps painted red & blue. This runs the length of the pitch, but narrows towards the southern end to accommodate club offices. A narrow, barely functional cover stands at the back of the terrace. There is an area of hard standing behind the north goal, whilst the space behind the south goal is turfed. La Pinilla is one of those stadiums that is suited to the Tercera, but starts to look archaic when placed against today's single-builds that are springing up all over Spain..
Labels: Aragon, Tercera or Below
