Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded in 1928 and played their first season in the 6th division of Spanish football. The club's stadium, the Estadio Municipal Butarque, was built in 1998, after moving from the Luis Rodríguez de Miguel, a stadium the had played in since 1966.
In 2024–25, Leganés plays in La Liga by receiving automatic promotion after winning their first Segunda title. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque, which seats 12,454 spectators.
History
Lower leagues (1928–1992)
The club was officially founded on 23 June 1928.[2] Its first president was Ramón del Hierro. However the club had to suspend operations in 1936 due to the Spanish civil war, where they remained inactive until they reformed on 4 September 1946.
Leganés played the vast majority of its existence in the lower leagues. In 1977 the club regained promotion to the fourth division, where it had played before for seven years when the category was still the third level.
Third and second divisions (1992–2016)
After a steady progression, Leganés reached the new division three in 1987, being promoted to the second division six years later and maintaining its league status for 11 seasons; during this timeframe, it collected two consecutive eighth places (best) from 1995 to 1997.
On 24 December 2008, Victoria Pavón and Felipe Moreno acquired a majority stake of the club.[3] Since July 2009, Victoria Pavón has been the president of the club.[4][5]
In the 2015–16 season, for the first time in their history, Leganés earned promotion to La Liga, which was sealed on 4 June 2016 with a 1–0 away win against CD Mirandés,[6] thus becoming the fifth team from Community of Madrid to ever play in La Liga after Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano, and Getafe. They remained in the top flight for four seasons, reaching a peak of 13th in 2018–19, before relegation in the last game of the following season, a 2–2 home draw with Real Madrid.[7] During this spell, the team qualified for the first time to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, by eliminating Real Madrid in the quarterfinals thanks to a 2–1 win at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.[8] In 2017, Leganés planned to change their name to "Leganés Madrid" to aid putting them "on the map".[9]
In the 2023–24 season, Leganes finished at first place in the Segunda Division and were promoted to La Liga, thus returning after a four season absence.
Fans
The fans have friendly relation with ultras group Gate 12 of Egaleo FC, the towns of Egaleo and Leganés happen to be twinned too. They also have friendly ties with Reading F.C. of England, partially due to sharing their blue and white colours. Their biggest rival is Getafe with whom they contest the South Madrid derby.