Algeciras CF

Algeciras Club de Fútbol is a football club from the city of Algeciras (Spain) that currently competes in Group II of the *Primera Federación*, the third tier of Spanish football. The club was founded in 1909, as reported in the *Heraldo de Madrid* newspaper. The early origins of football in Algeciras are linked to the presence of numerous British workers from the Algeciras and Gibraltar Railway Company, who were carrying out construction work on the Algeciras-Bobadilla railway line. From the late 19th century onwards, local teams played in tournaments and friendly matches against other clubs from the region and Gibraltar.

From the 1940s, the team played at a stadium located at the *El Calvario* estate—grounds that housed the city's fair during the month of July. Its first permanent stadium, *El Mirador*, located next to the old Los Ladrillos beach, was inaugurated in 1954. In 1956, following the dissolution of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, the team absorbed *España de Tánger* by government decree; it was known as *España de Algeciras* only during the 1956–57 season before reverting to its current name the following year. In 1943, the club began competing in the newly established Spanish *Tercera División* (Third Division). The team was promoted to the Spanish *Segunda División* (Second Division) for the first time in 1956, remaining there for one season; it was promoted again in 1963 and retained its place in the division for four years. It was during this period that the club achieved its best-ever league finish, placing third in the competition. Following this, the club experienced a period of alternating between the Tercera División and the Segunda División B—with occasional relegations to regional leagues in 1970, 1986, 1993, and 2008, and promotions to the Segunda División in 1978, 1983, and 2003—a pattern that continues to the present day.