Club Deportivo Castellón are a lovely little club, who despite being one of Spanish football's perpetual under-achievers, have a loyal and committed fanbase who'd follow the club absolutely anywhere. Based in the town of
Castellón de la Plana, around sixty miles north of Valencia, they were formed in 1992 - although the previous eleven years saw a good number of clubs form and fail in the city under a variety of entertaining appelations the like of Castalia, Gimnástico, Cultural and Cervantes. But by the time that Club Deportivo eventually formed, both the fans and the infrastructure were finally in place to support such a team.
Despite spending most of their history floating about between the third and fourth divisions, they have enjoyed a few small bursts of success that saw them enjoy a season or two in the top flight. A seccussful six season spell in the 1940s saw them finish as high as fourth in 1942 (remember, Spain was neutral in the war in the aftermath of their own terrible civil war, so life went on relatively as normal in this period), and they've found themselves at the top table of Spanish football for a couple of stray seasons in the seventies, eighties and nineties.
However, things haven't been going so well for them lately, as last season they slipped back down to the regional football in the equivilent of the fourth division. They play in the 16,000 capacity all seater
Nou Estadi Castalia, a smashing homely ground on the northern outskirts of town.
Perhaps their most famous son is the former Real Madrid midfielder
Vicente Del Bosque, who was with them during their golden season in 1973, that also saw them reach the final of the Spanish Cup - only to be beaten by
Atlético Bilbao 2-0. You may also know him and the man with the bloodhound features who led Spain to glory in the World Cup in South Africa.
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