Real Madrid Castilla

Real Madrid Castilla

Full name	Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol
Nickname(s)	Castilla RM B
Founded	16 December 1930 (as Agrupación Deportiva Plus Ultra)
Ground	Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium
Capacity	6,000
President	Nicolás Martín-Sanz[1]
Head coach	Raúl
League	Primera Federación – Group 2
2023–24	Primera Federación – Group 2, 10th of 20
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Active departments of Real Madrid
Football Football B Football C Football U-19 Women's Football Women's Football B Basketball Basketball B

Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 2. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats.^[2]

Reserve teams in Spain play in the same league system as their senior team rather than a separate league. Reserve teams, however, cannot play in the same division as their senior team. Therefore, Real Madrid Castilla are ineligible for promotion to the La Liga as long as Real Madrid plays there. Consequently, they must play at least one level below their main side and they are not eligible to play in the Copa del Rey. In addition, only under-23 players, or under-25 players with a professional contract, can switch between senior and reserve teams.

In 1948, Agrupación Deportiva Plus Ultra, a local amateur team, then playing in the Tercera División, agreed to become a feeder club for Real Madrid. Originally formed in 1930, the team took its name from the national motto of Spain. Real gave AD Plus Ultra financial support and in return were given first refusal on the club's best players. By 1949, they made their debut in the Segunda División and in 1952, the club became the official Real reserve team. In 1959, they reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Generalísimo, losing 7–2 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Granada.

During the 1950s and 1960s, future senior Real Madrid players and Spanish internationals such as José María Zárraga, Enrique Mateos, Ramón Marsal, Pedro Casado, Juan Manuel Villa, José María Vidal, Fernando Serena and Ramón Grosso all spent time at the club, and Juan Alonso finished off his career there. The singer Julio Iglesias played as a goalkeeper for the club in the early 1960s until injury ended his football career.^[3] Miguel Muñoz began his coaching career at the club. In 1972, Plus Ultra folded because of the demise of the insurance company of the same name, and their position in the Tercera División was taken by Castilla Club de Fútbol, the new reserve team for Real Madrid, on 21 July.

As Castilla CF, the team enjoyed something of a golden age. During this era, with a team that included Agustín, Ricardo Gallego and Francisco Pineda, Castilla reached the final of the 1979–80 Copa del Rey. During their cup run, they beat four Primera División teams, including Hércules, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Sporting de Gijón.^[4] The latter two eventually finished second and third in the Primera División. In the final, they played Real Madrid but lost 6–1. Because Real also won the Primera División, however, Castilla qualified for the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup. Despite beating West Ham United 3–1 in the opening game at the Santiago Bernabéu, they lost the return 5–1 after extra time and went out in the first round.^[4] Castilla reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey on three further occasions, in 1984, 1986, and 1988.

In 1984, with Amancio Amaro as coach, Castilla won the Segunda División. Amaro's tenure as coach saw the rise of the famous La Quinta del Buitre – Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel, and Miguel Pardeza. Castilla were ineligible for promotion, however, because Real Madrid were already in the Primera División. In the 1987–88 season, they finished third in the Segunda División, but were once again ineligible for promotion.

In 1991, the Royal Spanish Football Federation banned the use of separate names for reserve teams and Castilla CF became known as Real Madrid Deportiva and then Real Madrid B. In the early 1990s, two former Castilla players, Vicente del Bosque and Rafael Benítez, began their coaching careers with the team. In 1997, the team was relegated to the Segunda División B, but despite this, they continued to produce internationally acclaimed players. These have included Raúl, Guti and Iker Casillas, who all became established members of the senior Real Madrid team.

In the 2004–05 season, coach Juan Ramón López Caro guided the team back to the Segunda División and the team subsequently revived the El Castilla name and became known as Real Madrid Castilla. In 2006, the new stadium of the club's training facilities Ciudad Real Madrid was named the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium and Francisco Moreno Cariñena became the first independent chairman in 16 years. In this year, the team also has continued to produce quality players such as Roberto Soldado and Álvaro Arbeloa.

In the 2006–2007 season, the team was relegated to the Segunda División B under the management of ex-Real Madrid legend Míchel after occupying 19th place in the league in a disappointing season. Míchel received a lot of criticism and accepted all the blame for the team's bad performances, especially for those who had a wonderful season in the 2005–06 season, such as Rubén de la Red, Esteban Granero and Javi García. The reserves produced other quality players, including Juan Mata and Álvaro Negredo.

Real Madrid Castilla was promoted back to the Segunda División at the end of the 2011–12 season after beating Cádiz in the play-offs with an aggregate of score 8–1 and this year the club produced one quality player, Dani Carvajal who was sold to Bayer Leverkusen in 2012 before he returned to Real Madrid in 2013 to play in the first team.

In the 2013–14 season, three quality players Nacho, Álvaro Morata and Jesé were promoted to the first team, and then Castilla was relegated in the last matchday after being defeated by Real Murcia in the last match of the season.

Since 2014 when they played in the third division, Castilla continued to produce other quality players, including Lucas Vázquez, Fernando Pacheco, Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente, Sergio Reguilón, Óscar Rodríguez, Achraf Hakimi and Fran García.

After the resumption of competitions in the 2020–21 season, the team finished runner-up in their group and qualified to play in the promotion system to the new categories of Spanish football after a restructuring of the same by the RFEF for the 2021–22 season.^[5] In the promotion playoffs, the team finished third, which secured their place in the Primera Federación. They also had the chance to move up to the Segunda División, but they were eliminated in the semifinals by Ibiza.^[6] The team was thus one of those that premiered the new Primera Federación, being placed in Group II. In 2022–23 season, Castilla placed in Group I and finished in third place, they have chance promotion to Segunda División, but they were eliminated in the final play off by Eldense. In the 2023–24 season, still under the direction of Raúl González, they finished in tenth position.

• As AD Plus Ultra

• As Castilla CF

• As a reserve team

• 33 seasons in Segunda División
• 4 seasons in Primera Federación/Primera División RFEF
• 22 seasons in Segunda División B
• 20 seasons in Tercera División

European Cup Winners' Cup:

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1980–81	1R	West Ham United	3–1	1–5 (aet)	4–6

• Segunda División
  • Winners: 1983–84
• Copa del Rey
  • Runners-up: 1979-80
• Segunda División B
  • Winners: 1990–91, 2001–02, 2004–05, 2011–12
• Tercera División
  • Winners: 1948–49, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1967–68

As of 30 August 2024.^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Diego Piñeiro 2 DF  ESP Lorenzo Aguado 3 DF  ESP David Cuenca 4 DF  DOM Edgar Pujol 5 DF  ESP Raúl Asencio 6 MF  ESP Chema Andrés 7 FW  ESP Gonzalo García 8 MF  ESP Manuel Ángel (captain) 9 MF  ESP Víctor Muñoz 10 MF  ESP César Palacios 11 FW  ESP Borja Alonso 13 GK  ESP Fran González

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 DF  ESP Jacobo Ramón 16 MF  ESP Antonio David 17 DF  ESP David Ruiz 19 FW  ESP Loren Zúñiga 20 MF  ESP Andrés Campos 21 MF  PUR Jeremy de León 22 DF  ESP David Jiménez 23 DF  MAR Youssef Enríquez 24 DF  ESP Pablo Ramón 25 GK  ESP Mario de Luis 28 DF  ESP Kike Ribes 31 GK  ESP Guille Súnico

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF  ESP Hugo De Llanos 27 MF  ESP Pol Fortuny 29 DF  ESP Mario Rivas 30 MF  ESP Carlos Rodríguez 32 FW  ESP Ángel Carvajal

No. Pos. Nation Player 33 MF  ESP Cristian Perea 35 FW  ESP Jacobo Ortega 36 MF  ESP Daniel Yáñez 37 DF  ESP Víctor Valdepeñas

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ESP Mario Camero (at Tarazona until June 2025) — MF  JPN Pipi Nakai (at Amorebieta until June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ESP Álvaro Leiva (at Algeciras until June 2025) — FW  ESP Noel López (at Osasuna B until June 2025)

Players in bold are still active with club.

All competitions[9] Ranking Nationality Name Years Goals 1  Spain Roberto Soldado 2002–2006 70 2  Spain Paco Machín 1979–1982 50 3  Spain Álvaro Morata 2010–2013 45 4  Spain Sergio Arribas 2020–2023 41 5  Spain Miguel Bernal 1977–1981 40  Spain Emilio Butragueño 1982–1984  Spain Joselu 2010–2012 8  Spain Luis García 2001–2003 37 9  Spain José Manuel García Castro 1974–1976, 1977–1981 32  Spain Francesc Xavier Julià 1980–1985  Spain Míchel 1981–1984  Spain Jesé 2011–2013  Dominican Republic Mariano Díaz 2014–2016  Spain Cristo González 2017–2019

All competitions[9] Ranking Nationality Name Years Apps 1  Spain Casimiro Torres 1978–1983 173 2  Spain Miguel Bernal 1977–1981 168 3  Spain José Manuel Espinosa 1977–1982 157 4  Spain Francis Rodríguez 1981–1984, 1985–1986 156  Spain Pedro Mosquera 2006–2010, 2011–2013 6  Spain Juanito Felipe 1979–1982, 1983–1984 143 7  Spain Juan Carlos López Martín 1987–1992 142 8  Spain Juanfran Moreno 2009–2013 138 9  Spain Míchel 1981–1984 135 10  Spain Vicente Blanco 1977–1979, 1980–1981, 1983–1984 134

On 9 May 2006, the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium was inaugurated at the City of Madrid where Real Madrid usually trains. The inaugural match was between Real Madrid and Stade de Reims, a rematch of the European Cup final won by Real Madrid in 1956. Real Madrid won the inaugural match 6–1 with goals from Sergio Ramos, Antonio Cassano (2), Roberto Soldado (2), and José Manuel Jurado.^[10]

The venue is part of the Ciudad Real Madrid, the club's new training facilities located outside Madrid in Valdebebas, near Madrid–Barajas Airport.

The capacity of the main stand at the west is 4,000 seats, with additional 2,000 seats at the eastern stand, giving the stadium a total capacity of 6,000 seats. It is envisaged to increase the seating capacity up to 25,000 at the completion of the expansion.

Note: This list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 top league games and/or have reached international status.

• La Fábrica (Real Madrid)
• Real Madrid C
• Real Madrid Juvenil

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Real Madrid Castilla.

• Real Madrid Castilla – official website
• Real Madrid Castilla News, Photos and Videos. Archived 2012-08-01 at the Wayback Machine.
• Futbolme.com profile (in Spanish)
• BDFutbol team profile
• Castilla CF in Europe
• Segunda B Division Table
• Club & stadium history Estadios de España (in English)