Welcome to…Cultural Leonesa

The pride of León

Being alive for more than 100 years, having played in the Primera División, representing an important city, Cultural Leonesa ticks every box of being a historic club. However, this club is more than that; it is one of the symbols of Leonese culture. Welcome to…Cultural Leonesa.

The players of Cultural celebrate a goal in 2021. © Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa.

León, a city and a kingdom

Spain can be divided into approximately 20 distinct regional cultures, and one of them is the Leonese one. The origins of León lie in 910, when the Kingdom of León was founded, a realm that has always had close ties with the Kingdoms of Galicia, Portugal, Castile, and, above all, Asturias. The Kingdom came to an end in 1833 when modern Spain was born. Currently, León is integrated in the region of Castile and León.

The location of the historical region of León in Spain. In the 11th century, León’s territory covered the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. © Wikimedia.

The region’s capital and most important city has always been the homonymous capital, which currently has around 125,000 inhabitants. León’s historical importance is reflected in the impressive architecture, which is considered among the most beautiful in Spain.

The Cathedral of León is the city’s most popular tourist attraction. © Alamy.

One last curiosity about León is that it has its own language, one of the defining elements of local culture. Leonese is a variety of the Asturleonese languages and used to be the official language of the Kingdom of León. Nevertheless, the language is almost extinct nowadays, with the number of native speakers estimated between 20,000 and 50,000. However, the local government has been promoting the language more and more over the last decades, which means that we might witness a growth in those numbers.

In 2020, the first bilingual street sign was placed in León. © Fernando Otero.

Leonese football

In 1922, the Sociedad Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded, creating a football section one year later. Even though Cultural was not the first Leonese football club, it would turn out to be the strongest one. After winning many friendly games against regional opponents, Cultu was invited to the first edition of the national third tier in 1929. The leoneses won this league, becoming the first team ever to achieve promotion to the Segunda División.

Against important teams from all across Spain, Cultural Leonesa ended first and escaped relegation by being integrated in the second edition of the Segunda División. © bdfutbol.com

However, the 1930s would be a horrendous time for Cultural Leonesa, in which it even ceased all activities for some time. The glory days would only arrive in 1953, as the culturalistas reached the second tier again. After two solid years, Cultural managed to end in first place, achieving direct promotion to the Primera División.

The players of Cultural Leonesa celebrate the first and last promotion to the Primera División in 1955. © Diario Leonés.

The 1955-56 season included some great victories, such as 4-1 against Alavés in the first matchday, 3-0 against the historic Valencia, 1-2 against Las Palmas, but these weren’t enough. Cultu was not good enough for the elite of Spanish football and was inevitably relegated, never to return again – so far.

César Rodríguez was Cultural’s best player at the time. Before moving to León, the Leonese striker had played 16 seasons at FC Barcelona, becoming the club’s all-time top scorer. © Manuel Cuenya.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Cultural Leonesa played some more seasons in the Segunda but was already mainly present in the Tercera División. By the introduction of the Segunda División B in 1977, the blancos would become a regular in this league, doing so for decades.

The Estadio Municipal Reino de León is one of the most impressive stadiums in Spanish semi-professional football. It’s named after the Kingdom of León, has a capacity of around 13,000, and was opened in 2001. © Engdrone.

Of course, this meant that Cultural Leonesa remained a well-known name in the lower divisions of Spanish football, but it wasn’t the best. The fans were desperate to return to professional football. And that would happen in the 2010s. After some seasons in the Tercera, Cultural returned to the Segunda B in 2013 and achieved better results every year, which ended in a long-waited promotion in 2017.

The celebration of the promotion culminated in a bus tour through León, which attracted thousands of fans. © Carlos Campillo.

2017-18 was a challenging season, but Cultural Leonesa managed to stay out of the relegation zone for most of the time. However, the leoneses ended the season relegated by a loss on the last matchday, a moment that many supporters still remember sadly. Still, it had been amazing for them to witness their team in professional football after 42 years of absence.

Emi Buendía stood out during Cultural’s stay in the second tier. The Argentinian winger transferred to Norwich City in 2018, reaching the Premier League with them. Later, he moved to Aston Villa and made his debut for the Argentinian national team, becoming the best ex-Cultural Leonesa player of the present. © Peio García.

After the painful relegation, Cultu was close to returning to the Segunda on multiple occasions but failed in the play-offs. In 2021, the Leonese club qualified for the first edition of the Primera Federación. This means that Cultural Leonesa is the only team to participate in the first edition of a new third tier on all occasions: in 1929 (Tercera División), in 1977 (Segunda División B), and in 2021 (Primera Federación).

The club introduced a special kit with golden elements and a unique crest to celebrate the centenary in 2022-23. © Europa Sur.

Representing León

Cultural Leonesa is one of the clubs that best represents its origins, which, in this case, is León. This can be seen, for example, in the club’s colors: white and red, inspired by one of the banners that the Kingdom of León used. Moreover, the club has incorporated crimson red in shirts as well because this is the color of the flag of the Kingdom.

Even though this design has nothing to do with the Leonese identity, it’s good to mention Cultural’s third kit in 2014-15: a shirt that looks like a tuxedo. The shirt went viral internationally. The designer revealed that he thought it would be nice if Cultural looked elegant for its 90th anniversary. © Diario de León.

Another aspect that represents León well is Cultural Leonesa’s crest. It contains the club’s colors, name, foundational year, and a lion. A lion is present on the coat of arms of León, and the name for the animal is very similar to the realm’s name. However, the most widely accepted theory is that ‘León’ is derived from the Latin ‘legionem‘, which means ‘legion’. The lion probably appeared on local symbols because of the values it represents and, simply, coincidence.

The crest evolution of Cultural Leonesa. The essence has always remained the same. © lafutbolteca.com

The leonese derby

Cultural Leonesa is not the only important club in the region because there’s also Ponferradina, a club from the unique zone of El Bierzo. While Cultural Leonesa represents the Leonese identity, Ponferradina is known as the club of El Bierzo, a region in the province of León with different traits than ‘standard’ Leonese traits. These cultural and political differences make the Leonese derby very intense.

Supporters of Cultural and Ponferradina pose next to each other, showing that a good relationship between the fanbases is possible. The left flag symbolizes Leonese independence, while the right one of the flag of El Bierzo. © Diario de León.

When purely looking at football, the clubs actually have a similar past. Both Cultu and Ponfe were founded in the 1920s, have played over ten seasons in the Segunda División, and mainly were playing in the third tier. However, Cultural has a bigger stadium, has more supporters, and has played in the Primera División, making the Leonese club slightly bigger than Ponferradina.

The derby in 2016-17. © Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa.

The future

Cultural Leonesa has a fanbase, stadium, status, and history worthy of the Segunda División, while its current squad is also very strong. However, in 2023-24, Cultu will have to compete against teams like Deportivo, Lugo, and Ponferradina to achieve promotion, which does not make it easy at all. It will be an exciting season. This was…Cultural Leonesa.

The supporters of Cultural Leonesa. © Radio Marca León.

Sources

• Borchers, L. (2021). GOLAZO. Self-published.
• Borchers, L. (2022). CARA O CRUZ. Self-published.
• http://lafutbolteca.com/cultural-y-deportiva-leonesa-s-a-d/
• https://cydleonesa.com/club/historia/
• https://cuadernosdefutbol.com/2019/10/cultural-ponferradina-el-derbi-del-noroeste/