Castellón back on top in Segunda after 33-year wait
CD Castellón have climbed to the summit of Spain's second tier for the first time since 1992, marking their 80th time as league leaders in their storied history.
The sleeping giants of Castellón have finally awoken, climbing to the top of Spain’s Segunda División for the first time in over three decades.
Back where they belong
For an entire generation of Castellón supporters, this is uncharted territory. Anyone born after 1993 has never witnessed their beloved club sitting pretty at the summit of Spain’s second tier. The drought ended this weekend when the ‘Orellut’ (the ‘big-eared ones’, as they’re affectionately known) leapfrogged into first place following their victory against Deportivo and Racing’s defeat at Eibar’s Ipurua stadium.
You’d need to dust off some proper vintage programmes to find the last time Castellón topped the table - October 18, 1992, to be precise, on matchday 7 of the 1992-93 campaign. That’s a proper lifetime ago in football terms!
A Segunda stalwart
Castellón are absolute bread and butter in Spain’s Segunda División. This season marks their 44th in the second tier (alongside 11 campaigns in the top flight), and they’ve now hit a rather satisfying milestone - they’ve been league leaders for exactly 80 matchdays throughout their history.
Their leadership stints across the decades break down like this:
- 1939-40: 1 time
- 1940-41: 7 times
- 1953-54: 10 times
- 1970-71: 4 times
- 1971-72: 22 times
- 1975-76: 2 times
- 1979-80: 3 times
- 1980-81: 19 times
- 1988-89: 7 times
- 1992-93: 4 times
- 2025-26: 1 time (and counting!)
The hard part begins
It’s one thing to reach the top, but quite another to stay there. With 16 matchdays remaining in LaLiga Hypermotion, Castellón have suddenly gone from dark horses to having a massive target on their backs. They’ve been flying under the radar until now, but that low-key approach is well and truly brown bread.
If they’re looking for a blueprint to follow, they need only revisit their last promotion season. During the 1988-89 campaign, they grabbed the leadership on matchday 32 and refused to let go, with Luiche’s squad producing a barnstorming finish to secure promotion.
After years in the wilderness, including a particularly grim period over a decade ago when they plummeted into the regional divisions, Castellón’s current cloud nine moment feels especially sweet for their long-suffering supporters.