Racing Santander

In January 2014 Racing Santander's players walked out at El Sardinero to face Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey. The club was thrown out of the competition. The squad had gone four months without wages. President Ángel Lavín was dismissed on 31 January and later convicted of fraud. The Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Sayed had bought the club in 2011; relegation from La Liga followed in 2012, relegation from the Segunda a year after that, closing 22 consecutive seasons in the professional divisions.

Racing's players had used a match day to make a point before. On 27 September 1975, against Elche, Aitor Aguirre and Sergio Manzanera took the field wearing black armbands in protest at the execution of five activists by the Franco regime. The regime had already taken the club's name: banned as foreign in 1941, Racing was replaced by Real Santander and only restored in 1973.

There was a period when the club set the pace rather than survived it. Racing was one of the 10 founder members of La Liga in 1928, and in 1930–31 finished second on 22 points, level with the champions Athletic Bilbao. In 1935–36 it became the first side in the Spanish league to beat both Barcelona and Real Madrid across four meetings in a single season.

The climb back ran through the lower tiers — the Primera Federación title in June 2022, then promotion to La Liga sealed on 31 May 2026 against Cádiz, after a 4–1 win over Valladolid.

The ground on the Bay of Biscay holds 22,222.