Lugo CF

Lugo CF have spent much of the last decade shuttling around Spain's second and third tiers.

The team grew out of a merger. Sociedad Gimnástica Lucense folded under debt in 1952, and Club Deportivo Polvorín shut down the following year; on 8 July 1953 the city's football was reorganised into a single side that took Polvorín's place in Tercera División. The name stuck, the badge changed, and a Segunda División B group win in 2011 finally opened the door to Segunda for real.

That door opened under Quique Setién, who took Lugo up in 2012 and stayed until 2015, long enough to build the squad that would hold the division for over a decade. Ramón Azeez played a part in that promotion campaign, and Joselu finished that same season as the division's top scorer with 23 goals.

Home games are played at Estadio Anxo Carro, open since 1974, in the red-and-white stripes that give the team their nickname, Albivermellos. The rivalry that matters most is local rather than historic: Derbi do Miño against Ourense CF, a fixture between Galicia's provinces that still shapes how each season is read in the city.

Carlos Pita arrived in 2010, captained the side through its Segunda years, made 408 league appearances across twelve seasons, and when he finally stopped playing in 2022 he did not leave the club — he became its sporting director.