Melilla

UD Melilla begins the season in the Segunda Federación, back down a division after a single year in Primera Federación that ended in relegation in 2024. The city's club has learned to treat promotion as a starting point rather than an arrival.

The present club took shape on 29 June 1976, when Melilla CF merged with Club Gimnástico de Cabrerizas to form Gimnástico Melilla, renamed Unión Deportiva Melilla four years later. It stands as heir to an older Unión Deportiva Melilla, founded in 1943 and gone by 1956 — a lineage the club still counts when it claims the Tercera División titles of 1947 and 1948.

Juan Ramón López Caro took the team up through Segunda División B in 1998–99, the promotion still spoken of as the club's high-water mark until the 2022–23 Segunda Federación title matched it. Chota, born in the city, became the name supporters reach for first: a forward who went on to play Segunda División football for Levante and Numancia but kept scoring for Melilla in between.

Cup football gave the club its two extremes. A run to the Round of 16 arrived three times, in 1964, 2013 and 2019, and that last one paired Melilla with Real Madrid, who won the tie 10–1 on aggregate — the scoreline still the reference point whenever the draw is unkind.

The old derby with AD Ceuta, the other Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast, ended for good when Ceuta dissolved in 2012. Home games since have been played at the Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro, its capacity cut from 8,000 to 6,512 after work finished in 2021.