Getafe Club de Fútbol or simply Getafe, is a Spanish professional acting football based in Getafe, a city in the south of the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium is Coliseum Alfonso Pérez which was opened in 1998 and can hold 17393 spectators. The club was founded in 1946 and refounded in 1983.
Getafe participated in the top level of Spanish football for 12 years between 2004 and 2016. The club's main rivalry is against neighbours Leganés, who are based near the town of Getafe, and a friendly rivalry against Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid. Sociedad Getafe Deportivo was founded in 1923, only playing in lower divisions from 1928 to 1932. After the Spanish Civil War, in 1945 five Getafe locals, Enrique Condes García, Aurelio Miranda Olavaria, Antonio Corridor Lozano, Manuel Serrano Vergara and Miguel Cubero Francés, while meeting at "La Marquesina Bar", decided to form a local team. Officially founded on 24 February 1946, the club was named "Club Getafe Deportivo".
The club originally played in the "Campo del Regimiento de Artillería", which lacked goal posts. Shortly after, the club moved to San Isidro, housed in the current Municipal Sports Center of San Isidro. Here, Club Getafe was promoted to the third división follosing their victory against Villarrobledo in the 1956-57 season. Getafe was nearly promoted to the Segunda División in 1957-58, but was defeated by CD Almería.
On 2 September 1970, the club inaugured its own stadium after being promoted back to the "Tercera División". Presided by chairman Francisco Vara, "Las Margaritas" won a 3-1 victory over "Michelín". The team survived in the third level that season, and six years later gained their first promotion to the second division in which played six seasons with little success. From 1976 to 1982, they placed below tenth level all six years.
In 1978, the club advanced to play against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey round of 16. Playing at home in the first leg, Getafe drew with a star-studded Barcelona team 3-3, before traveling away for the second leg and being thrashed 8-0 at the Camp Nou. At the conclusion of the 1981-82 season, players having not been paid, Getafe was automatically relegated and subsequently liquidated.
Meanwhile, on 1 September 1976, a new club was founded in the National Sports Council and the Regional Federation of Castille. The club was called "Peña Madridista Getafe". This club played for four seasons in various divisions, until taking the name "Club Deportivo Peña Getafe", and played under this name for a further two seasons. On 10 July 1982, they joined forces with the much older "Club Getafe Promesas", and were registered again in the Regional Federation of Castille.
Based on the merger the previous year, the present "Getafe Club de Fútbol" was officially founded on 8 July 1983, after passing through assembly. Starting in the regional leagues in 1983-84, Getafe was promoted for four consecutive seasons until reaching "Segunda División B". The club started a new period with its promotion into "Segunda" in 1994-95, staying only two years. Threatening absolute disappearance just a few years later in 1997, Getafe survived relegation into the fourth level "Tercera División" following a two-legged playoff victory over Huesca.
Meanwhile, Getafe's current stadium, the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, was inaugurated on 1 January 1998. Returning to the second division for 1999-2000, Getafe lasted another two seasons. However, one year later, they would return following an amazing promotion in 2001-02 during which one of their players, Sebastián "Sebas" Gómez, was murdered, and controvery regarding unpaid payments of players following a debt of 3 million of €. Consolidating their position after one year, Getafe had a fantastic season in Segunda.
At the top of the table for most of the year, the side travelled to the Canary Islands on the final matchday needing a win to assure a historic promotion to "La Liga", the top-flight. Amazingly, they defeated Tenerife 5-3 with five goals from Sergio Pachón, thus becoming along with Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Rayo Vallecano the fourth team from the Community of Madrid, and the first of them from outside of the capital, to ever play in "La Liga". With this promotion, Getafe had ascended the whole Spanish football pyramid, achieving this feat in only 20 years.
The club started 2004-05 poorly, lying at the bottom of the table. Home wins over Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Real Madrid, followed by a sole away win of the season over Athletic Bilbao, saw Getafe clim to finish 13th, being the only promoted side to avoid relegation. At the end of the season, the club lost head coach Quique Sánchez Flores and several players to rival clubs. In Getafe's next season, the club briefly topped the table before slipping to finish ninth. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Argentine-born Mariano Pernía became Getafe's first ever Spanish international, before moving to Atlético de Madrid.
In 2006-07, Getafe again finished ninth in the league, conceding only 33 goals in 38 matches and goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri "el pato" was awarded the Zamora Trophy, having recorded 12 clean sheets. The highlight of the club's season was reaching the 2006-07 Copa del Rey final, a competition in which Getafe had never reached the quarter-finals before. The run included a two-legged semi-final against Barcelona in which Getafe lost the first leg 5-2 at the Camp Nou before producing a 4-0 rout in the second leg at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.
Getafe lost their first ever major final 1-0 to Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Through this, the club qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup qualification, as Sevilla had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League through their league position. The following season, coach Bernd Schuster left after two seasons to become head coach at Real Madrid, and Getafe appointed Michael Laudrup as his replacement. Under Laudrup, Getafe again finished the league mid-table.
In the UEFA Cup, the team managed to progress to the quarter-finals after finishing top of Group G, only losing once, setting up a tie against four-time European Cup Winners Bayern Munich. Getafe drew the away leg 1-1, thanks to an injury time equaliser from Cosmin Contra. In the second leg, Rubén de la Red was sent off after six minutes. Contra put Getafe ahead just before half-time, but in the 89th minute, Franck Ribéry equalized to send the match into extra time. Two quick goals from Javier Casquero and substitute Braulio gave Getafe a 3-1 lead, but Bayern pulled a goal back from Luca Toni, before Toni again scored seconds before the end of extra time, giving Bayern an away goals win. Getafe also had successful run in the Copa del Rey, reaching the final for a second year running.
In the final, at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, Getafe were beaten 3-1 by Valencia. In the 2015-16 season, Getafe were relegated to second division after spending 12 years in first campaign. However, in 2016-17, the club immediately returned to "La Liga" after defeating Huesca and Tenerife to gain promotion via the play-offs. In the 2017-18 season Getafe finished in the 8th position, easily avoiding the relegation back to "Segunda División". In 2018-19 season they finished 5th, their highest finish in the first division, and qualified to the 2019-20 Europa League group stage. The team continued performing well in the 2019-20 season.
