- Planet Sport writer
- 2 September 2024
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Sevilla FC is a football club based in Seville, the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Founded in 1890, they have a long history littered with success, even if theirs cannot match what Real Madrid and Barcelona have achieved.
Sevilla won La Liga in 1945/46 and the Copa del Rey in 1935, 1939, 1947/48, 2006/07, 2009/10. In the modern era, they are known for being the most successful team in the UEFA Europa League, dating back to when it was known as the UEFA Cup.
Sevilla have won the competition a record seven times, lifting it in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 and 2023.
Sevilla play their home matches at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, which has a capacity of 43,883 and is named after the club's long-serving chairman, who was in charge at the time of its construction.
Los Nervionenses' early history
Sevilla FC was founded in 1890 with the British expatriate community playing a pivotal role in the formation of the club. Its first president was Scotsman Edward Farquharson Johnston.
Despite the formation of several football clubs in Seville, one of which would become rivals Real Betis, Sevilla were the dominant side in their region in the early years of their existence.
Winning their first trophies
In 1912, Sevilla won the first Copa de Sevilla. From 1915 to 1932, the Copa Andalucia was organised by the Federacion Sur. Out of 19 Andalusian championships, Sevilla won an astonishing 16.
In 1918, Sevilla became the first Andalusian team to make the final round of the Copa de Espana on their debut appearance in the tournament.
At the end of the 1933/34 season, Sevilla were promoted to the First Division of the Campeonato Nacional. They won the national cup, the Copa del Rey, in 1935, 1939 and 1947/48.
In 1945/46, Sevilla won their first La Liga title, beating Barcelona to the title by a point. That remains their only one to date.
Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was the president who oversaw Sevilla's most successful spell, so after his death, Sevilla's new stadium was named after him, as per the wishes of the club's supporters. The stadium was opened in 1958, two years after he passed away.
The new stadium put Sevilla into debt initially, which led to them having to sell some key players in the 1970s. Manuel Ruiz Sosa moved to Atletico Madrid, Gallego to Barcelona and Juan Batista Aguero to Real Madrid.
In 1967/68, Sevilla were relegated to the Second Division, but they were promoted again immediately. They went down once more in 1972/73 and spent two seasons in the second tier this time before winning promotion.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Sevilla enjoyed more success, qualifying regularly for the UEFA Cup.
Despite finishing fifth in the 1994/95 La Liga, Sevilla were relegated for alleged breaches of the league's administrative rules. However, following legal challenges and fan outrage, Sevilla were reinstated along with Celta Vigo.
The late 1990s and the early 2000s saw Sevilla bounce between the top two tiers of Spanish football before a period of huge success arrived.
Sevilla's golden years
Sevilla celebrate winning the UEFA Cup in 2006
Under Juande Ramos, who took over as Sevilla manager in June 2005, Sevilla won the UEFA Cup in 2005/06 and 2006/07. They also won the UEFA Super Cup in 2006 and the Copa del Rey in 2006/07, going on to win the Supercopa de Espana in 2007.
In October 2007, Ramos left to take the managerial job at Tottenham Hotspur, but Sevilla's success continued as they qualified regularly for the UEFA Champions League.
Financial troubles forced Sevilla to sell star players Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas, but following his arrival as manager in 2013, Unai Emery stabilised the club.
Under Emery, Sevilla won the UEFA Europa League in 2013/14, 2014/15, and 2015/16. Following his departure, they made the quarter-finals of the 2017/18 Champions League, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Bayern Munich.
In 2019/20, Sevilla won the Europa League once again and qualified for the following season's Champions League under the guidance of Julen Lopetegui.
Despite their enormous success in European competition, Sevilla have not quite been able to break the dominance of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in La Liga in the last two decades.
They have always been in and around the top six in La Liga, but have yet to find a way to take them to the very top of the table as yet.
Dominating the Europa League
Sevilla's first UEFA Cup win came courtesy of a 4-0 drubbing of Middlesbrough in the 2006 final in Eindhoven. Luis Fabiano scored twice before further goals from Vicenzo Maresca and Freddie Kanoute.
Kanoute was on target again in the following year's final along with Adriano as Sevilla beat Espanyol on penalties in Glasgow following a 2-2 draw after extra time.
Ivan Rakitic was the man of the match in the 2014 final, which saw Sevilla win on penalties again - this time against Benfica after a 0-0 draw in Turin.
The 2015 final saw Sevilla beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 in Warsaw with Grzegorz Krychowiak scoring and Carlos Bacca bagging a brace.
In 2016, Daniel Sturridge put Liverpool ahead in the Europa League final in Basel, but Kevin Gameiro equalised before Koke scored twice to seal a third successive victory for Sevilla in the competition.
Sevilla celebrate lifting the UEFA Europa League trophy after beating Liverpool in the final
The 2020 final against Inter Milan in Cologne was a closely-fought affair. Luuk de Jong scored twice before a late Romelu Lukaku own goal sealed the win for Julen Lopetegui's side over Antonio Conte's men. The match was won 3-2 eventually and became famous for Ever Banega reportedly mocking Conte's hair.
Sevilla beat Roma on penalties to lift the Europa League again in 2023.
Gonzalo Montiel was the penalty hero once more as Sevilla handed Roma boss Jose Mourinho his first defeat in a European final.
Mourinho was on track to become the most decorated European manager in history with six trophies when Paulo Dybala defied an ankle injury he has been carrying for the last month to put the Serie A side in front in a scrappy affair in Budapest.
Gianluca Mancini, who had provided the assist for Dybala, put into his own net as the game finished 1-1 after 120 minutes then missed from the spot, as did Roger Ibanez, before Montiel scored the decisive penalty to secure a 4-1 shootout win for the Spaniards.
The Argentinian, who scored the winning spot-kick in last year's World Cup final, initially missed from 12 yards but Rui Patricio coming off his line before the ball was struck meant a retake, and Montiel this time made no mistake.
Sevilla's manager Jose Luis Mendilibar had only take the reins at the club in March 2023, and having steered them away from relegation trouble he booked the club's place in the 2023/24 Champions League by winning the Europa League trophy.
In all, Sevilla have had a remarkably successful ratio in Europe's second-tier club competition by winning it seven times, a record which also makes them the all-time best team in the competition, with nearest competitors Inter Milan, Liverpool, Juventus and Atletico Madrid all having won it three times each.
Los Nervionenses have played plenty of Champions League football in that time as well, but have yet to get past the quarter-final stage in the competition.
The Seville derby
Sevilla have a longstanding local rivalry with Real Betis, but Sevilla have generally been by far the dominant team in this battle - outnumbering Betis' win count in the fixture by over a dozen in the more than 100 meetings between the two teams.
The clubs' grounds are separated by just two miles and the rivalry between the two sets of supporters stretches throughout the city beyond their matches.
Sevilla also have a fierce rivalry with Atletico Madrid, another Spanish team which has enjoyed success in the Europa League in recent years. The two teams have been locked in battle recently with each seeking to be the club which is the biggest threat to Real Madrid and Barcelona's dominance of Spanish football.
Sevilla's fanbase
Sevilla supporters take to the streets after a Seville derby
Sevilla's fans named an Ultras group after Biri Biri, the Gambian winger who was their first ever black player and became a cult hero in Seville. He was signed by the club in 1973 and remained a Sevilla player until 1978.
The club boasts almost 40,000 season ticket holders year on year and the stadium is completely filled on a regular basis during home matches, with expansion work due to take place to increase the Ramon Pizjuan's capacity to house more Sevilla supporters.
Despite the club's large fanbase, most official fan clubs are based locally in the region of Andalusia.
Sevilla's finances
The sales of Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas raised a combined reported figure of €40million to save Sevilla from financial woes. Jose Castro Carmona is the president of the club.
The financial troubles came during the era in which then-club president Jose Maria del Nido was sentenced to seven years in jail on corruption charges.
