CA Osasuna

Club Atlético Osasuna (, "Osasuna Athletic Club"), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish football team in Pamplona, Navarre.
Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 18,375-capacity El Sadar Stadium. The team's regular home kit is a red shirt with navy blue shorts. Osasuna is one of just four professional Spanish clubs to be owned by their members with an elected president.
Osasuna is the sole Navarrese club to have played in La Liga. Although the club has never won a national trophy it reached the Copa del Rey final in 2005. The best league finishes were fourth in La Liga in 1991 and 2006.
"Los Rojillos" is the club nickname, meaning "The Reds". The word "osasuna" means "health" in Basque, used in a sense of "strength" or "vigour", thing that makes the only team in LaLiga with a Basque name. For different reasons, rivalries exist between Osasuna and Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid, and some Basque clubs, particularly Athletic Bilbao.
Osasuna has a cantera which has produced several successful players similar to other clubs in the greater Basque region.
History.
The club was founded on 24 October 1920 and its name, Osasuna, was chosen by Benjamín Andoian Martínez. When Spanish football became professional in 1928, Osasuna was placed in the third division, which is now the Segunda División B. Osasuna was promoted to the Segunda División after the 1931–32 season by winning the promotion playoff against Nacional de Madrid. They made it to La Liga three seasons later. That same season, they reached the semifinals of the Copa Del Rey and lost to Sevilla. The next season, Osasuna reached the semifinals again, this time losing to Barcelona over two legs, despite grabbing a victory in the first leg.
In September 1967, Osasuna's El Sadar Stadium was opened with a match between Osasuna and Vitoria de Setubal, with Osasuna winning 3-0.
The club achieved its first ever UEFA Cup qualification in 1985–86 after finishing sixth, eventually reaching the third round in the 1990–91 edition. Finishing last in 1993–94, the side spent six years in the second level, before finally being promoted in 1999–2000 after placing 2nd in the league table.
In the 2002–03 Copa del Rey, Osasuna reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1988. The team entered the competition in the Round of 64, where they beat SD Lemona. In the following rounds, they beat SD Eibar, Real Unión, and Sevilla, until the semi-finals where they were knocked out after losing to Recreativo de Huelva 4–2 on aggregate.
In 2005, they reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time, losing to Real Betis after extra time. They had a tough campaign in that season's Copa Del Rey, where were almost eliminated in the round of 64, after narrowly beating Segunda Division B side CD Castellón 2-4 on penalties after a goalless draw. They went on to beat Girona 1-0 in extra time, then Getafe, Sevilla, and Atletico Madrid all by just one goal difference on aggregate to get to the final.
On 27 November 2005, Osasuna played their 1,000th game in La Liga. After a stellar 2005–06 domestic campaign, they made history by finishing in fourth place – equalling the best ever finish – to enter the qualifying phase for the UEFA Champions League in the following season. This achievement was made more dramatic by the suspense that was maintained until the last day of the championship in which Osasuna and Sevilla were both vying for fourth place – both eventually ended the season with the same number of points but Osasuna finished higher due to their head-to-head record. However, they did not make it to the Champions League group phase, after being eliminated by Hamburger SV in the third qualifying round, leaving the Navarrese to compete in the UEFA Cup for the fifth time.
Osasuna were drawn in Group D of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, and qualified for the knockout stage after finishing second in the group. In the Round of 32, they and were drawn against Bordeaux, progressing 1–0 on aggregate, drawing 0–0 away before winning 1–0 in Pamplona through an extra time winner by Javad Nekounam. Osasuna's next opponent was Rangers, and Osasuna again progressed following a 1–1 draw in Glasgow and a 1–0 win at home. The club was drawn against German side Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals. Regarded as severe underdogs, Osasuna not only progressed to the semi-finals but did so in style (a 3–0 away win had virtually sealed the tie, but the "Rojillos" also won the second leg, 1–0). In the semi-finals, the club was drawn against holders and fellow Spanish side Sevilla, eventually losing 1–2 on aggregate after a 1–0 home win.
In the following two seasons, Osasuna struggled heavily in the league. In 2007–08, they finished 17th and only one point above relegation. In 2008–09, they only avoided relegation in the final day; being in 18th place and entering the final matchday at home to Real Madrid, the club fell behind 0–1 but came back with two goals (the decider courtesy of Juanfran, a "Merengue" youth graduate) to beat 9-men "Los Blancos" and remain in the top flight by finishing 15th.
Osasuna had great success in 2011–12, finishing seventh and one place away from qualifying for the European places, but struggled again in the next 2 seasons, finishing 16th in 2012–13 and being relegated to the second division after an 18th-place finish in 2013–14. In the 2014–15 season, the club managed to rank one position above the relegation zone. A managerial change resulted in substantial improvement, and Osasuna won the final match of the regular 2015–16 season 0–5 away to Oviedo, finishing sixth in the table and qualifying for promotion playoffs and. They subsequently won all the playoff games – against Gimnàstic de Tarragona in the semi-final and Girona in the final – to achieve promotion once again to La Liga. Osasuna finished 2016–17 in 19th position, resulting in relegation. They could only manage 8th in their first campaign back in the second tier.
On 20 May 2019, Osasuna achieved promotion back to La Liga after Granada's victory over Albacete, mathematically ensuring a promotion place with three matches left in the season. On 31 May, they defeated Córdoba to finish as 2018–19 Segunda División champions.
The club celebrated its centenary in October 2020 with a league victory over Athletic Bilbao, albeit the match was played in an empty stadium owing to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.
Kit evolution.
Red and navy blue are the colours of CA Osasuna, reflected in the home kit and club logo. The away kits tends to differ greatly from the home kit.
Notable players.
Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.
World Cup players.
The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup Finals, while playing for Osasuna.