Granada CF

Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its main shareholder is the Chinese company Desport, and its president Jiang Lizhang. The football club was founded on 14 April 1931 with the name of "Club Recreativo de Granada", it plays in La Liga. The club plays its home matches at the Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes. 
Since 17 July 2020 the Club is located at position 22 of the historical points classification of the First Division, and 20 of the historical First Division number of seasons classification, where it has participated in 25 seasons and finished in sixth place twice. Granada was the Copa del Rey runner-up in 1959 (the competition was then known as the "Copa del Generalísimo"). The club finished the 2019–20 season in 7th, qualfying for the first time to the UEFA Europa League, where they were quarter-finalists.
History.
Foundation.
"Granada Club de Fútbol" was founded on 14 April 1931, originally as "Recreativo de Granada"; the first president was Julio López Fernández. It was him who registered the club in the Registry of Associations in the Civil Government and presented the first Board of Directors.
The first football match was played against the Deportivo Jaén on 6 December 1931, which resulted in a 2–1 victory. The first goal in the match, and in the club's history, was scored by Antonio Bombillar. The first home match was played against U.D. Andújar two weeks later. Granada CF won it 1-0. It took place at Campo de Las Tablas stadium. In the 1931–32 season, the club finished 2nd in the "Tercera Regional – Región Sur" championship. 4 wins in 6 matches helped Granada CF to be promoted to the Segunda Regional. The club started the season in a new division with a new president, Gabriel Morcillo Raya. During the 1932-33 season the club had the biggest win in its history, 11–0 against Xerez FC on 23 April 1933.
La Liga entry and peak.
After several promotions, in 1941–42 the club made its La Liga debut. It was the match against the Celta on 28 September 1941. The game ended up in 1–1 draw. The first Granada goal in the highest Spanish division was scored by César Rodríguez Álvarez. During that season the Granada had some historical home wins, among them 8–0 against Real Oviedo and 6–0 against Barcelona. The Granada finished the season in the 10th position among 14 teams. From here until the 1980s, it alternated between that category and the Segunda División, with its golden age coming during the 1970s, with eight top flight seasons, which included a best-ever two sixth league places (1971–72, 1973–74). Granada finished the 1971-72 season with 9 wins in the last 10 home games, among them wins against Barcelona and Real.
In 1959 Granada achieved its greatest sports landmark, being the runner-up of the "Copa del Generalísimo" (later "Copa del Rey"). In the final, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the team lost to Barcelona 4–1. The only goal for the Granada was scored by the Argentinian forward Ramón Carranza.
In the 1980s, Granada had some brief appearances in the second division. In 1983–84, they finished 8th among 20 teams in the Segunda División, just 10 points away from the champion the Real Madrid Castilla and the runner-up the Bilbao Athletic. In 1984–85, the Granada finished 18th and were relegated to the Segunda División B; in the same season, the club was eliminated by the Estepona in the first round of the Copa del Rey. 
Decline and revival.
Granada spent most of the following seasons in the Segunda División B, the dropping another level in 2002–03, due to non-payment to its players. After four seasons in the fourth division, former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz, along with his son Paco, arrived at the club. With their help, the Andalusian side was again promoted to the third category but got itself into serious financial trouble. In the 2005–06 season the Granada became a champion of the Tercera División Group 9 and qualified for the promotional play-offs, where the first rival was Linense. After the two games ended up in 1–1 draws, Granada won in the penalty shootout.
In 2006–07, Granada played in Group IV of the third level after four seasons in the Tercera. The president Paco Sanz with the massive support of the fans continued to lead the project with the intention of bringing the team to the top division, but the lack of time after the promotion led to hasty actions. In July 2009, the club was in such financial difficulty that it was on the brink of closing. The solution to the crisis came with the signing of a partnership agreement with the Udinese Calcio, with the Spaniards incorporating large numbers of players contracted to the Italian club as well as receiving its youth players and reserves as part of the agreement. At the end of the season, the Granada won its group then got promoted in the play-offs, returning to the second division after 22 years.
In 2010–11, Granada finished in fifth position, with most of the players loaned by Udinese still on board. On 18 June 2011, the club became the first winner of the promotion play-offs – a different system was used from 1985 to 1999 – after successively defeating Celta de Vigo (1–1, penalty shootout) and Elche (1–1 on aggregate, away goals rule), thus returning to the top division after a 35-year absence. In June 2016, Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang became the new owner of the club, buying the Pozzo family's controlling stake. After surviving in the top flight for six seasons, the team was relegated in 2016–17 after being defeated by Real Sociedad.
Under new manager Diego Martínez, Granada returned to the top flight as runners-up to CA Osasuna in the 2018–19 Segunda División. The following season, the team finished in 7th in the top flight, qualifying for the first time to the UEFA Europa League. They reached the quarter-finals in Europe, being eliminated by Manchester United.
Derby of eastern Andalusia.
Updated to derby #86 played on 17th January 2021 (Copa del Rey, last 16) 
Stadium.
After its foundation, the team played its home matches at the "Campo de Las Tablas", inaugurated on 20 December 1931. On that day Granada CF won the match against the U.D. Andújar 1-0 in the Tercera Regional. Granada's stay at this ground was a short one; on 23 December 1934, a new stadium, "Estadio Los Cármenes", was opened.
The club played in this stadium until 1995 when a new facility, named "Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium", took its place. It was inaugurated on 16 May 1995, with an original capacity of 16,212 seats. This was expanded to 22,524 after the final promotion to La Liga in the summer of 2011.
After achieving promotion to the First Division in 2019, the stadium has been renovated, such as the replacement of the playing surface, the repairing and painting of seats plus the addition of white seats to form the words "Granada Cf" across from the main stand and "1931" on the South Stand, the expansion of the official club store (now located on the corner where the old tickets office was located), and finally, the replacement of the illumination system in line with the lighting requirements of LaLiga. In addition, the club is working with Granada's council to get a deal for a long-lasting tenancy with the aim of performing a series of investments like a re-build of the stadium corners (which had been previously dismantled), establish shopping and entertainment zones or the expansion and refurbishment of sponsor and advertising areas.
Kit and colours.
Upon its foundation, the club's kits were a shirt with blue and white vertical stripes and white shorts. After the Spanish Civil War the club owners went to Madrid to buy new ones, but they couldn't find other than red and white striped shirts. That became the official colour scheme from then on.
In the 1970s, the club changed the vertical stripes to horizontal. Since then, several changes (between horizontal and vertical) took place until 2004–05, when in a member assembly it was decided to use horizontal stripes definitively.