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Real Betis

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Real Betis Balompié is a Spanish football club in Seville founded in 1907. The team currently plays in the La Liga. Its home stadium is the 52,700 seater Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, and home colors are green and white.

Contents

History

Seville was the venue for the first official football game played in Spain. On March 8th 1890 at the Tablada Hippodrome a team from the Seville Water Works defeated the Huelva Recreation Club 2-0. With the exception of two Spanish players on the Huelva team, the players on both teams were British. Despite this historic event it was not until 1905 that Sevilla FC was formed.

The name is derived from Baetica, the Roman name for Andalusia. Because of its origins, Betis initially attracted support from the working classes. The foundation date is disputed. The 1907 foundation date comes from Sevilla Balompie, a club founded by students from the Escuela Politecnica on Calle de Cervantes. This club merged with Betis in 1914. Balompie is the literal Spanish word for football as opposed to the anglicized version, futbol. Betis is one of only a handful of Spanish clubs that use this version in their name. As with other Spanish clubs Real was added after receiving patronage from the Spanish royal family. In 1912, Manuel Ramos Asensio, one of the club's founding members, returned from a business trip to Glasgow with a set of green and black striped shirts and proposed Betis take up the colours. The green and black stripe was subsequently deemed unlucky after a losing run and was replaced by a green and white version. During the Second Spanish Republic the club was once again called Betis Balompie, reverting to its current name after the Spanish Civil War.

They have won La Liga on one occasion in 1935, and the Copa del Rey in 1977 and 2005. The club came close to folding in the summer of 1992 when they were saved by vice chairman Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, current chairman.

They came very close to winning their second Copa del Rey in 1997 when they were pipped by FC Barcelona. Betis finally won their second in 2005, in the final against CA Osasuna at Vicente Calderón stadium on June 11.

Real Betis also holds the distinction of being the first Andalusian football team to play in the Primera Division and to reach the UEFA Champions League although Sevilla FC already played this competition but with a different format, known as European Cup, in the 1957/58 season. Supporters of Real Betis are known as béticos.

There is a big rivalry between the two first teams in the city of Seville, Sevilla FC and Real Betis.

Trophies

Current squad 2006/07

''The numbers are established according to the official website:[www.realbetisbalompie.es] and [www.lfp.es]

As of February 1 2006

Squad changes during 2006/07 season

In: Out:

Statistics 2005/06

La LigaPositionPtsPWDLFA
Real Betis Balompie1442381012163451

Stadium Information

Famous players

see also

Famous Coaches

see also

Contact details

Address

Avda. Heliópolis, s/n. ,
Sevilla,
Province of Sevilla,
Andalusia,
[Real Betis Official Website],
[Real Betis Official E-mail],
Spain.

Phone numbers

Telephone: 00 34 954 61 03 40
Fax: 00 34 954 61 47 74

External links

 
Primera División 2006/07 clubs

Athletic Bilbao | Atlético Madrid | FC Barcelona | Real Betis | Celta Vigo | Deportivo | Espanyol | Getafe | Gimnàstic | Levante | Real Madrid | Mallorca | Osasuna | Racing | Sevilla | Real Sociedad | Recreativo | Valencia | Villarreal | Real Zaragoza
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