Hércules CF

Hércules

Full name	Hércules Club de Fútbol, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Herculanos Blanquiazules
Founded	1922
Ground	José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Valencia, Spain (Capacity: 30,000)
Chairman	Valentín Botella Ros
Manager	Esteban Vigo
League	La Liga
2009-10	Segunda Division, 2nd (promoted)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Hércules Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1922, it currently plays in the Spanish first division, and holds home games at the Estadio José Rico Pérez, which seats 30,000 spectators.

History

After first appearing in La Liga in 1935–36, Hércules would play sporadically in the category for the next forty years, playing mainly in the second division but going as low as Tercera División. From 1961–69, neighbours Alicante CF acted as its feeder club.

After a ten-year spell in the topflight, encompassing 12 seasons in the 1970s/80s, the club only returned again in 1996–97; though finally relegated, it managed two remarkable comeback wins over FC Barcelona, which ultimately handed over the league title to Real Madrid.

In 2004–05, after five years in the third division, Hércules finished second, being subsequently promoted to the second level. After posting three consecutive solid seasons, the club would narrowly miss on a return to the top division in 2008–09, finishing fourth, three points behind last-promotee CD Tenerife.

2009–10 saw Hércules promoted back into the top flight after 13 years, in dramatic fashion: losing 1–0 at half time to Rayo Vallecano, the team fought back to win 2–1 in the penultimate game of the season and leap frog Real Betis into third place. In the last round, a 2–0 win at relegation-threatened Real Unión guaranteed the promotion, with the 4–0 win of Betis against Levante UD eventually counting for nothing (all three teams - Levante, Hércules and Betis - ended with the same number of points).

Current squad

The numbers are established according to the official website:www.herculescf.es and www.lfp.es
As of 27 August 2010. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Juan Calatayud 2 MF Royston Drenthe 3 DF Juanra 4 DF Mohamed Sarr 5 DF Abraham Paz 6 MF Cristian Hidalgo 7 MF Francisco Rufete 8 MF Javier Farinós 9 FW Javier Portillo 10 FW Tote (captain) 11 MF Sendoa Aguirre 12 DF Cristian Pulhac 13 GK Unai Alba

No. Position Player 14 MF Abel Aguilar 15 DF Kiko Femenía 16 DF Paco Peña 17 FW David Trezeguet 18 MF Matías Fritzler 19 DF Sergio Rodríguez 20 FW Nelson Valdez 21 DF David Cortés 22 FW Olivier Thomert 23 DF Noé Pamarot 24 MF Tiago Gomes 25 GK Piet Velthuizen

Season to season

• 20 seasons in La Liga
• 40 seasons in Segunda División
• 11 seasons in Segunda División B
• 7 seasons in Tercera División

Statistics 2008-09

• Top Scorers:
  • Rubén Navarro - 15 goals
  • Delibasic - 11 goals
  • Ionel Danciulescu - 10 goals
  • Abel Aguilar - 9 goals
  • Tote - 9 goals
  • Sendoa - 8 goals
  • Farinós - 8 goals
• Top Goalkeepers:
  • Calatayud - 42 goals in 41 matches
  • Unai Alba - 1 goal in 2 matches

Former players

see also Category:Hércules CF footballers

Former coaches

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Unofficial site
• Hércules Fan site
• Forum Hercules CF