Our last stop on Tenerife is San Isidro. The island has many beautiful stadiums and the Estadio La Palmera is definitely one to tick off. The stadium hosts two clubs, so there's no excuse whatsoever for passing it up.
When looking up some info, make sure you have the correct team. All over the world, there are a whole bunch of villages and cities that carry the same name. When you would include all smaller areas within the cities, that number rises even more. In Spain alone it's difficult to pick the correct one and even when you would zoom in on the Canary Islands you can still be wrong. There are also at least four clubs in Spain with more or less the same name. Here we are talking about CD Raqui San Isidro.
CD Raqui San Isidro is the youngest of all San Isidro teams. Officially they were founded in 1969 (but you'll find 1970 as well), but football was already being played and lived in the villages since the 50s. Raqui (the outside boys) and San Isidro (the village boys) played some intense derbies in the streets at the entrance of the village. Raqui lost some force and players throughout the years though and San Isidro grew out to become the team we know right now.
In order not to get mixed up with other clubs, the official name became CD Raqui San Isidro. That way, Raqui still got some recognition from a historical point of view. They started off in the lowest regional leagues and began a slow way upwards. After five years they promoted and the next one would only happen in 1992. That's when they reached the highest regional league on the island. As of then things escalated quickly. In 1994 they went up to the Interinsular Preferente and again three years later they suddenly found themselves in the national divisions.
The team didn't even do that bad in the Tercera Division and they even promoted to the Segunda Division B. Last time they were there was in 2008 but they ended last in the league. Due to financial mismanagement the club even had to go back to the Interinsular Preferente. CD Raqui San Isidro did manage to play in the Tercera Division for three years after that, but they had to play the regional leagues more often. In 2017/2018 the team even took a sabbatical to start over again in the second regional league on Tenerife.
After two consecutive promotions, CD Raqui San Isidro was back in the Interinsular Preferente. But this year they are playing the top regional league of the island. They will - without a doubt - often think about the times when they had some big name players. Suso Santana and Ruyman Hernandez are only two examples. But the star player to be mentioned is Pedro. He started his career as a small boy at CD Raqui San Isidro and was quickly plucked away by FC Barcelona.
CD Raqui San Isidro isn't the only team playing the Estadio La Palmera however. UDG Tenerife plays its games there as well. Union Deportiva Granadilla Tenerife was only founded as a women's team in 2013, but quickly managed to reach the top. In 2015 they were in the Primera Division already, where they still play right now. Only a couple of weeks ago, it was announced there is an agreement between the team and the municipality to modernise the stadium to meet the higher standards. Whoever wants to see the stadium in its current form, we advise you to pass by quickly.
If you want to enjoy our articles in Dutch, you can read them here.
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