CD Santurtzi (Spain)

Club Deportivo Santurtzi Kirol Elkartea is a football club who were formed in 1952 in the port town of Santurtzi, which is located around eight miles down the Nervión from Bilbao towards the Atlantic in Spain’s Basque Country.

CD Santurtzi weren’t the first club to represent the town with distinction. In April 1921, a group of athletes put together the formidable Sparta Club. The club was dissolved at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

CD Santurtzi kicked off life progressing through regional football before eventually leaving the División de Honor de Vizcaya to become members of Tercera División in 1961-62 as the club were placed in Grupo III while playing at Estadio Morado.

An eleventh-place finish in 1967-68 saw the team relegated back to the División de Honor; where Santurtzi remained until 1974-75 as the team won promotion once again. However, within twelve months, they were back at the regional level.

Santurtzi continued to ply their trade in the División de Honor until they went back up to the Tercera División in 1981-82. This time, the club built on their success for the next few years, winning the Grupo III title in 1983-84. The team missed out on promotion through the play-offs after a defeat to CD Ourense.

Another title followed in 1988-89 under manager Javier Escalza, as Santurtzi won the Grupo IV championship and were promoted to the third-tier Segunda División B. The team retained their status for four seasons in Grupo II under Santi Urkiaga and then Ricardo Moreno before finishing bottom of the table in 1992-93.

‘Los Morodos’, ‘The Purple Ones’ failed to establish themselves properly back in the Tercera División under the stewardship of Miguel Romillo, who had also enjoyed an earlier spell at the helm, before they were relegated in 1999-00 to find themselves playing back in División de Honor de Vizcaya at the start of the new millennium under manager Meltxor Sainz. 

This was while the club's San Jorge home was redeveloped, with home games being played at alternative venues. The club regrouped after a few seasons under manager Txus Gojenuri, winning promotion back to the fourth tier in 2004-05 by ten clear points. 

Once again, Santurtzi found themselves consistently towards the wrong end of the Grupo IV Tercera División table before they were relegated once again in 2010-11. The 2012-13 season saw the club finish third in División de Honor with Toño Vadillo starring in midfield.

The team then went on to lift the league title in 2013-14 with the goals of Cristian Bonilla heralding a return to Terecera División football. A couple of mid-table finishes with Javier González in charge of the side helped settle the status at Campo San Jorge under manager Aketza González. 

More mid-table finishes ensued, with Txetxu García Flores as manager from 2019, before he was replaced a couple of years later by Pablo Palacio. The Spanish league system was restructured during the 2020-21 season, as the performances of Santurtzi saw them placed in the sixth-tier División de Honor Vazcaya the following season. 

The side finished runners-up in 2021-22 and again the following year, with neither campaign ending in promotion. However, there was no mistake in 2023-24 as the league title was delivered to fans at Estadio San Jorge by manager Miguel Romillo and his team, 

This saw Santurtzi head to the fifth-tier Tercera División RFEF Grupo IV, where they finished the 2024-25 campaign just above the relegation places, with Ander Castillo top scoring.

CD Santurtzi will play in Tercera División RFEF Grupo IV in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Friday 24^th February 2017

My legs and feet were feeling a full afternoon’s walking and adventure while carrying my rucksack on the first day of my long weekend around Bilbao. I’d been on the other side of the hill near Kabiezes Metro station to visit the venues of Gazteak CF and Peña Athletic Santurtzi.

Down in the dip, I nearly succumbed to a bar with a Santurtzi fixture poster in its window, but I knew I had a job to do before any beer. I’m glad that I made the effort despite the steep walk up Pajares Kalea.

It hadn’t been my day regarding stadiums being open, and once again, I was met by a locked gate. However, my stubborn streak kicked in, and I was not about to be beaten at the final hurdle. A huge grass bank continued over the road from the stadium. 

I climbed it and got some decent snaps of the Main Stand and far end, but I was determined to find more. I headed down the road behind the stand and climbed a bank up to the far end of the stadium, and hey presto, I was by a wire fence giving me excellent views.

Estadio San Jorge was a fine arena with its raised seated Main Stand running down the full length of the pitch and the far end having a decent section of open terracing built into the hill. The other two sides had small sections of open standing around the artificial playing surface.

Once done, I strolled back down the hill in great form to grab some rehydration before taking the Metro all the way back to the city so that I could check into my excellent room at the Hostal Begoña for a clean-up and rest before heading out for the evening.

Bilbao turned out to be far more beautiful and interesting than I could ever have imagined. It is a city I recommend to anyone, but especially football fans who love bars and nibbles!