Real Balompédica Linense is a football club formed on September 12th 1912, as Balompédica Linense in the town of La Línea de la Concepción, located in southern Andalusia on the border with the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.
It is believed that the club was formed following a merger of several La Línea and Gibraltar clubs. Its first recorded game was a win against Club Racing Santander in 1921, before joining the South Regional Federation the following year.
Royal patronage in 1922 also allowed the club to add to its title to become Real Balompédica Linense, initially playing games at Aurora Sports Field before opening San Bernardo Estadio in October 1926. The club played in the then third-tier Tercera División in 1940-41 before dropping down to the regional División Honor Andaluza for a couple of seasons.
They regained their Tercera División position for the 1943-44 campaign, where they remained until the end of 1948-49. Promotion to Segunda División was achieved with a ninth-place finish in 1950-51, being the team's best result before relegation ensued at the end of the 1954-55 season.
A second-place Tercera División finish the following season wasn’t enough to secure a return.
‘Balona’ would remain in Tercera División for a total of twenty-eight years despite title-winning seasons in 1965-66 and 1967-68. Relegation eventually came in 1975-76 to the División Honor Andaluza.
Linense returned to Tercera División after just one year. However, it had become the fourth tier of Spanish football after the introduction of Segunda División B as a new third level. The team ended the 1970s with three top-three finishes. A title-winning season followed in 1982-83 which led to promotion to Grupo II of Segunda División B.
Argimiro Márquez and Segundo Ramos hammered in the goals in the 1985-86 season as Linense finished third. Segunda División B was extended to four divisions for the 1987-88 season, as Linense were placed in Grupo IV before moving across to Grupo III in 1989-90. Back in Grupo IV in 1991-92, the team ended in fourth place to qualify for the play-offs.
Any hopes of promotion were eliminated in the group stage. However, the following campaign saw Linense relegated back to the Tercera División. The team bounced back with another divisional title in 1998-99 to spark a return to Segunda División B, where the goalkeeping of José Antonio Luque was the standout feature.
Pedro Buenaventura Ugía was the manager at the end of the 2001-02 season, which saw a return to the fourth tier. Linense finished just outside the play-offs in Grupo X in 2006-07 before securing a place the following season and winning promotion after wins against CD Anguiano and then CD Mirandés.
However, the team's spell in the third tier lasted just one season. Linense regrouped and won the Grupo X title in 2010-11 with Rafael Escobar in charge of the team, and then went on to a runners-up berth in Grupo IV of Segunda División B in 2011-12. In the playoffs, SD Amorebieta were defeated before CD Tenerife ended any hopes of promotion.
David Hernández finished as the division top scorer in 2012-13 as Linense started a spell of comfortable league finishes which secured qualification to the Copa Del Rey. Copi ended as top scorer in 2014-15 before the team reached the Round of 32 in the 2015-16 Copa Del Rey before bowing out to Athletic Bilbao after Manolo Ruiz arrived as manager.
He lasted until December 2016 when Julio Cobos replaced him. Pedro was announced as team boss in April 2018 after another finish below halfway in the standings, with Jordi Roger being given the job a few months later. Antonio Calderón arrived at the helm in December 2019 before the important 2020-21 season.
This was one of transition as the Spanish league system was to be restructured the following season. Linense performed well and retained their third-tier status in Grupo I of the Primera Federación RFEF, where Romerito and then Alberto Monteagudo managed the side. The 2022-23 season was one of turmoil, which ended in relegation.
Linense went through three managers: Monteagudo, the returning Escobar, and Víctor Basadre. Down in the fourth-tier Segunda Federación RFEF, Mere Hermoso and then Antonio Fernández took charge of team affairs. This was at a time when Estadio Municipal was being rebuilt into a stadium fit for modern football.
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| The rebuilt Estadio Municipal |
2024-25 also ended in relegation. Again, the club chopped and changed managers, with Miguel Rivera, Javi Moreno, and Romerito being given a chance. David Sánchez was appointed in June 2025 as the club got ready to embark on a fifth-tier season in
Tercera Federación RFEF Grupo X.
Real Balompédica Linense will play in Tercera Federación RFEF Grupo X in the 2025-26 season.
My visit
Tuesday 8th January 2019
My break in Andalusia had started well with a lovely couple of nights' stay in Málaga and had seen three matches in the area. Monday night saw some overindulgence, which saw me heading to the Estación de Autobuses in rather a delicate state.
I was struggling to work out why the journey to La Línea de la Concepción would take four hours, until we set off. It was a comfortable coach, which is just as well, as we went into the towns of Torremolinos, Fuengirola and Marbella before setting off west along the AP-7.
I’d nodded off before waking as we started to drop off people. I looked up and there was the incredible sight of the Rock of Gibraltar in the distance. Ten minutes later, we were pulling into the bus station. I alighted with most others before the bus headed off to Algeciras.
It was time for a walk before finding my accommodation, and the road between Parque Frontera and Parque Princesa Sofia offered me a good vantage point to take some photos of the Rock, as well as leading to Estadio Municipal de La Línea de la Concepción, to give Linense’s stadium its proper title.
Unfortunately, the venue was closed, but it was quite easy to see that the pitch had a track around it with curved open ends, a raised open side on side by the ocean and a covered seated stand opposite. A traditional floodlight pylon stood in each corner.
Excellent photos were taken from the north end of the stadium with the Rock as a backdrop. A large car park surrounded the arena with the club facilities and supporters' bar on the east side.
Once done, I headed across to the marina on the west bank and then for a walk through the compact town with its narrow streets. I had hoped for a sleep in my room at the La Esteponera pension before later adventures, but it was not to be.
To read about my walk over the border to Gibraltar, football and then nocturnal activities in La Línea, click here.