Orihuela CF

On 4 August 1993, the chairman of Orihuela Juventud y Deportes, Pedro Albarracín, received a notification from the Valencian Community Football Federation, allowing him to change the name of the club to Orihuela Club de Fútbol. A few months before, when the youth team of Atlético Orihuela was promoted to Liga Nacional Juvenil de Fútbol, the presidents of both clubs, Albarracín and Francisco Polín González, agreed on a merge, which created Orihuela Club de Fútbol. The first club home kit was orange shirts and white shorts, as former Orihuela Juventud y Deportes, because the historical Orihuela Deportiva CF (founded in 1944) was still competing. Once the latter disappeared in 1996, Orihuela CF adopted their colours (yellow and blue) and became the most important local team. From 1993 to 1997 the club played in Primera Regional. At the end of the 1996–97 campaign, new chairman Ángel Fenoll "acquired" the place of Club Deportivo Los Garres in Tercera División, and Orihuela began their new era in Spain's national football. It was with Paco Gómez as club owner that the side reached Segunda División B for the first time in its history in 2002–03, after being defeated several times in the play-offs. However, a very bad season ended with the team back in the fourth level. In the 2003–04 season things didn't change for the better, as Gómez became owner of FC Cartagena and focused his efforts on his new club, although he was still Orihuela's chairman. A year later, José Rodríguez…