Rayo Vallecano

Establishment and early years

Rayo Vallecano was founded on 29 May 1924 in the hometown of Prudencia Priego, wife of the club's first president Julián Huerta. Greatly inspired by Argentina's River Plate, in 1949, after an agreement with Atlético Madrid, a red diagonal stripe was added to the team's kit, and the club reached Tercera División for the first time in its history.

Yo-yo years

One of the perennial yo-yo clubs of Spanish football, and always in the shadow of the two biggest clubs in the city (Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid), Rayo Vallecano spent many years during the 1980s and 1990s moving back and forth between La Liga and Segunda División. The 1983–84 season was the worst during the 1980s. The club finished in the last position in Segunda División and was relegated to Segunda División B. Due to a tragedy Rayo Vallecano turned out to be Laurie Cunningham's last club; he was killed in a car crash just outside Madrid in 1989, after a sole season. He had recently won an F.A. Cup winners medal with Wimbledon F.C. in England the previous year and had also represented neighbours Real Madrid for four years. They appeared to have consolidated their top flight status after gaining promotion in 1999, and the team's most successful season came in 2000–01 when they reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, going out only to eventual runners-up Alavés; Rayo finished ninth in the previous campaign, but entered the competition via the fair play draw.

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League

Segunda División (2nd tier) Winners (1): 2017–18 Runners-up (4): 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2010–11 Tercera División / Segunda División B (3rd tier) Winners (4): 1955–56, 1964–65, 1984–85, 2007–08

European

UEFA Conference League Runners-up (1): 2025–26 Regional

Workers Federation of Soccer (1): 1931–32 First Regional Division (1): 1948–49 Second Regional Division (1): 1940–41 Copa de Castilla (5): 1952–53, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1981–82 Madrid Cup (2): 1952–53, 1966–67 Copa Ramón Triana (2): 1971–72, 1973–74