The lowdown on Unionistas de Salamanca CF

Having eliminated Barbastro in the previous round, FC Barcelona now meet another lower league outfit in the last sixteen on the Copa del Rey. Here are the essentials on the club from Salamanca.

Where are they from?

Salamanca is a city of around 200,000 people in Castille Leon in the west of Spain. It is best known for its university, founded in 1218, making it the oldest in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe. The city oozes historic architecture and is a well-known destination for foreign students.

Club history

Founded by Irish students in 1907, Unión Deportiva Salamanca was traditionally the main football team in the city, and as recently as 1999 they were playing alongside FC Barcelona in the first division. However, in 2013, the club went bankrupt.

Unionistas de Salamanca was founded shortly after as a fan-owned club, and is often regarded as the continuation of its defunct predecessor. In a system not unlike the one at Barça, albeit with differences, decisions are made democratically by the club's 4,895 members.

They had to start in the sixth tier of Spanish football, but have gradually worked their way up to the third tier Primera Federación, the same one that the Barça reserves play in.

In 2020, they made it to the last 32 of the cup, going out to Real Madrid, but this is the first time they have made it as far as the last sixteen.

The stadium

Unionistas play at the Estadio Municipal Reina Sofía, which holds almost 5,000 people and was opened just two years ago in 2021. At first it had an artificial surface, but in 2022 this was replaced with natural turf.

Form guide

Unionistas are currently thirteenth in their division, six points clear of the relegation zone and three points below Barça Atlètic, who are seventh. In fact, just a few days ago, on January 3, they played Rafa Márquez and his team at the Estadi Johan Cruyff and won 2-0 with goals from Slavy and Álvaro Gómez.

They are the only non-pro team left in the current edition of the Copa del Rey, having started the competition with a 2-0 win at Gernika and then defeating historical giants Sporting Gijón by the same score. That earned them a match-up with first division Villarreal in a game that was abandoned due to a floodlight failure and had to be continued the day after. It ended 1-1 and Unionistas eventually secured qualification in a penaltry shootout.

The players

The squad are essentially all Spaniards, although two players born in Spain have represented other countries at under 21 level due to their parentage. These are forward Slavy (on loan from Real Valladolid), who has declared his allegiance to Bulgaria, and Ewan Urain, who did likewise for Scotland.

They also have Alfred Planas, who is from Barcelona, and is just one goal of being top scorer in the competition so far with three. So far, he's found the target in every game played, and also gave an assist to Mario Losada.

The boss

Dani Ponz never played at any higher level than in goal for his hometown club Sollana, but went into coaching after retirning, landing a job in the Levante youth system. He enjoyed five particularly good years in charge of a club called Alzira, which he returned to for another two years before taking on the Unionistas job last summer.