UD Melilla: The Spanish Side from Africa

It’s the afternoon and you set off for 3/4 hour away trip up the M1 for the evening kick-off. On the way there you think to yourself – why am I doing this? Well, you think you’ve got it tough just ask the fans of UD Melilla, the football team playing in the Segunda Division B based in a tiny Spanish enclave on the northern tip of Morocco.

You are already aware of teams such as UD Las Palmas and RCD Mallorca that are based on the Spanish islands of Gran Canaria and the Balearic Islands. However, you are most likely unfamiliar with Melilla. The ‘Los

Melilla on the map

 Piratas Notreafricanos’ is the football team of the tiny city Melilla – well all 4.7 square miles of it and it’s 80,000 population to go with it. I’m not going to bore you with the historical details as to why they’re under Spanish rule, but something to with a man named Pedro de Estopinian y Virues capturing it in 1497.

Founded on February 6th of 1943, Melilla began with instant success with a 5-1 win over African CD. After proclaiming themselves Moroccan Champions, they earned the right to play in the Spanish Third Division, a division they became very comfortable in. Just a couple of years after forming, Melilla would gain promotion to the Segunda Division, for the first and only time since, with a 5-1 victory over CD Toledo.

The UD Melilla side from the 1950s

However, their time in the Segunda Division would be marked with tragedy as the team were involved in a car crash on the way to a fixture with Mallorca. Unfortunately, players Martin and Mamblona and the masseuse Manolo Salvador were killed. Many of the players and staff found it extremely hard to recover from this and it dampened any future celebrations surrounding their first season in the Segunda Division.

After four seasons in the Segunda Division, they were relegated back into the Third Division. However, one of the shining moments during their four-year stint in the Segunda Division was the international call-up Melilla-born Ramoni to for the Spanish national side (he would go on to play twice for the La Furia Roja).

Following a restructuring of the Spanish divisions, Melilla was set to take the place of Espana de Tanger. The stipulation being they had to take the club’s existing debt – which they could not. UD Melilla disappeared in 1956 marking the end of an ambitious 13-year project. Although, that would not be the end of Melilla.

What must have felt like an eternity for the football-mad UD Melilla fans, they were back after a 23-year absence. In August of 1979, then Gimnastico Melilla president changed the club’s name and identity to UD Melilla and the Azulino were back.

UD Melilla team before their match against Athletic Bilbao

For the first time since their rebirth, the spotlight would be shone onto UD Melilla. A first-round matchup against staple La Liga giants Athletic Bilbao would give the club the exposure it so richly deserved. The first leg, played at the Alvarez Claro Stadium, saw Melilla hold onto a 2-2 draw meaning it was all to play for in the second leg. Melilla went into halftime at the historic San Mames 2-0 up, but could not hold on and Athletic came back to win 3-2. Although, the match gave those Melilla players memories to last a lifetime.

Once again in 2018, the Copa del Rey proved to be Melilla’s chance of gaining mainstream media attention. Little UD Melilla would play host to the greatest team of the 20th century – Real Madrid. Madrid’s line-up bolstered the names of Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Vinicius Junior, which can only be seen as a compliment to the grit of the Melilla side, which helped them to a 4-0 win. The big payoff would come 37 days later as the Melilla players would play in front of 55,000 people at the Santiago Bernabeu – ultimately losing 6-1.

So, what is the current state of UD Melilla in the Segunda Division B1?

Well, they’re sitting in 13th not so prettily two points off a relegation spot. Perhaps the cancellation of Spanish football would do Melilla good as a fall into the Tercera Division could spell very hard times for the North-African based club.

Melilla snapped before their most recent game

As you’ll remember at the start of the article I mentioned to think about the players and fans of Melilla travelling to away games well…On March 1st Melilla travelled 1426km to Las Palmas (the equivalent of Truro City playing Newcastle…then double it) which they lost 1-0. Safe to say the atmosphere on the way back would not have been joyous.

Union Deportiva Melilla is a remarkable little club playing in Third Division of Spanish football from a completely different continent. So, next time you moan about a 2hr drive home from an awayday just ‘think of Melilla’.

Taylor Toney-Green

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