The 2023/24 La Liga will be the 93rd season of Spain’s premier football competition. It will commence on the 11th of August 2023 and is scheduled to end on the 26th of May 2024. Barcelona are the defending champions, having won their 27th title the previous season.
Elche, Espanyol and Valladolid were relegated last season, while Granada, Las Palmas and Alaves are the newly promoted sides.
In this post, FootballOrbit profiles the new teams.
Granada
Granada returned to La Liga after a one-year absence by emerging as champions of the Segunda División.
Fully known as Granada Club de Fútbol, it is based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia.
The club was founded in 1931 and plays its home matches at the 19,336 capacity Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes.
Its main shareholder is the Chinese company Desport (headed by Jiang Lizhang), the club’s president is Sophia Yang, while the manager is Paco López.
After several promotions in the lower divisions, the club made its La Liga debut in 1941/42.
From 1942 until the 1980s, it alternated between the top flight and the Segunda División, with its golden age coming during the late 1960s and mid 70s, as the Andalusian club had eight consecutive top flight seasons between 1968/69 and 1975/76.
Furthermore, it made the Copa del Rey semi and quarter-finals on 4 occasions. These seasons also included a best-ever sixth league places in the 1971/72 and 1973/74 seasons.
In 1959, Granada achieved its greatest landmark, being the runners-up in the Copa del Rey. In the final, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the team lost to Barcelona 4-1.
From the 1980s, Granada was meddling in the lower divisions and got relegated to the fourth tier in 2002/03, due to failing to pay its players.
In 2009, the club returned to the second division after 22 years, and in 2011, it returned to the top division after a 35-year absence.
In June 2016, Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang became the new owner of the club, buying the Pozzo family’s controlling stake.
After surviving in the top flight for six seasons, the team was relegated in 2016/17. Granada returned to the top flight as runners-up in the 2nd division in 2018/19.
The following season, the team finished 7th in the top flight, earning qualification for the UEFA Europa League, the first time the club qualified for any European competition.
Moreso, it reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals for the first time in 50 years, narrowly losing to Athletic Bilbao on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw.
They reached the quarter-finals in Europe, getting eliminated by Manchester United.
On the 22nd of May 2022, the team was relegated after a draw against Espanyol.
In the 2022/23 season, Granada returned to La Liga, by sealing a 1st position in the table on the very last match day of the season.
Granada’s fiercest rivals is Málaga, with whom it compete in the Eastern Andalusia Derby.
Las Palmas
Las Palmas won promotion to La Liga by finishing as runners-up in the Segunda División. They are back in the top flight after a 5-year absence.
Fully known as Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, it is based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands.
Founded on the 22nd of August 1949, it plays its home games at the Estadio Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 32,400 seats.
The club traditionally play in yellow shirts with blue shorts and socks.
The President is Miguel Ángel Ramírez Alonso, while the manager is García Pimienta.
Las Palmas remains the only one in Spanish football to achieve back-to-back promotions to La Liga in its first two years of existence.
It had a 19-year run in the competition, ending in 1982/83.
They have been promoted to La Liga on three additional occasions since that time (a total of eight additional seasons), most recently from 2015 to 2018.
Las Palmas’ main rivals is Tenerife from said neighbouring island. Las Palmas and Tenerife contest the Canary Islands derby. The two clubs are among the most isolated professional football clubs in Europe, since they play their away games on the distant Spanish mainland.
Alaves
The third and final team to be promoted to La Liga in 2023/24 is Alavés, who won the play-off final against Levante on 17 June 2023, returning after a onе-year absence.
Deportivo Alavés is based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country.
Founded on the 1st of July 1920, the club plays at the 19,840 capacity Mendizorrotza Stadium.
The team’s home kit is blue and white-striped shirt, blue shorts and white socks.
The major shareholders in the club are Saski Baskonia (70.44%) and José Antonio Querejeta (6.4%). The President is Alfonso Fernández de Trocóniz, while the manager is Luis García Plaza.
Alaves is recognized as the third most successful team in the Basque Country following Athletic Club of Bilbao and Real Sociedad de Futbol of San Sebastián.
Its biggest success was in 2001 when, in the year of its debut in European competition, it reached the 2001 UEFA Cup Final, where it played against Liverpool. It was defeated 5-4 by golden goal.
In 2017, the club reached the final of the Copa del Rey for the first time ever, losing out 3-1 to Barcelona.
In the 2021/22 season, Alaves were relegated following defeat on the penultimate matchday by Levante (who also went down) to end their six-year stay in La Liga — the longest top-flight run in the club’s history.
They instantly got promoted back from the Segunda División after dramatically beating rivals Levante by scoring in the 130th minute of the promotion playoff’s final.
Also Read: Meet the newly promoted English Premier League teams for the 2023/24 season.
