Real Sporting de Gijón
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| Full name | Real Sporting de Gijón, SAD |
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| Nickname(s) | Rojiblancos (Red-and-Whites) |
| Founded | 1 June 1905 (as Sporting Gijonés) |
| Ground | El Molinón |
| Capacity | 30,000 |
| President | Javier Fernández |
| Manager | Rubi |
| League | La Liga |
| 2015–16 | La Liga, 17th |
| Website | Club home page |
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D., or simply Sporting de Gijón, is a Spanish football club from Gijón, Asturias. Founded on 1 June 1905, it plays in La Liga. Known as Los Rojiblancos because of their red and white striped jerseys, their home ground is El Molinón stadium, the oldest professional football ground in Spain, in use since at least 1908. Its name is often abbreviated to Real Sporting or just Sporting, although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal. Its Asturian name is Real Sporting de Xixón.
The club was established in 1905 with the name Sporting Gijonés, Anselmo López being the first club president. The first game of the club is dated on 18 August 1907, against Sport Ovetense. The decline of other local clubs like Gijón Sport Club (founded in 1903) and Sportiva Gijonesa allowed Sporting Gijonés to become the main team in the city. In 1912, King Alfonso XIII accepted the Royal patronage of the club for the Spanish Crown, introducing the term "Real" (Spanish for Royal) to its name, becoming Real Sporting Club Gijonés.
In 1914, Sporting Gijón won its first Regional Championship of Asturias, success repeated two years later when the club started the first steps to buy El Molinón, where Sporting started to play its games in 1915. On 2 April 1916, a new change took place to adopt today's denomination, Real Sporting de Gijón. Thank to the win at the Regional Championship, in 1917 the club made its debut in the Copa del Rey, but was eliminated in the first round by Arenas Club de Getxo. Sporting lost both games by 0–1 in Gijón and 0–7 at the Basque Country.
On 9 October 1921, Manolo Meana became the first Sporting Gijón player to be called up with the Spanish national team, for a friendly game against Belgium. In 1929, Sporting Gijón joined Segunda División. In its first season, the club finished in the fourth position.
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