CD Tenerife

Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López, with a 22,824-seat capacity. The traditional home colours are white shirts and blue shorts.

Tenerife has a history playing in the top flight of La Liga. They have been promoted to the top tier on four occasions, including a 10-year stint from 1989 to 1999. The club managed to finish as high as fifth in the league table on two occasions during that period, which qualified them for the first round of the UEFA Cup. They most recently played in La Liga in the 2009–10 season.

Being based in the Canary archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Africa, while playing its away games on the Spanish mainland, both the club and rival Las Palmas from Gran Canaria are two of the most geographically isolated professional clubs. Tenerife and Las Palmas contest the Canary Islands derby.

Club Deportivo Tenerife was founded in 1922. La Liga started in 1928, but the team played in regional divisions until it was promoted to the Segunda División in 1953. It first reached the top flight in 1961, being immediately relegated back and, in the following 27 years, played almost exclusively in the second level, also spending three years in Tercera División and six – five in a row – in Segunda División B, the newly created division three (in 1978).

In 1985 Tenerife whon his 15 champions, when Tenerife were relegated to the third division for a second time, Javier Pérez became president of the club. The side was promoted this year to the second level and, two years later, returned to the first, after winning the promotion playoff against Real Betis (4–1 on aggregate).

In 1991, Jorge Valdano took charge of the club as manager, and the Argentine would help rob former side Real Madrid of two consecutive league titles in the last round, to the benefit of Barcelona. In the first season, the Canary Islands outfit barely avoided relegation, but would finish in a best-ever fifth position in the following year, eventually reaching the round of 16 in the subsequent UEFA Cup, losing to Juventus 2–4 on aggregate.

German Jupp Heynckes became head coach of Tenerife in 1995, leading the club to another fifth-placed finish and the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. In the 1996–97 UEFA Cup, the islanders fared better, reaching the last-four after defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv, Lazio, Feyenoord and Brøndby (the winner coming late in extra time from an Antonio Mata free-kick), only bowing out to eventual winners Schalke 04.

Tenerife then went on a downward spiral which eventually led to relegation to the "silver category" in 1999, prompting various managerial changes within the club. In 2001, the club was again promoted, led by Rafael Benítez, who promptly left to take up the manager's job at Valencia; the promotion was achieved in the last match of the campaign thanks to a goal from Hugo Morales.