Club Social, Deportivo y Cultural Espanol de la Republica Argentina (commonly referred to as Deportivo Espanol) is an Argentine sports club from the Parque Avellaneda district of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Metropolitana, the third division of the Argentine football league system.
Apart from football, other activities practised at the club are futsal, handball, roller hockey, table tennis.
History
The club was founded in 1956 with the name "Club Deportivo Espanol" on October, 12. The date was chosen as its foundation date to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas. Club's first headquarters was in the bar "La Mezquita" of Buenos Aires, and after two years of being founded Deportivo Espanol had about 2,000 members, mostly of them were Spanish descendant living in Argentina.
In 1957 Espanol affiliated to the Argentine Football Association and the football team began to participate in the fourth division ("Tercera de Ascenso", now Primera D). Since then, the team ascended the tiers in Argentine football: in 1958 (a year after joining the AFA) Espanol won the championship promoting to "Segunda de Ascenso" (now Primera C. Only 3 years after promoting to the upper category, Espanol won another title promoting to the second division of Argentine football, Primera B Metropolitana. The squad went on a tour that same year, playing some matches in Spain against teams such as Real Madrid.
In 1967, ten years after its foundation, Espanol promoted to the Argentine Primera Division, the top category of Argentine football. The club not only developed a competitive football squad but also became the most popular Spanish club in Argentina. During those years the Municipality of Buenos Aires gave the club 16 hectares located in the district known as "Bajo Flores", in the south of the city. In those lands Espanol began to build its sports installations with the help of the members themselves, who worke
This page also has a version in other languages : Депортиво Эспаньол (russian)