Union Espanola

Club Union Espanola S.A.D.P is a professional Chilean football team based in Independencia, Santiago de Chile. Founded by a group of Spanish immigrants on 18 May 1897, Union Espanola have participated in the top-tier of Chilean football for all of their existence, except two seasons (1997 and 1998).

Union Espanola has won Primera Division seven times, behind Colo-Colo (31), Universidad de Chile (18), Universidad Catolica (14) and Cobreloa (8), as well as winning two Copa Chile titles. On the South American stage Union has participated nine times in Copa Libertadores, one time in Copa Sudamericana and one time in the Copa Ganadores de Copa. Union also was runner-up in the Copa Libertadores of 1975.

In July 2008, the club was purchased by the Spanish entrepreneur and owner of SEK University, Jorge Segovia. Segovia purchased all rights federative, the lower divisions, the pass of the players and the logo of the club, for a fee of 2.5 billion Chilean pesos (US$1.25 million).

Home games have been played at the Estadio Santa Laura since their 1922 opening. After Segovia's arrival in May 2008, the stadium was remodeled at a cost of 4 billion pesos. In 2009, the stadium was renamed as Estadio Santa Laura–Universidad SEK.

The club's traditional rivals are Palestino, a team founded by members of the Palestinian diaspora living in Chile and Audax Italiano, which originated from their local Italian counterpart. With Palestino and Audax, the team plays the so-called Clasico de Colonias ("Diaspora Derby"). Union Espanola is also the second oldest club of the Primera Division Chilena behind Santiago Wanderers that was founded in 1892.

History

Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons

The team was founded as Centro Espanol de Instruccion y Recreacion on 18 May 1897 by a group of Spanish immigrants resident in Chile.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Унион Эспаньола (russian)