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Crests through the ages - 1919, the merger of 1939 and present day |
Founded as Levante Foot-Ball Club on 6 September 1909, it originally drew support from the tough working class
district of Cabanyal and took its name from the nearby beach. Home matches were
played at the tight and basic Camp de La Platgeta, but after a few years of competing
in the regional championship, the senior team was dissolved and the club
concentrated on junior football. The senior team was reformed in 1916 and once
again competed in the regional championship. The top club in Valencia at this
point was Gimnástico Foot-ball Club and in 1919 a new pretender arrived on the
scene in the shape of Valencia CF. In the shadow of two more popular clubs,
Levante moved in 1922 from the Camp de La Platgeta to the larger Camp de la
Creu, which held 10,000 and was closer to the centre of the city, opening up
the potential of new support.
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The Camp de la Creu in 1922 |
Whilst the rest of Spain started to embrace professional football, Levante remained strictly amateur with a strong focus on youth development. In 1924 its youth team was crowned champions of Spain and three years later these players formed the nucleus of the senior team that won the Valencian Championship of 1927-28. The league came down to the final match where Levante beat Valencia 2-1 at the Camp de la Creu to secure the title by a single point. Despite this success, the club missed out on a place in the new national leagues in 1929 and had to make do with competing in the regionalised Tercera. The second division was restructured in the summer of 1934 and Levante was invited to compete in the regionalised section that featured teams form Valencia and Murcia, including cross-city rivals Gimnástico. Two creditable third place finishes were achieved in 1934-35 & 35-36, before the league was suspended due to the outbreak of the Civil War. Unlike many other regions of Spain however, football continued on the Republican held east coast, much to Levante’s benefit.
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Decent crowd at the Camp de la Creu circa 1932 |
The outbreak of war threw up many weeks of uncertainty especially for Gimnástico, who had close links to the Valencian Nationalist Party. Levante on the other hand issued a statement in August 1936 acknowledging its absolute identification with the left wing Spanish Republic. In 1937, Levante, Gimnástico, and Valencia joined five other teams to form the Mediterranean League which was won by Barcelona with Levante trailing in fifth. The top four teams qualified for the cup competition, the Copa de la España Libre, but Barcelona’s decision to tour the USA and Mexico left the door open for Levante to enter. They took the opportunity with both hands and topped the mini league and qualified for the final against second place Valencia. The final was played on 18 July 1937 at Espnayol’s Estadi de Sarria and Levante prevailed thanks to a goal 12 minutes from the end of the match from inside forward Nieto. and Levante prevailed thanks to a goal 12 minutes from the end from inside forward Nieto. After the war, Franco’s government declared void all tournaments that were played in the Republican zone and whilst Levante has campaigned for official recognition of its win, the Spanish Parliament officially rejected the proposal in 2007.