Villaviciosa – Campo Les Caleyes

Located in the Asturian town of a Villaviciosa, Club Deportivo Lealtad (lealtad is Spanish for loyalty) was founded by members of a workers education cooperative in April 1916. For the first 75 years of its existence, CD Lealtad’s staple diet consisted of football in the lower reaches of the Asturian regional leagues. They finally reached the Tercera in 1990 and won their first Tercera title in 1992. Until recently, their biggest success came in the 1997/98 season, when under the stewardship of Marcelino García Toral the club gained promotion to Segunda B. Their stay in the third tier lasted just the one season after they finished bottom with 9 wins and 36 points.

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Match Day at Las Caleyes

After a 15 year absence, Club Deportivo Lealtad returned to Segunda B in May 2014, thanks to a fourth Tercera title and victory over CD Puertollano in the playoffs. Les Caleyes was crammed-full on 25 May 2014, when Lealtad overcame a first-leg deficit to beat CD Puertollano 4-3 on penalties and claim a place in the third tier. Four seasons in the third tier followed, with two very respectable 10th-placed finishes achieved in 2015-16 & 16-17. Les Caleyes also recorded its highest official attendance on 24 April 2016, when 4,052 spectators watched the Segunda B fixture versus Racing Santander. Lealtad dropped back to the Tercera at the end of the 2017-18 season, but disappointment at relegation was tempered by their first victory in Copa Federación de Asturias, beating Sporting Gijón B in October 2018.

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The only shelter at Les Caleyes

Lealtad plays its home matches at the Campo Les Caleyes, a basic municipal ground with a capacity of 5,000 on the northern edge of town. It has been home since 1919, making it technically the fourth oldest stadium in Spain (although to describe it as a stadium before 1960 is stretching it a bit!).  It has only one small seated stand on the southern side of the pitch. 30 metres in length, its green cantilevered roof hangs over four rows of black bucket seats. The remaining three sides of the stadium are made up of hard standing. Like any decent ground at this level, Las Caleyes has a bar and clubhouse where you can grab a beer and a bite to eat while watching the match. Whilst the clubhouse dates from the mid-2000s, the dressing rooms for the players and officials, located next door, date from the 1960s.

 

 

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