Everyone who has a passing interest in Spanish football will have heard of Sociedad Deportiva Eibar. You know of them, right? They’re that small Spanish club that defied the odds to reach (and stay for a while) in La Primera. Their 7-season-long stay in the top tier is a remarkable story, but if you look beyond the headlines, you will note that the club has spent all but six of the last forty seasons in the top two divisions. Whilst it would be unfair to ask “What took them so long?”, a more reasonable question would be why SD Eibar showed more than a degree of indifference in establishing a reserve team in the federated leagues.
Following its formation in 1947, SD Eibar spent the next four decades with an on-and-off relationship with Real Sociedad. La Real’s players who were starting their professional career or on the fringe of the reserve team in San Sebastian would often be sent on loan to SD Eibar. Occasionally, some of SD Eibar’s brightest talent would make the opposite journey. This arrangement, along with an extensive scouting system throughout the Basque Country, remained in place until the mid-1990s. In the summer of 1994, with the first team having just completed a sixth successive finish in the lower half of La Segunda, the club decided to form a reserve team to bridge the gap between the youth setup and the first team. Sociedad Deportiva Eibar B, SAD, to quote its full title, was founded on 1 July 1994 and joined the Segunda Regional Grupo III. Home matches were played at Ipurua, and in its first competitive match on 18 September 1994, SD Eibar B trounced Zestoa B 10-0. Promotion to the Primera Regional Grupo II was won at the end of the season. The Primera title was won at the end of the 1996-97 season, with their last league fixture at Ipurua ending in a 5-1 victory over Elgoibar B. In the close season, Eibar B moved to Complejo Municipal de Unbe.
The Complejo Municipal de Unbe was a municipal sports complex that opened in 1997, just to the south of the city. Unbe was built into a steep valley and spread over three man-made terraces. SD Eibar B played at the small, purpose-built football ground, on the lowest of the three terraces. All the amenities were located on the southern side of the enclosure, with spectators housed in a small 300-capacity covered stand. Changing facilities and a clubhouse stood on either side of the stand, whilst an artificial playing surface ensured that the heavy Ipurua pitch was a thing of the past. SD Eibar B played its first competitive match at Unbe on 14 September 1997, beating Aretxabaleta 3-0. By the end of the season, SD Eibar B had wrapped up the Regional Preferente title to earn promotion to the National Tercera. Their debut season at the national level saw the club finish in a modest 13th place. The following 1999-00 season saw SD Eibar B finish fourth in the league and qualify for the end-of-season playoffs. Paired with SD Noja, SD Huesca, and CD Mirandés, SD Eibar B topped the group and, just six seasons after forming, had reached the third tier of Spanish football.
Life in the third tier got off to a difficult start, with just one point gained in their first six matches. However, a run of four wins in five matches lifted SD Eibar B out of the relegation zone, to which they did not return. Safety was secured in the penultimate match of the season with a 2-0 victory over Club Deportivo Tropezón. The 2001-02 season was an altogether more difficult proposition. Hampered by a sluggish start and condemned after an appalling second half of the season, SD Eibar B’s Segunda B odyssey ended after just two seasons. Back in the Euskadi section of the Tercera, the club experienced a common problem that befalls many reserve sections: Inconsistency brought about by the sheer turnover of players. The next decade saw SD Eibar narrowly escape the drop to the Regional Preferente on two occasions, but reach the playoffs only once. After finishing 13th in the Tercera at the end of the 2011-12 season, the club president, Álex Aranzábal, announced the withdrawal of SD Eibar B from the league. He claimed that the financial aid received from the Provincial Council and the provision of players from Real Sociedad were insufficient. Funds and efforts would be directed into the juvenile section and the first team. The decision was seen as shortsighted but was soon forgotten when the first team won successive promotions and made its debut in La Primera at the start of the 2014-15 season.
With the dissolution of the reserve team, SD Eibar returned to a familiar model in 2015. An agreement was reached with CD Vitoria, who became an affiliate club of SD Eibar and received the best young players in the Azulgranas youth system. In the spring of 2016, Urkomendi 14 Futbol Kirol became a dependent team of SD Eibar, and following its promotion to the Regional Preferente, it was renamed SD Eibar Urko. Before the start of the 2018-19 season, SD Eibar Urko changed its name to SD Eibar B. After a dominant season, SD Eibar B won promotion to the Tercera, but there was a problem. After two seasons in Segunda B, CD Vitoria was relegated, as regulations prevented teams from the same parent club from competing in the same division. The same problem looked as if it was going to recur in the 2019-20 season, but the league was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a recurring problem, but in July 2024, SD Eibar ended its affiliation with CD Victoria, and SD Eibar B took over the place in the Segunda Federación that CD Vitoria had just earned. To complicate matters, the place that SD Eibar B had won in the Tercera Federación at the end of the 2023-24 season was filled by SD Eibar C.
In 2018, SD Eibar announced plans for a new training complex that would be located in Alto de Mallabia, around 5km west of the city. The project would be phased to ensure the club remained debt-free. The project was formally approved in 2018, and construction began in 2021. SD Eibar received a substantial boost when the CVC Capital Partners agreement with La Liga sent €68m their way. The site covers 107,900 m², and is designed to serve all levels of the club while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability and professional performance. The facility includes five full-size football pitches, with a mix of natural, hybrid, and artificial surfaces, alongside a 4,284 m² Tribuna Building that hosts reserve-team matches and accommodates 1,620 spectators. Inside are locker rooms, gym and physiotherapy areas, medical facilities, offices, meeting rooms, classrooms, press facilities, and a bar. Environmental features include a 2,000 m³ water reservoir for irrigation and rooftop solar panels for energy self-sufficiency.
SD Eibar B officially began playing its home matches at the Ciudad Deportiva de Areitio following the inauguration of Phase I in July 2025. The move marked a major step in the club’s long-term development, with the reserve side joining the first team and academy at a single integrated training hub. D Eibar B’s first official appearance at Areitio came on 6 August 2025 in a 1–1 pre-season draw against Deportivo Alavés B, while the first competitive fixture at the venue was a 2–0 victory over SD Logroñés on 7 September 2025.
Estadios de España 