Elche Club de Football is a Spanish football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain was founded in 1923. They were recently promoted to the first division of the Spanish football league, La Liga. Elche was the first and the last club in the Spanish football to be relegated due to unpaid tax debts in the 2014-2015 season, but after spending a few seasons in the Segunda division the club was promoted in the 2020-21 season, however, in a couple of years they again relegated in the Segunda division and the 2025-26 they came back stronger, as they secured their spot in the La Liga. Elche will play their home games in Estadio Martínez Valero, with a capacity of 33,732 seats.
Early days: Elche FC was founded in the winter of 1923, as the result of a merger of multiple clubs, and Elche entered the league system in the 1929 season, they started their journey being the Tercera División. The Club's first game was against Monovar, where they beat the team and the score line was 4-0. In its first years, Elche, like many teams of the time, played in all white. The team played its first league season in 1929–30, in the Tercera División, and they achieved promotion to the Segunda División in 1934. However, Elche suffered relegation first time in six years but secured the promotion in the following season.
Early La Liga Days: Elche secured their promotion in the 1959 season, and it was a first-tier club till 1978. After that period, they were relegated to the Segunda division again. Elche's first match was a 1-1 draw against Real Oviedo: the first goal being scored by Vicente Pahuet. The club finished 10th out of the 16 sides, nine points ahead of that season's relegated team, Osasuna. The campaign included a 2–1 comeback home victory over Barcelona, but also a 2–11 loss at Real Madrid.
The following season saw the team a turmoil, having to compete in the relegation/promotion play-off, where it overcame a 0–1 loss in the away leg against Atlético Ceuta with a 4–0 home victory. Elche achieved their best-ever league finish in 1963–64, ranking in fifth position.
Recent Years: Elche was relegated in the 2014-15 season, due to unpaid tax debt. In the 2016–17 season, Elche were relegated to the third division after 18 years in the professional league. One year later, Elche was promoted back to the second division after defeating Villarreal B. In the 2019–20 season, Elche were promoted to La Liga by beating Girona in the promotion play-off final 1–0 on aggregate. They were promoted back to La Liga after five years in the second and third divisions.
Elche FC's Net Worth is not publicly available; however, its market value is estimated amount of €37.30 million. The club's sponsorship revenue for the 2022/23 season is over $5.2m, with TM Grupo Inmobiliario being the biggest sponsor of the club.
