Even the most pessimistic couldn’t imagine the summer of 2014, when Hércules landed in the now-extinct Second B. Ten years later, the Alicante club still hadn’t managed to get their feet out of the mud.. It’s a mud that traps and sinks a centuries-old existence each year, becoming a swamp that distances it from the elite of Spanish football.
Like this, Hercules will celebrate its tenth consecutive season without an army in the First or Second Division in 2023/24. An ominous 10 years that shamed those times when the blue-white team was respected all over the country. Ten years away from feeding hopes of return, herculanism disappointed by the accumulation of failures both in Second Division B and in the current Second RFEF, which is the fourth level of leagues in our country.
Looking at the centuries-old history of Hercules, it is no secret to say that. The club is stuck in the most depressed period of its life.. Years ago, the five-year period of the late eighties and early nineties (1989/90 to 1992/93) was over and they had to live with the harsh reality of Segunda B one step upstream. In the past, Alicante people could not make it to the Second Division until the seventh year of the establishment of the Spanish league. In between, two courses outside the first two levels between 1968 and 1970 and one course in 1959/60.
Significant drop in league’s historical classification
Hercules’ ten years outside of professional football have resulted in the Alicante club losing a position in the historic standings.
For example, in League One, the blue-whites have dropped to 29th place and are a long way from the “top 20” where they were usually until not so long ago. Meanwhile, in the Second Division, he is in fifth place, just behind Elche, who has outstripped him in this after his last promotion to the First Division and has widened the gaps in first place over the last ten years.
Spanish and European record
The presence of Hercules in the catacombs of Spanish football as a city causes. Alicante, the country’s eleventh largest country, ranks second after Malaga in terms of the number of people not included in the professional categories.. It is a bad fact that Intercity, which is still in the RFEF First Division and plays in the state capital despite being born in Sant Joan, could not save.
In the “top 25” of Spanish cities without a football presence in the first three categories, Alicante is accompanied by three Barcelona cities, such as Hospitalet de Llobregat, whose team was even lower in the Third RFEF; and clubs Terrassa and Badalona, which are Second RFEF members.
In Europe, the numbers are also striking. Among the top five leagues on the continent (Spain, England, Germany, Italy and France), only one city of similar size to Alicante (Wuppertal in Germany) has a fourth-division football team like Hercules..
Comparisons that add color to the most recent past of an entity that continues without finding its way back to its place. Ten years later, Hercules still does not leave the mud.
2010 rise is still the ultimate joy
How far back do you have to go to find your last moment of happiness in Hercules? Beyond specific hopes, Herculanism’s last great joy continues to advance to the First Division in the 2009/10 season led by coach Esteban Vigo.
Hercules finished second at the table and won the First Division ticket by beating Real Unión de Irún on the final day. Hercules of Calatayud was a promising Kiko Femenía among Paco Peña (now in sports management), Farinós, Rufete, Tote, Delibasic, Sendoa, Danciulescu, Portillo and others.
The promotion sparked enthusiasm and the arrival of names like French forward Trezeguet, Dutch midfielder Drenthe or Paraguayan forward Valdez; He scored a remarkable first round in 2010/11 with a win at the Camp Nou (0-2) and a win against Málaga (4-1) and Atlético (4-1). On matchday 18, the team was five points from Europe and nine points from relegation.
Presumably, the fall of Hercules, who lost the category after a very bad second round, began. Neither Vigo nor Djukic have produced a team that barely smiles again ten years later.