State of play: Canary Islands
Spain is made up of 17 unique and autonomous regions and regional pride is as big as national pride in what can often feel a fragmented and divided country.
The Spanish colonisation of the Canary Islands begain in 1402 when the Castilians began an expedition. It took over a century for the Castilians to conquer the islands such was the resistance put up by the indigenous population.
If you mention the Canary Islands many will think of holidays, cheap bars, volcanoes and if you’re a cycling fan like myself altitude training for some of the biggest World Tour cycling teams.
Despite being 870 miles away from the closest point of the mainland football on the island is very much integrated into the Spanish system. The Canary Islands have had a huge impact in terms of their style of play and the type of player associated with the islands.
Stereotypes often abound when it comes to regions in the world and Spain is no different, the stereotype for the Canaries is people who are relaxed, enjoy life, speak quickly and are jokey and when you look at the players who come from the region there is some truth.
Juan Carlos Valeron, David Silva, Pedri, Yeremay, Yeremy Pino, Roque Mesa, Jonathan Viera and even Alberto Moleiro they all play with a calmness, look like they enjoy football and don’t play with pressure on their shoulders. The Spanish call this Pausa the ability to slow down take control and assess the situation.
Pío Pío
Known as Las Palmas but full name Union Deportiva Las Palmas, the side from Gran Canaria are a merger of five clubs hence the Union Deportiva and have been in their current form since 1949.
They have been a top flight side for 36 seasons since their creation with their glory days in the 60s and 70s where they spent 19 consecutive seasons in La Liga. The club finished 3rd and 2nd in 67/68 and 68/69 as they ran the might of Barca and Real Madrid close to the title.
While the 60s and 70s were glorious for Las Palmas, the 90s were painful, the club was relegated in 88 and in Segunda they suffered the ignominy of bitter rivals Tenerife being promoted and starting their glorious decade.
While Tenerife bloodied the nose of the big boys (more on that later), Las Palmas were struggling to keep their head above water and in 93 went down again this time to the third tier and out of professional football for the first time since 1950.
The third tier is so difficult to get out of and despite finishing 1st in their first season and never low than third it took four seasons for the club to get out of regionalised football and back to Segunda.
The club though did return to Segunda in 1997 and they came back a beast, they immediately finished 7th in their first season, then 3rd and 6th before promotion in 2000. This was in a time when sides such as Atleti, Real Betis and Sevilla were in the second tier and yet Las Palmas were always competing.
During this period the club had Vinny Samways an English midfielder who played over 200 games and captained the side in his six year spell. Given the tradition of how Las Palmas play football with technical midfielders who like to keep the ball and roam a bruising British midfielder with a robust disciplinary record seems incompatible with the club but fans took him to their hearts.
The club lasted two seasons in La Liga before dropping back to Segunda and this time the islanders weren’t a force to be reckoned with in the second tier as within two seasons they dropped down to the third tier. That relegation coincided with a new stadium where the club lost something. There is something about historic stadiums that even when they’re crumbling and not fit for purpose anymore they contain something that isn’t transferrable.
The Estadio de Gran Canaria was modern but also far from the pitch and lost the intensity of Estadio Insular and it’s took a long time for the Canarian club to find what it lost through redevelopment of their new stadium to try to cut down on the gap from the pitch through removing the running track.
After two seasons in the third tier Las Palmas returned to Segunda and unfortunately for their fans who had become accustomed to top flight football they became a staple of Segunda life spending nine consecutive seasons in the second tier.
That all changed though when former Liverpool assistant manager Paco Herrera came in and guided Las Palmas to promotion. While he eventually left with the club in the relegation zone in La Liga, it saw a handing over to the new guard with players such as Jonathan Viera and Roque Mesa becoming the leaders in the team and veteran legendary playmaker Juan Carlos Valeron retiring.
Herrera was replaced by someone who embodied the style of Las Palmas even if he was from the complete opposite part of Spain. Quique Setien grew up in Cantabria, and became an idol at Racing Santander. As a coach he had made his name at Lugo an unfancied and unheralded side from Galicia. He had also been a coach at beach soccer and it showed in his way of playing. Known as a purist who demanded his sides play attractive football, he took them from the bottom three to midtable while playing a style that represented the clubs philosophy. Nothing summed up the club’s style of play better than this Kevin Prince Boateng goal that ended up on the Puskas award list nominees for best goals in 2017.
Setien though left in 2017 for Real Betis and Kevin Prince Boateng and Roque Mesa also left for pastures new and the club had a disastrous season. B team coach Manolo Marquez had been promoted to the top job but lasted just six matches, former Liverpool assistant coach Pako Ayesteran then came in but he did only slightly better as he lasted seven matches before Paquito had an interim spell and the club finished the season with local boy and maverick coach Paco Jemez.
Jemez brought up in the Las Palmas way of football should have suited the club but in his second spell in charge it ended with relegation and a whopping 21 points off safety. In Segunda the club tried various different coaches and players in a five year absence from the top flight.
The conveyor belt of talent didn’t stop though with Pedri becoming the clubs youngest ever goal scorer at 16 years, 9 months and 23 days of age. He was bought by Barcelona and the rest is history. The time in Segunda was a mixed spell, while the club brought players through it also suffered the pain of a play-off defeat by arch rivals Tenerife. Ex Barca B coach Garcia Pimienta came in and guided the club to promotion and although his style of play was possession based it wasn’t the thrilling Las Palmas side of the Setien years.
After taking them to safety in La Liga, Pimienta left for Sevilla and Luis Carrion was the next coach to take the reigns. He though didn’t last and the club brought in Diego Martinez a coach who had lost his way after a breakthrough spell at Granada.
The club has also signed profiles of players very different to their usual technical style in Scott McKenna and Oli McBurnie. Both have integrated well with McBurnie giving interviews in Spanish but on the pitch Las Palmas are in the bottom three and looking like returning to Segunda.
It’s also looking like they won’t renew rivalries with familiar foes Tenerife in Segunda either.
Tete
Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and lives in the shadow of Mt Teide a dormant volcano that has a new life as an altitude camp for professional cyclists. When it comes to football the club was formed in 1922. The clubs early years were spent in regional football in tier 4 but reached La Liga for the first time in 1961 in a fleeting experience. The club lasted one season and by the end of the decade were in tier 3.
Tete became a yo-yo club over the next couple of decades between Segunda and tier 3 before their golden period in the 90s arrived. Things really took off in 1991 under legendary Real Madrid player Jorge Valdano, despite his allegiances Tenerife became famous for stopping Real Madrid from winning the title not once but twice in consecutive seasons under Valdano on the final day of the season. Both times they handed the title to Cruyff’s Barcelona meaning the club is held in high esteem in Catalunya.
The second of those final day victories saw Tenerife clinch a place in the UEFA Cup where they reached the last 16 before going out to Juventus. Real Madrid like Bayern have always been masters off their opponents to weaken their foes and strengthen themselves and Jorge Valdano was signed as Head Coach of Real Madrid. He brought midfielder Fernando Redondo in and he became a key part of a Madrid side that won two La Ligas and two Champions Leagues. Tenerife though carried on and with German coach Jupp Heynckes coming in finished 5th again.
This time they reached the semi final of the UEFA Cup before bowing out to eventual winners Schalke 1-2 on aggregate. That though was the pinnacle and just three seasons later they were relegated to Segunda. The club spent just two seasons in Segunda and famously beat Atletico Madrid to promotion in 2001 with a young Rafa Benitez in charge of the Islanders. That Tenerife side was full of talent with Mista, Curro Torres and Luis Garcia in their ranks but the success of promotion saw Benitez move on to giants Valencia.
The club was relegated after just one season and spent the following seven seasons in mid-table obscurity in Segunda before a surprise promotion in 2009. Again the club were one season wonders and worse was to follow as the club suffered back to back relegations and Tete found themselves in tier 3.
After two seasons the club returned to Segunda where they have been for the last twelve seasons. The club had been a model of stability and almost clinched promotion in 2022 defeating bitter rivals Las Palmas in the Semi Finals before losing out to Girona in the final.
Jose Garrido came in not long after as the biggest stakeholder of the club and a self confessed tax evader he has brought chaos to a club who had been well run. This season has been a disaster with poor decision making seeing the club languishing in the bottom four for almost the entire season.
The club and fanbase pushed to remove Garrido and his associates from decision making at the club and after months of extraordinary AGMs they have finally appeared to take him out of the equation. While relegation is almost a certainty there are green shoots at the club. In Alvaro Cervera they have an astute coach who has turned the ship round and given them hope while at board level Felipe Minambres an excellent Sporting Director is now at the club and plotting their return to professional football.
What’s most encouraging is the amount of youngsters breaking into the first team. Aaron Martin broke through before being sold to Saudi side Al Qadsiah, 16 year old Dani Fernandez also broke through. While Martin won’t be part of the clubs future long term the arrival of youth team players into the first team is promising especially for a team who saw local boy Pedri head to bitter rivals Las Palmas.
Canarian Derbi
These two sides fight for prominence as the main team from the islands and the derbies are a passionate and colourful affair. Fans will travel over via ferry and plane or some will live on the respective island the game is being played on. While Las Palmas have spent longer in the top tier and have a bigger history the derbi record is a close affair with 28 wins for Las Palmas, 21 for Tenerife and 26 draws. Both sides also have significant support from the ex-pat communities living on the islands of Gran Canaria and Las Palmas. With both sides in the relegation places in their respective divisions it’s looking like we won’t see the derbi next season unless it comes in the Copa.
Outside the big two
While there are plenty of teams playing football in the Canaries none have cut through like the big two. Universidad de Las Palmas had a spell in Segunda but they disappeared and never really had a fanbase to support Segunda football, arguably the third team now is UD Lanzarote and they made the Copa del Rey this season giving Racing Santander a run for their money. They also have a brilliantly run and up to date website in English run by fans you can access here.
The real impact
While no team from the Canaries has collected a major honour they have impacted world football heavily through the players the Island produces. Looking at just recent history the list is truly incredible Juan Carlos Valeron someone who embodied Super Depor and got 46 caps for Spain, David Silva winner of two EUROS and a World Cup alongside countless honours for Man City. Pedro who was part of the glorious Spain years alongside Silva but also a key part of the treble winning Barca side. Then you have Pedri and he is currently being recognised as the best midfielder in the world at Barca. Then there are those who are loved on a cult icon level like Jonathan Viera, Roque Mesa and Kirian who is undergoing a second cancer treatment. They have also impacted football through their style, many say tiki taka was created on the islands and the freedom with which players from the Canary Islands play is worlds away from say the Basque mentality where effort and grit are valued maybe more than technical ability. Tenerife have seen two locals feed through into the first team and while one might be off to Saudi they both should have bright futures. Possibly the next big talent is Yeremay Hernandez, he took a similar path to his idol Valeron in being from Gran Canaria but playing for Depor and in his first season in professional football has 14 goals and 5 assists, those figures have seen Chelsea and Napoli circling but with a buyout of around €20 million he has so far resisted the offers and committed to Depor.
State of play
It seems strange to say with both the main teams in the relegation places but it feels like the game is in a good place in the region, Tenerife have got rid of an owner who was an existential threat and could have driven the club to abyss and Las Palmas don’t feel far away from being a La Liga side. Both sides have great academies and production lines of talent and both will feel they can return to La Liga and Segunda quickly if they are to fall through the trap door. With Pedri as a global ambassador for the region expect plenty more technically gifted players to represent the region.