Sporting de Gijon

Known as Rojiblancos because of their red and white striped jerseys, their home field is El Molinón stadium, the oldest professional football field in Spain, in use since at least 1908. Sporting de Gijón is chronologically the sixth-oldest club in La Liga 2009-10. The club ranks 15th in the All-Time La Liga table, 2nd in the All-Time Segunda División table  and is one of nine clubs in Spanish football to have never been relegated from the second division.

The club was established in 1905 with the name Sporting Gijonés, Anselmo López being the first president. King Alfonso XIII accepted the Royal patronage of the club for the Spanish crown in 1912, introducing the term "Real" (Spanish for "Royal") to its name, becoming Real Sporting Club Gijonés. In 1916 a new change took place to adopt today's denomination, Real Sporting de Gijón. From 1941 until the 1970s, due to a temporary law forbidding the use of foreign words in football club names, the team's official denomination was Real Gijón.

In 1944, the club was promoted into First Division for the first time, and played thereafter in both the first and second divisions, achieving greatest success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, competing for league and national cup titles and laying the groundwork for a 21-year continuous stretch in La Liga. During this period, Sporting competed in the UEFA Cup six times, losing in the Round of 32 four times, and the Round of 16 twice, most recently in 1991-92.

Following a disastrous 1998 campaign, the club was relegated to Second Division, where they played for a ten seasons stretch. On 15 June 2008, the club secured promotion back to Primera for the 2008-09 season. In the 08-09 season their best victories have came against Valencia (2-3) and Sevilla (1-0). In their first five games of the 08-09 season, they conceded 20 goals. The 08-09 season also saw them break La Liga record of 29 consecutive games without a draw. They played 33 games before their only draw of the season, 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao on 3 May 2009.

Club colours and crest

Sporting de Gijón have worn red and white striped jerseys since their inception, being the first spanish actual first division's team to wear red & white, as both Athletic Bilbao and Atlético Madrid wore blue and white until 1909. The colors are those of the official flag of Gijón, which itself is based on the flag of the maritime province of Gijón, established in 1845.

Like most old football clubs, Sporting de Gijón did not initially have any badge displayed on their shirts. Their first official badge was introduced in the 1920s. It consisted of a traditionally shaped shield split into three sections, representing the club and the city.

From 1931 to 1936, during the Spanish Second Republic, the badge consisted of a circular shield and had the royal crown in the top replaced by a mural crown.

The club's badge is a triangle with red and white vertical stripes with 'S' (for Sporting) and 'G' (for Gijón) intertwined, in gold, across them. A crown in the top symbolizes the royal patronage

  Flag

The official flag of Sporting de Gijón consist of, in a rectangular field with ratio 2:3, nine equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white. The logo of the club is displayed in the centre.