Canary Islands soccer information – Las Palmas, Tenerife & extra

With a light year-round local weather and good flight connections, there aren’t many higher locations to flee the winter freeze and catch some soccer than the Canary Islands. The 2 largest islands, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, have each repeatedly hosted high flight motion previously and the latter nonetheless does. With loads of motion decrease down the pyramid too, there’s loads of motive to plan a Canary Islands soccer journey.

Whereas the islands, positioned simply off the western coast of Africa, are so far as a 3 hour flight from elements of mainland Spain, they’ve nonetheless very a lot made their mark on Spanish soccer. Former LaLiga stars similar to David Silva, Pedro and Juan Carlos Valeron have been all born and raised right here, whereas present Barcelona midfielder Pedri was born in Tenerife, however a product of the Las Palmas youth system.

Canaries Islands soccer map

The Canary Islands (Islas Canarias in Spanish), are positioned within the Atlantic Ocean, simply west of Morocco however over 1000 miles south of mainland Spain. To place that in some perspective, take into account that Madrid is nearer to London than any of the seven predominant islands that make up the Canaries.

Regardless of their remoted location, the Canary Islands are a proper a part of Spain and are one of many nation’s 17 autonomous communities. The 2 most populated islands are Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with simply shy of 1,000,000 individuals completely dwelling on every, along with the various holidaymakers.

Each islands are house to main golf equipment with second tier CD Tenerife positioned within the metropolis of Santa Cruz, whereas high flight UD Las Palmas are based mostly within the metropolis of the identical title in Gran Canaria. These are additionally the 2 largest cities within the Canaries, with Las Palmas de Gran Canaria really rating because the ninth largest metropolis in all of Spain.

As of the 2024/25 season, there are not any different Canaries golf equipment in Spain’s high three tiers. Nonetheless you’ll be able to normally discover a decrease league match happening on the weekend in the course of the soccer season, together with on the easternmost islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and even the smaller western island of La Palma (to not be confused with town of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria).

The 2 smallest islands seen on the map west of Tenerife, are La Gomera and El Hierro, however each have tiny populations and never a lot of a soccer presence.

Canary Islands soccer groups

The Huge Two

Las Palmas

Stadium – Estadio Gran Canaria

Capability – 32,400

Nearest Station – None

Whereas Tenerife followers could disagree, Las Palmas are usually considered as the most important membership within the Canaries. They spent 19 consecutive seasons within the Primera between 1964 and 1983, and even managed to complete 2nd in 1968/69 with Actual Madrid pipping them to the title. A couple of European campaigns adopted, however issues have declined lately with the membership having solely spent seven seasons within the high flight since 1988.

That features the 2024/25 season, Las Palmas’ second marketing campaign again within the high flight following promotion in 2023 below Garcia Pimienta. They’re one in every of two islands groups presently in LaLiga, together with Balearic Island outfit Mallorca.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Las Palmas matches:

The Estadio Gran Canaria is the biggest stadium within the Canaries and has usually hosted the Spanish nationwide staff. With a capability of over 30,000, getting tickets for Las Palmas needs to be quite simple, though costs could rise for large video games towards the likes of Actual Madrid and Barcelona. You will discover data and buy tickets for upcoming video games on-line by way of their ticketing web page.

The stadium is sadly positioned fairly a method south from the central areas of town of Las Palmas. It’s roughly 5km from the Las Canteras seaside space the place a lot of the resorts and vacationer amenities are positioned with bus routes 26, 44 and 45 offering hyperlinks though teams could discover it easier to simply take a taxi. There are not any trains, trams or metro providers on the island of Gran Canaria with plans for the primary line on maintain since 2004 as a consequence of funding difficulties.

Tenerife

Stadium – Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez

Capability – 22,824

Nearest Station – La Paz (Tenerife Tram)

The opposite predominant Canaries staff is CD Tenerife who tackle Las Palmas within the hotly contested Canary Islands derby each time the golf equipment are in the identical division. Based in 1912, they’re significantly older than their rivals however have largely lived of their shadows for a lot of their historical past. Nonetheless issues dramatically modified within the Nineties when Las Palmas sank as little as the third tier, whereas Tenerife loved an actual golden period, spending ten straight seasons within the high flight between 1989 and 1999, having solely beforehand featured in it as soon as.

Throughout that interval, they famously twice denied Actual Madrid the title on the ultimate weekend and secured two fifth place finishes which secured European soccer. They made all of it the best way to the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1996/97, beating the likes of Lazio and Feyenoord earlier than ultimately dropping to Schalke. Nonetheless since then requirements have slipped and so they’ve spent a lot of the twenty first Century within the Segunda Division, the place they presently reside.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Tenerife matches:

Tenerife do have a loyal following however they not often promote out the Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez, with common attendances of simply over 15,000 in the course of the 2023/24 season. They’ve some actually good worth tickets, with costs beginning at simply 15 Euros for adults and 5 Euros for youngsters on the time of writing. Extra data could be discovered on their ticketing web page.

The stadium is positioned conveniently, only a 10 minute stroll from La Paz tram station, whereas it’s solely a 20 minute stroll from central elements of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to the bottom, with plentiful bus connections too.

The Better of the Relaxation – Island by Island

You will discover a bunch of different Canary Islands soccer golf equipment within the Spanish fourth and fifth tiers.

Within the Segunda Federacion (fourth tier), the present Canarian illustration comes from Atletico Paso (La Palma) and Union Sur Yaiza (Lanzarote), whereas Tenerife B additionally play at that stage.

In the meantime Group 12 of the Tercera Federacion (fifth tier) consists solely of Canarian golf equipment with groups from every of the 5 largest islands.

Tenerife

Apart from the Segunda Division membership, there are a bunch of different different soccer groups in Tenerife and lots of of them are extra accessible to vacationers and holidaymakers. The favored vacation resort of Playa de las Americas within the south of Tenerife is house to Membership Deportivo Marino who play on the 7,500 capability Estadio Antonio Domínguez.

Even when they’re away on the time of your go to, CD Buzanada, UD Ibarra and San Miguel are different Tercera Federacion sides within the Playa de las Americas space. On the north coast, you can too discover Santa Ursula, the fifth membership from Tenerife enjoying at that stage as of the 2024/25 season.

Gran Canaria

Within the metropolis of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and surrounding space, you could find 4 groups enjoying within the Tercera Federacion – Tamaraceite, Union Viera, Arucas and Las Palmas’ B aspect.

A bit additional south you’ll find native rivals Panaderia Pulido and UD Villa de Santa Brigida, whereas within the centre of the island, San Fernando (the place David Silva performed as a teen) are based mostly within the village of San Bartolome de Tirajana, near Estrella CF who have been promoted final yr to make it eight Gran Canaria soccer groups within the 2024/25 Tercera Federacion.

Lanzarote

Arrecife-based Union Deportiva Lanzarote are the most important membership on the volcanic island of Lanzarote and are perhaps the third largest staff within the Canaries after Las Palmas and Tenerife. Nonetheless, they presently play within the Tercera Federacion, a tier under their Segunda Federacion island neighbours Union Sur Yaiza.

There may be one different Tercera Federacion membership on the island and that’s San Bartolome CF.

Fuerteventura

The second largest Canary island by space, however sparsely populated with solely round 100,000 individuals dwelling there, Fuerteventura’s soccer scene isn’t fairly as vibrant, not least after UD Fuerteventura have been dissolved in 2010 as a consequence of monetary issues.

As of the 2024/25 season, they’ve just one membership within the Tercera Federacion and that’s CD Herbania, based mostly within the capital Puerto del Rosario.

La Palma

The tiny volcanic island of La Palma punches above its weight on the soccer subject to some extent with one Segunda Federacion and two Tercera Federacion golf equipment.

El Paso based mostly Atletico Paso are presently the very best ranked aspect, enjoying within the fourth tier for the third season in a row, which implies they repeatedly journey to and from the mainland for video games.

Within the Tercera Federacion, CD Mensajero are traditionally an even bigger membership, having been based greater than 100 years in the past. They’re based mostly in Santa Cruz de La Palma, the island’s capital and play on the beautiful cliffside Estadio Nuevo Silvestre Carrillo. In the meantime, you can too catch Spanish fifth tier motion in La Palma with Los Llanos.

Groundhopping within the Canary Islands – Getting round

The Canary Islands have wonderful flight connections with Madrid, in addition to many routes to cities throughout Europe, significantly the UK. Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Tenerife North, Lanzarote-Cesar Manrique and Fuerteventura are 5 of the 13 busiest in Spain, so flying in shouldn’t be an issue.

By way of getting between the islands, the quickest ferry hyperlinks between Tenerife and Gran Canaria are with Fred Olsen and take only one hour 20 minutes. There are numerous sailings all through the day with fares beginning at as little as €12 if booked prematurely.

There are comparatively good transport hyperlinks between the entire 5 predominant Canary Islands by ferry. Due to this fact whereas most guests to the area fly out and in of 1 island and don’t depart it, arranging a bigger journey taking in a number of islands needs to be no drawback in any respect.

Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are lower than ten miles aside on the closest level with the various Corralejo-Playa Blanca ferries connecting the 2 islands in lower than half an hour every day.

Getting between Lanzarote or Fuerteventura and the opposite islands takes a bit longer however there are nonetheless common connections. From Lanzarote, it may well take 4 to 6 hours by ferry to achieve Gran Canaria and much more to achieve Tenerife (you could want to hook up with a separate ferry in Gran Canaria). Do examine journey instances if you guide, as there are some significantly slower ferries.

The small island of La Palma is finest reached from the port of Los Cristianos in Southern Tenerife, with journey instances of round two hours half-hour.

You might want to take into account renting a automobile to assist your travels although as public transport connections on the islands are much less plentiful than in mainland Spain. Whereas there are public buses on all of the islands and lots of vacationer choices, these could also be a bit much less common throughout quieter intervals of the yr. Of the islands, solely Tenerife has some type of rail community, with the Tranvia de Tenerife working within the northern area round Santa Cruz.

Away from the soccer

The Canary Islands have been a preferred winter solar vacation spot for Europeans for a lot of many years now. Their southerly location ensures they’re principally the one place in Europe the place you could be assured that it will likely be heat sufficient to go to the seaside from November to February with common day by day highs of 20°C or extra all year long in the entire Canary Islands, at the very least on the coast.

You might be just about spoiled for alternative when it comes to seashores. For those who’re searching for a resort vacation, a number of the liveliest embrace Las Americas (Tenerife), Playa del Ingles (Gran Canaria) and Puerto del Carmen (Lanzarote).

For those who’re searching for one thing a lot quieter, there are masses extra choices for lovely seashores, coves and bays away from the crowds. The island of La Palma can be an awesome start line as it’s the solely one of many greatest 5 islands that hasn’t actually turn out to be a serious vacationer vacation spot, largely as a consequence of its dimension and the extraordinarily restricted capability of its airport.

The islet of La Graciosa simply off the tip of Lanzarote is one other nice choice for escaping the crowds with Playa Francesa among the finest and quietest seashores in all of the Canaries.

Inland, a lot of the islands have their very own distinctive factors of curiosity too so that you shouldn’t be struggling for issues to see and do. Lanzarote’s dramatic volcanic panorama is finest explored within the Timanfaya Nationwide Park with a go to to the Montañas del Fuego, a necessary cease to get an actual understanding for simply how a lot hearth lies beneath the floor.

Fuerteventura is probably finest recognized for its big sand dunes in Corralejo which give it nearly a Saharan really feel. In Tenerife, Los Gigantes Cliffs are one spotlight and a launching pad for whale and dolphin excursions whereas the island can also be house to Spain’s highest peak – El Teide. This may be reached by cable automobile though the speedy ascent to the three,500 metre mountain does trigger altitude illness for some individuals.

Whereas the main cities within the Canaries are a bit underwhelming in fact, there are dozens of good fishing villages dotted across the islands and there are just a few nice cities with loads of character together with San Cristobal de la Laguna (Tenerife) and Santa Cruz (La Palma).