CD Tenerife Preview

Coach: José Luis Oltra, most recently of Cd. de Murcia and Levante
Stadium: Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez, (24,800).
Region: Canary Islands
Nickname: Los Chicharreros, TeTe, Blanquiazules or Blue-whites
Derby: UD Las Palmas,
Sponsor: Caja Canarias, a regional savings institution serving the whole of the Canary Islands
Kit Description: Home: A white Puma kit with blue trim and highlights throughout. Blue shorts with white trim. Away: Blue shirts with white X criss-crossing the from and white shorts with blue trim.
History: Club Deportivo Tenerife was founded in 1922 in the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands which is actually off the coast of Africa. For a smallish club from a far-off archipelago, the club was able to punch way above their own weight in the 1990's. With Jorge Valdano coaching, they beat Real Madrid not once but twice (1992 and 1993) on the last game of the season to secure league titles for FC Barcelona, they finished fifth twice in 1993 and 1996, securing UEFA Cup slots for the following seasons and were semifinalists in the 1997 Cup bowing out to FC Schalke 04 that year under Jupp Heynckes. Other luminaries to have a mark at CD Tenerife were Victor Fernandez, Javier Clemente and even Rafa Benitez who secured promotion for Tenerife in 2001, making his mark in the process after a checkered career at Valladolid, Osasuna and Extremadura, and in a sense secured a place for him at Valencia the following year.
Trophy Room:
* Second Division (1961)
* Third Division (1971)
Famous Former Players: Luis Garcia , Roy Makaay
Main Story from last year: Other than securing promotion this time around, the Islanders were still reeling from accusations from the previous year, brought up by Real Sociedad, that players and functionaries from CD Tenerife were bought and paid for (by ex-Real Madrid head Lorenzo Sanz father of the Malaga chairman) so that Malaga could secure promotion ahead of the fourth place Basques. Ex-player Jesuli Nieto admitted in an interview that he had indeed accepted the bribe but recanted hours later. El Mundo released the video that caught him confessing to it but the CDD or Committee for Sports Discipline stood aside citing the evidence wasn't reliable enough and that there wasn't a clear enough connection between Lorenzo Sanz and the Malaga board.

Transfers: The main transfer this Summer is the signing of defensive midfielder Roman Martinez from RCD Espanyol. With them signing Shunsuke Nakamura, the Barcelona club had no slots for foreign players left, so they had to sell Roman to the Canary Islanders. He's bitter about it, but is glad that he's been able to sign so quickly for a top club like Tenerife. They have also signed wingback Aitor Nunez from Atletico de Madrid and Bellviz from Valencia.

Squad Overview: Their best player is clearly Juan Francisco 'Nino" Martinez who scored 29 goals in 42 games in the Spanish second division. Other than Alfaro who scored 20 goals on-loan from Sevilla Athletic, Nino had more goals than any other player on the squad. Alfaro has returned to Sevilla and Jose Luis Oltra is getting antsy about further signings. Xabi Alonso's brother Mikel, who spent the 2007-2008 campaign on loan at Bolton Wanderers and played well until Gary Megson took over. He bounced around in 2008-2009 with trials at Olimpiakos, Real Sociedad and Swansea but decided to join the promotion hunt at Tenerife last year.

Prediction: Second from bottom. This year’s Gijon.