The Lleida is reborn in the lowest category: "A problem? It's an opportunity"

BarcelonaFootball fans in Lleida have not found peace for years. But this summer they may regain hope. For years, football in the capital of Segrià has been marked by the economic and institutional problems of the heir team of the lifelong Lleida, the club that reached the First Division on two occasions, the last one in the 90s. Since then, debts, lawsuits, disappointments, and economic failures. The last one this summer, as the team that played in Tercera RFEF could not find a buyer who agreed to pay the debts it carried and had to close shop. A chaotic end, as a foreign buyer appeared who turned out to be a scammer. A chaotic end, as a foreign buyer appeared who turned out to be a scammer. "Everything has happened to us," says journalist Juanjo Lecumberri.

Lecumberri, son of a legendary former Navarrese player of the club who put down roots in Lleida, a few months ago presented a book in which he emotionally explained why his life was tied to the club's blue jersey. Now he no longer speaks as a journalist. Now he is the vice-president of the new Lleida. "A new Lleida that aims to be the Lleida of always," he explains. Back in 2025, a group of fans created a new sports association to keep the flame alive if Lleida disappeared – at the time it was drowning in debt. The agony lasted a year. And in 2026, this entity will be the basis of the new Lleida CF. A club that will play in Quarta Catalana, the most modest category of Catalan football. Starting from the bottom, but with the symbols of the club that reached the First Division. "We have the opportunity to have a Lleida that belongs to the members. And it is a pride," says Lecumberri.

The new Lleida CF will be a club owned by its members. Those who become members will have a say in the assemblies. The first board of directors will be led by Andreu Ratés as president and Lecumberri as vice-president. "A board is needed to get it started. When a year has passed and everything is up and running, we will hold an assembly to be ratified or for a new board to come in," says Lecumberri. One of the first things the club did was to acquire the brand that includes the name, crest, social networks, and historical trophies of UE Lleida, Lleida Esportiu, and Lleida CF itself. It will also have the official club anthem, exclusively ceded by the author, former coach Jordi Gonzalvo. "On an emotional level, it allows us to give continuity to more than 87 years of history," says the vice-president. "The new project begins a new era with the will to preserve this legacy and make it grow," said the club's statement announcing this move. To keep the symbols alive, the club will wear the Kappa brand, as in the good old days.

The next step has been to ask the City Council for permission to play matches at the Camp d’Esports, which is municipal property. "If we could play at the Camp d'Esports as a Fourth Catalan team, it would be a very powerful message. Beyond the sentimental value of this stadium," says Lecumberri, who attended the meeting with the Paeria. "It will depend on them, but we are happy with the meeting. We have to play at the Camp d'Esports for its symbolic value, but also for security reasons, because in Lleida we don't have stadiums for more than 1,500 spectators," he says. Lleida CF believes they can exceed 2,000 members to start.

The new Lleida was presented this Thursday at an event in the theater of the Maristes de Montserrat school, the same venue that hosted the birth of Lleida in 1939. The 450 seats available for the presentation were sold out in a few hours. "This proves that people want to follow the club, to maintain tradition. What we are demonstrating these days is immense. Enthusiasm, commitment, and enormous desire to continue walking together," says Lecumberri. An event that will feature the presence of the mayor of Lleida, Fèlix Larrosa. "We have an opportunity to make a clean slate, to have our own club. And time passes quickly. In a few years, we can be in the Elite League, moving up steadily," concludes the vice-president.