History

An article on the establishment of new teams in Palma was published in the newspaper “Última Hora” on April 3, 1920. Up until then, teams were founded by the middle and upper social class of the city. In the text, the following sentence was highlighted:

“At the Island workshops, there is news that they are preparing to form a team”

This meant that, for the first time, a group of stock workers formed a soccer team. The team was made up of workers from the shipping company Isleña Marítima, although shipping operators and students studying this profession also participated at practices. The group adopted the name Mecánico.

Their uniforms incorporated the Isleña Marítima colors: three white stripes with a blue background, inspired by the company’s initials painted on its smoke stacks. Their pants were blue and properly trimmed… the old coveralls of the company’s workers.

In the above-mentioned article, another sentence was also highlighted:

“Fundición Carbonell organizes another eleven, promised to be a terrible rival to the size of the working people enrolled”

The workers at Fundición Carbonell, a small metalworking company in the city located on Protectors Street, were in charge of its formation. The team adopted the company’s name and then changed it to the more generic name of Mallorca as more players from other companies joined the team.

The team’s uniform consisted of completely white shirts and shorts. They played their games on a plot of land called “Sa Síquia Reial,” located between the Avenues (Conde de Sallent Avenue) and Blanquerna Street in the city. Their first leader was Bartolomé Llabrés Albertí (1886-1951).

As soon as Mecánico and Mallorca agreed upon Can Rasca, the idea was formed to come together to create a more powerful group. As a result of a joint assembly, the teams merged and adopted the name Baleares Foot-Ball Club on November 14, 1920.

The Baleares FC had its debut on November 21, 1920, winning the Veloz Sport Balear (0-5) at the Velòdrom del Tirador against one of the most powerful teams at the time. Since then, the Club has been a regular participant at the competitions held on the islands. Due to the growth of the new club, a new field in Son Canales was built and then inaugurated on July 24, 1924.

The team quickly became one of the most powerful groups on the islands and the main sporting rival of RCD Mallorca. Since the start of the games between the two teams, flaming passions arose that extended beyond the world of sports.

The third precedent of the current club is the Balear Foot-Ball Club. The first news of its existence was in a letter published in the newspaper El Día (Palma) on May 17, 1922, in which the team captain challenged the Baleares FC to a friendly match.

Balear FC’s first recorded game was played on July 9th of that same year. The Club took its name from Teatro Balear, a coliseum that was right in front of its social space. Their uniforms consisted of a blue shirt and white pants. They did not initially have a playing field and it was not until early 1923 that they inaugurated their own field in the neighborhood of El Molinar in Palma.

The Athletic Foot-Ball Club was established on September 13, 1922 when some of the Balear FC partners founded a new club. The Athletic Club was a much smaller club than the Balear one, and its relationship with RCD Mallorca (previously Alfonso XIII FC) was unlike that of Balear FC; it was very cordial.

Its most brilliant period was during the 1939-40 season, when it won three official titles: the Mallorca Tournament, the Mallorca League and the League of the Balearic Islands. In 1942, the urban growth of the city forced the club to abandon its field. Months later, this led to its merger with the Baleares FC.

The urban growth of the city forced Athletic FC to leave its field in Punta. The club negotiated with the Baleares FC and reached an association agreement. Thus, on May 27, 1942, Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares was born, with Pere Serra Cladera (chairman of the Baleares FC) as first chairman and Francesc Riera Rigo (chairman of the Athletic FC) as vice-chairman.

The agreement was legally materialized as a merger process, although, in reality, the Baleares absorbed the identifying features of the Athletics and became an almost completely new entity. The Baleares kept their uniforms (white and blue), but apart from that, the infrastructure of the club and the Baleares’ fan base was much more powerful than that of the Athletic’s.

Meanwhile, the Athletic FC managed to have its name be put first in the name of the new club (Atlético-Baleares, instead of Baleares-Atlético).

This makes it possible to trace the age of the current club back to 1920, the year the Mecánico, Mallorca and Baleares Foot-Ball Clubs were established.

The Atlético Baleares have kept their name, identity and faithful fans up until now and have competed in 75 seasons in the elite world of soccer, four of which were in Second Division, thirteen in Second Division B, 53 seasons in Third Division, 5 in Preferential Division and one season in Regional First. Their home between 1960 and 2013 was Estadio Balear, located in Vía de Cintura, Palma.

Over the past years, the Club has undergone an expansion phase with its conversion into a public limited sports company and its excellent sports outcome. In 2016, the Atlético Baleares won their first national title in history, the Copa RFEF, after beating Rayo Majadahonda in two games. Within the league, they were also very close to returning to Second Division A thanks to a private capital contribution. The team’s return to Estadio Balear, home of the Atlético Baleares for fifty years, is the next step to be carried out during the 2017/18 season.