If Ibiza has been characterized in recent decades is in its ability to attract investors, encouraged by the business opportunities that the island offers in the tourism sector. As a result of this preferential position, the idea of building a soccer club with a view to climbing towards the elite was born. The model is that of UD Ibiza, a club founded in 2015 and which six years later achieved a historic promotion to the Second Division, which was not even contemplated in the most optimistic forecasts of sports betting. Although the club only remained in this category for two seasons (it was relegated in 2023), it marked a very positive trend in island soccer, to the point that today there are three teams that militate in national level categories. Ten years ago there were none.
Successful model in record time
The investment of a group of businessmen, led by the former president of Valencia for nine months, Amadeo Salvo, to take over the now defunct Unión Deportiva Ibiza, culminated successfully with promotion to the silver category of Spanish soccer. A very good campaign preceded another year in which the results fell short of expectations, and the team ended up being relegated. It is not easy to stay in the elite, and the situation of historical clubs in our soccer, which have also been relegated or have been away from the professional categories for many years, is an example: Málaga, Castellón, Córdoba, Gimnàstic, Real Murcia, Córdoba or Hércules. Success also lies in ensuring that the flame is not extinguished. The relegation to the First RFEF was a predictable situation, although few would have bet that the UD Ibiza project would be maintained after this blow. And so it has been. Two consecutive campaigns, both quiet in sporting terms, have secured the club in the third step. It is the previous step to repeat the success of promotion to the Second Division.
La Peña Deportiva led the way
The professionalization of UD Ibiza was total and generated in the environment an unprecedented soccer atmosphere on the island, which has been maintained during the following seasons. Interest in soccer has grown as a result of this successful model, and has spread to the rest of the clubs on the island. In 2025, the island of Ibiza has two other teams in the national category, and both share the same classification. La Peña Deportiva and Sociedad Deportiva, both with the surname Ibiza, started the 2024-2025 academic year in the third group of Segunda RFEF. The situation of the former, a historic team from Santa Eulalia del Riu, is especially meritorious, as in 2020 they qualified for the playoff for promotion to the Second Division. At the time they were playing in the now defunct Segunda División B. It could not achieve the success that one season later would achieve their new neighbors of the Union Deportiva. It did manage to awaken the feeling that something big could happen on the island at any moment. La Peña was relegated the following season, and since then has contested two promotion playoffs to return to Primera RFEF, although neither of them has been successful (2022 and 2023). In any case, the club is building a very exciting path, which in the near future may lead it to a higher category or even to a more ambitious goal. SD Ibiza, based in the capital, is an example of how success can drag other teams down. A club that has traditionally played in regional categories is now a representative in the Second RFEF, that is, in a national division. Two promotions to this category confirm that the achievement has not been a coincidence, and that there is a consolidated project behind it. The objective, for this and future seasons, is to settle in the current category, without renouncing to greater heights. The good health of Ibizan soccer can also be felt in the stands. Every weekend, the stadiums of Can Misses and the Municipal de Deportes de Santa Eulalia are filled with thousands of fans excited about the projections of their teams. The derby between Peña Deportiva and Sociedad Deportiva is the best example of the enthusiasm that the eleven versus eleven game has awakened on the island, always in a climate of harmony, respect and cooperation, because only in this way can the right context be generated to return Ibiza to professional soccer.