vs. Cultural Leonesa. Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded on 5 August 1923. In 1926, Cultural Leonesa won the Regional championship and in 1929 Cultural played the
Segunda División Grupo B and promoted to the
second division. In 1931, the club ceased activity and several teams were created in the city with the aim to replace them, but after the
Spanish Civil War, Cultural Leonesa came back to the competition. In 1955, Cultural was promoted for the first time to
La Liga, but they could only play
one season in the Spanish top tier. In 2011, the club was relegated to
Tercera División due to unpaid debts to the players and took two years to recover the place in the third tier. In 2015, the Qatari
Aspire Academy bought a controlling 99% of the shares of the club, thus avoiding its dissolution. On 28 May 2017, Cultural was promoted to
Segunda División after 42 years by defeating
Barcelona B in the
promotion play-offs. On 3 January 2018,
Leeds United announced an official partnership with Cultural Leonesa's owners
Aspire Academy in Qatar. The link up saw Leeds players
Yosuke Ideguchi and
Ouasim Bouy both join Cultural Leonesa on loan as part of the unique partnership. On 2 June 2018, Cultural was relegated to the third level, after being defeated by
Numancia on the last matchday. In the 2018–19 season the club played in
Segunda División B, Group 1 and fought to be promoted back to the second tier. But it finished only in the 5th position. The club had a good start on the 2019–20 season, being in the 2nd position after first 16 games. In the 2019–2020 season, they upset
Atletico de Madrid in the
Copa del Rey Round of 32. On 2 December 2020, Cultural hired
Iñigo Idiakez as Head Coach who came from
Luton Town in
EFL Championship and previously
Leicester City and
Derby County. On 24 May 2025, Cultural achieved promoted to
Segunda División following draw 1-1 against
Andorra and thanks to a superior head-to-head record against runners-up
Ponferradina, returned after 7 years absence. == Club structure ==