R.C.D. Mallorca: The La Liga BBVA Team of the Week

R.C.D Mallorca is the current La Liga BBVA club of the week for Bleacher Report. The club recently lost to Espanyol and will be facing Malaga at the end of January.

The club has a rich history which goes back to February 27, 1916. It was on this date that R.C.D Mallorca was founded as the Alfonso XIII FBC.

The club's first match was against FC Barcelona at the Buenos Aires stadium one month later. The maiden match for the fledgling club was a disaster since it was left scoreless against a powerful La Blaugrana.

During the period before 1931, King Alfonso XIII of Spain gave the title Real to the club, which became known as Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII and was admitted to the Catalan Football Federation representing the Balearic Islands.

Real Sociedad Alfonso XIII played matches against clubs such as Real Murcia, Colo-Colo, and Meteor from the Czech Republic. The club even played against the Uruguayan National Team during their visit to Mallorca.

In 1931, the name of the club was changed to Club Deportivo Mallorca after the Spanish Republic was proclaimed. During the Spanish Civil War, some of the matches were played but not with teams from mainland Spain.

After the Civil War, R.C.D Mallorca played one of its post-war match against Jerez leaving the latter scoreless. The match was played in the recently dedicated stadium called Es Fortis.

The 1950s were marked with periods between the second, third, and fourth division. R.C.D Mallorca finally received promotion to the first division in 1960.

The 1960s/70s was a time of relegation to the second and third division. The 1980s saw the rise of the midfielders Paco Bonet, Miguel Angel Nadal, and forward Gerry Armstrong. They played a pivotal role in the return of Mallorca to the first division.

The 1990s was marked by a transformation with the club participating in UEFA Tournaments. Mallorca made an appearance in the Copa Del Rey where it lost to FC Barcelona on penalties.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics named R.C.D Mallorca as the eighth major football club for 1999. It was an honor bestowed to the club on January 5, 2000.

The club under Luis Aragones participated in the UEFA Champions League, Copa Del Rey, and the UEFA Europa Cup. Unfortunately, R.C.D Mallorca entered the relegation phase during the 2012/13 La Liga BBVA season.

Mallorca is currently in 18th place with 17 points, 11 losses, five draws, and four victories. R.C.D Mallorca has 20 goals for and 36 against making the goal differential minus-16.

It remains to be seen whether Mallorca can avoid relegation and return to its golden era.