Atlético Saguntino opens Tercera Federación season against Atlético Levante
Group VI of the Tercera Federación (Spain's fourth football division) kicks off this weekend with nine matches, including Sunday's 19:00 derby between Atlético Saguntino and Atlético Levante, last season's second- and third-placed teams.
The Tercera Federación (Spain's fourth-tier football division) season kicks off this weekend, and Group VI has a special local storyline for Camp de Morvedre: on Sunday at 19:00, Atlético Saguntino host Atlético Levante in a derby that replays last spring's promotion play-off, when the two reserve sides met and neither went up. Facing each other again on the opening weekend adds extra spice to a season-opener that, for the rest of the group, is spread across eight other matches on Saturday and Sunday.
Álvaro del Moral leads a Saguntino side arriving in good form after pre-season: six wins from seven friendlies, with only one goal conceded across five of those games. That record puts the Sagunto club among the logical promotion contenders again, a role the club has carried for most of its history since it was founded in 1922. It has played its home matches at the Camp Nou de Morvedre stadium since 1977, and its benchmark season remains 2016/17: the only campaign it has spent in Segunda División B (Spain's third tier), a year in which it comfortably stayed up and also lifted the Copa RFEF by beating Fuenlabrada in the final. That recent taste of national-level football weighs on every new season, and explains much of the excitement around a derby like Sunday's, between two reserve sides that fought for promotion against each other only months ago.
One symbol of that continuity is Guillem Beltrán, a key figure in the Saguntino dressing room, who in May, after the play-off elimination, publicly admitted his disappointment at a tie that slipped away by the narrowest of margins. Weeks later, in June, the club announced he had renewed his contract for this season — a clear bet on keeping together the squad that came close to going up. That continuity carries extra meaning now that the reserve side faces Atlético Levante again on the very first matchday, with the sense of unfinished business.
The rest of Saturday's programme comes down to three more matches. At 18:00, at El Fornás, newly promoted Acero take on Crevillente Deportivo; at the same time, at Hércules's ground, the Alicante club's reserve side host Torrevieja, back in the Tercera Federación for the first time in almost a decade, whose coach Pablo Abadía already warns that any slip-up costs more in this category than in lower divisions. Half an hour later, at the Beltrán Báguena ground, Buñol — settled into Alejandro San Isidro's project after finishing sixth last season — take on Atzeneta, who are looking to move away from the lower reaches of the table after finishing fifteenth. Saturday's programme closes at 19:00 in San Gregorio, between a Torrent side buoyed by winning the regional phase of the Copa Federación (a domestic cup competition), including a goal from Adrián Lois against Roda, and Español de San Vicente, who only secured survival in the closing stretch of last season.
Sunday adds four more matches alongside the derby. At 11:00, Eldense's reserve side face Torrellano in their official debut in the category under coach Víctor Basadre; the opponents kept the same manager, Óscar Díaz, after finishing ninth last season. At 12:00 comes Rubén Sanz's first official match in charge of Roda, with a full squad at his disposal, hosting Ontinyent 1931 CF. At 18:00, Soneja, fourth-placed last season, look to get back into that top bracket against Villarreal C's reserve side, who finished tenth. And at 19:00, at the same time as the Sagunto derby, Vall de Uxó open their third straight season in the category against Utiel, who remain in the Tercera Federación despite being relegated on the pitch, after receiving the spot vacated by Castellón B's administrative promotion; the two sides already met in a 1-1 pre-season friendly.
Taken together, the opening round of Group VI puts Camp de Morvedre at the centre of regional football interest: besides Atlético Saguntino, two other provincial clubs, Buñol and Torrent, play on Saturday, and Roda and Vall de Uxó do so on Sunday. For local fans, though, the main event remains the 19:00 derby at the Camp Nou de Morvedre, the first real chance to see whether Del Moral's project lives up to the expectations built up in pre-season. Winning that first official test would also work as an immediate gauge of the squad's real level against one of its direct promotion rivals, in a category where early results tend to set the tone for the rest of the season.
According to golsmedia.com, with additional background from Wikipedia.