BACK TO THE GLORY DAYS (1958 - 1965)

Real Oviedo’s promotion to the First Division in 1958, sealed after a 0-2 away win over Rayo Vallecano, meant the dawn of a silver age for the Carbayón side. Although that level reached in the 1930s and 1940s could not be attained again, this time the Blues would stay up for seven seasons in a row. 

On the one hand, there were some difficult moments as Real Oviedo had to struggle to avoid being relegated and ended up winning two relegation play-offs, one in 1960 against Celta Vigo and another in 1964 versus Hercules Alicante; on the other hand, there was a year when safety was easily secured and some satisfying seasons in La Liga were performed. In the 1962-1963 season Real Oviedo finished third, being their third time ever on that spot at the end of a championship.

In any case, that squad got back to be solid enough to be regarded as a First Division classic, lining up top quality players who gained prestige in the first tier of Spanish football. They were the likes of Toni, Marigil, Paquito, Iguarán, Girón, Jose María or Sánchez Lage, an Argentinian midfielder who certain became a household name in La Liga. Real Oviedo excelled so much that they went on to play as the Spanish representatives in the USA International Soccer League 1962 edition, which meant Real Oviedo’s debut in a major international competition. In a time when football clubs competitions at an international level were beginning to take off, Real Oviedo did not take part in any edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup -the seed of what was to become the UEFA Cup- though they had been entitled to do so according to their position in the final League Table. All in all, the reason why Real Oviedo did not play in that competition was that the city of Oviedo did not hold any international fair.

The third position in the 1962-1963 season meant the icing on the cake, but that good work could not be kept up since the key players from that outstanding team were sold to other First Division well-off sides. As a consequence, a couple of seasons later, Real Oviedo got relegated.

The ever-present economic constraints forced the club to get rid of its best players, so much so that some of them were even sold at a cheaper price than their real worth. As a result, the blue squad lost so much quality that for a very long time they would perform so poorly that they would be unable to match up to that level from the early 1960s.