On 10 January 1923 Elche was officially registered with the Valencian football federation, and that is the date the club celebrates as its birthday. On 10 January 2027 the "Franjiverdes" turn 104 years old. It is a story with a dark cave, palm groves and one of the most recognisable shirts in Spain.

A meeting in a cave full of gunpowder

In the early 1920s the town of Elche, near Alicante, had several small clubs, such as Illice, Gimnástica and Sportiva. Mayor Lorenzo Fenoll asked them to unite into one team. Their directors met in a cave by the Vinalopó river, where a fireworks company stored its gunpowder.

Spanish Wikipedia places the founding on 28 August 1922 and the federation registration on 10 January 1923. The club, however, celebrated its centenary on 10 January 2023. The first president was Mariano Rodríguez Irles, and the first match was a 4-0 win in Monóvar.

The name and the nicknames

The team started out as Elche Foot-ball Club. Around 1940 the sports authorities of the time pushed clubs to make their names Spanish, so it became Elche Club de Fútbol.

Fans call the team the Franjiverdes, "the ones with the green stripe". They also call it the Ilicitanos, the name for the people of Elche.

The green stripe from the palm groves

In the early years Elche wore all white, with only black socks to set them apart. In 1926 Czech coach Anton Fivébr added a horizontal green stripe across the middle of the white shirt.

According to legend, Fivébr was inspired by the town's palm groves, which look like a green band across the landscape from above. Some sources say he saw them from the bell tower of the Basílica de Santa María. Since then the white shirt with the green stripe has remained, with very few exceptions, the team's main kit.

The alternative shirt is often blue with a red stripe, in the colours of the town's coat of arms. There is also a dark green version with a white stripe.

The crest and the grounds

The crest is based on Elche's coat of arms. A Roman matron holds a palm branch, and below her are a tower and an altar with the letters CIIA. The current version dates from 2012 and got a small update in 2022 for the centenary.

From 1926 to 1976 the team played at Altabix. On 8 September 1976 the Martínez Valero opened, and it hosted matches at the 1982 World Cup. There Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1, the biggest win in the tournament's history.

Great moments and legends

In 1959 Elche reached the Primera for the first time with a 3-0 win over Tenerife on the final day. In 1963-64 they finished fifth, still their best position.

In 1969 they reached their only Copa del Rey final, having knocked out Real Madrid along the way. In the final at the Santiago Bernabéu they lost 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao.

Nino is the club's all-time top scorer, and Argentine Marcelo Trobbiani is one of its great names. Even legends such as Alfredo Di Stéfano and László Kubala sat on its bench.

Celebrate with us

From the gunpowder cave to La Liga, Elche's green stripe has lasted more than a century. Happy 104th birthday to the Franjiverdes!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: inside the Martínez Valero stadium (2015) – Victormartinezm, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.