Sevilla and Betis - the red-and-whites vs the green-and-whites |
REAL BETIS BALOMPIÉ
Real Betis is one of Seville's two football clubs - the other is Sevilla FC. The club plays in La Liga, the top league in Spanish football, and is based in Heliopolis district, south of the centre.
EARLY DAYS
Betis, full name Real Betis Balompié, was founded a few years after rival Sevilla Fútbol Club, in 1907. Founded by students from the Polytechnic, led by a Brit, Henry Jones - known as Papa Jones - who was the club's first chairman. Like Sevilla FC, its inaugural match was against Huelva in 1908.
With a royal decree from King Alfonso XIII (he of the Seville luxury hotel) in 1915, the club gained the 'Real'. Betis is generally considered the more working-class team, since it was founded as a breakaway from Sevilla FC, who refused to allow a player in because he was 'just a simple worker'.
Buy Tickets for any Real Betis La Liga home matches in Seville for the current 2024-25 season. Season's highlights are Real Betis vs Athletico Madrid on 27th October 2024, Real Betis vs Barcelona on 8th December 2024, Real Betis vs Real Madrid on 2nd March 2025. Local derby Real Betis vs Sevilla 30th March 2025.
WHERE IS THE REAL BETIS STADIUM AND WHICH COMPETITIONS HAVE THEY WON?
The Betis stadium, Benito Villamarín (built for the 1929 Expo from an original design by Aníbal González, and like Sevilla FC's named after a former president), is in Heliopolis district, around 4.5km south of the city centre - at the far end of Avenida de la Palmera. The stadium seats 60,721. after its latest expansion in 2017; it is the fourth-largest stadum in Spain.
You can get to the Betis stadium by bus, using the following routes: 1, 2, 6, 34, 37. Fans are called 'beticos' or ´verdiblancos' (green whites).
Betis won the Liga in 1935 and their first Copa del Rey in 1977 and was the first Andalucian club to make it into the UEFA Champions League. They won their second Cup in 2005, and the third in 2022.
Update 2025 to 2027
From 2025-2027, Betis will use the Estadio La Cartuja as its temporary home ground, while Benito Villamarín is redeveloped in a 70-million-euro project.
INTERESTING FACTS
Betis' name is derived from Baetica, the Roman name for the Guadalquivir river, which runs through Seville. Balompie (balon+pie, or ball+foot) is the literal Spanish word for football, as opposed to the anglicised version, fútbol.
The colours originated when one of the club's founders returned from Glasgow with a Celtic strip, and it was decided to adopt the same green and black stripes; the black was subsequently changed for white, making their colours the same as the Andalucian flag.
The club's stadium is named after its chairman from 1955-1965, Benito Villamarín, a wealthy industrialist and adoptive sevillano. Betis bought the stadium during his tenure.
Guns'n'Roses and Elton John have both played at the stadium.
Two matches in the 1982 FIFA World Cup were played at Benito Villamarin.
REAL BETIS BALOMPIE v SEVILLA FC: A CENTURY OF FOOTBALL RIVALRY
Spurs and Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton, Rangers and Celtic, AC Milan and Inter - many cities have rival football clubs whose fans have maintained years of animosity, or friendly debate. It may be geographical, it may religious, but there's nothing like a derby to get a city's blood rising to boiling point. Probably the most famous rivalry in Andalucian, if not Spanish football, is Sevilla and Betis - the green-and-white béticos vs the red-and-white sevillistas. To say it is a fierce rivalry is an understatement: fans have even been known to celebrate their own defeat, if it causes the relegation of the other team.
Their first Seville derby took place in 1915, with Sevilla winning 4-3, which more or less set a precedent: Betis lost again the following year in the first Copa Andalucia. Since then, Seville has won around 65 per cent of their derbies.
In 2007, a Sevilla-Betis Copa del Rey quarter-final had to be suspended after a Betis supporter threw a projectile at the then-Sevilla manager, Juan de Ramos, and knocked him unconscious. Betis were sanctioned by having to play their next three home matches at another venue.
In 2009 Betis beat Sevilla at home for the first time in 13 years, and again in 2012. The most recent away victory for Betis in the Seville derby was in 2018.
Home Ground Location
Estadio Benito Villamarin, Avenida de Heliópolis, 41012 Sevilla