1999-2000 Season

In the first season that Málaga Club de Fútbol was in the ‘Liga de las Estrellas’, it was with the same group of footballers that got them promoted. Not only that, they also signed on important players like Contreras, Rojas, Musampa, Dario Silva, Luque and the now ex-president Fernando Sanz.

The team had its first game in the First Division on 22nd August 1999 in La Rosaleda against Espanyol. And they won it by a single goal (1-0) from Catanha – the Hispano-Brazilian forward who finished as one of the top scorers in the Division with 24 goals.

One of the games eagerly awaited for by the fans was, without doubt, the visit from Real Madrid. That was on 25th September in the fifth week of the league and Joaquín Peiró’s men achieved a worthy 1 – 1 draw. But the most important victory was to come six weeks later. Málaga Club de Fútbol presented itself at the Nou Camp in a relegation place after losing several games. In spite of those, the blue and whites moved ahead of Barcelona (1-2) thanks to goals from Agostinho and Valcarce, in another game to go down in history.

As the weeks passed by, Málaga Club de Fútbol did more, they managed to win a return ticket to La Primera four weeks before the end of the Championship and finished in twelfth place.

Catanha, with 24 goals was top goal scorer for the team that campaign (he scored another in the Cup) Edgar and Rufete with 5, were the next on Málaga’s top scorers list.