Their first appearance was in the 1981–82 season (lost in the first round to CSKA Sofia), the following season they reached the semi-finals (eliminated by Hamburg) and in the 2003–04 season they reached the Round of 16, where they were eliminated by Lyon. They returned to the Champions League in the 2013–14 season, when they failed to qualify from the group stage, while in the 2023–24 season they reached the Round of 16 again. This time they were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain.

• It was founded on 07.09.1909, as Sociedad de Futbol, ​​and a year later it took the full name of Real Sociedad de Fútbol by King Alfonso XIII, who used San Sebastian as the capital of Spain during the summer months. From 1931 to 1939 the club changed its name to Donostia Club de Futbol and returned to its old name when the Spanish Civil War ended.
• As happened in almost every region of Spain, football was spread in San Sebastian in the early 20th century by students and workers who had emigrated to England and then returned.
• In 1928, Real Sociedad pioneered the creation of the Spanish football championship and is one of the founding members of La Liga.
• By far the most successful period in its history was the 1980s, when it won two leagues, a cup and a Spanish Super Cup.
• It is known that both Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad had a similar policy until the end of the 1980s. Only Basque players wore their shirts. Sociedad, however, had an even smaller – theoretically – pool than Athletic, as they only looked for players in the local province where San Sebastian is located, that is, players born in Gipuzkoa (a province of 700,000 inhabitants).
• It is also impressive that Sociedad has not played a single game in its history without at least one player from the province of Gipuzkoa in its starting lineup!
• Thubieta, Sociedad’s academy, with its impressive facilities (seven auxiliary pitches) constantly supplies the first team with young players. Two great players who trained there are Xabi Alonso and Antoine Griezmann.
• The first non-Basque footballer to wear the Sociedad jersey was Liverpool’s Irish international John Aldridge, whom they bought in 1989. He was not exactly welcomed by the locals, but they eventually came to love him.
• In the following years, of course, other foreigners joined the team. Darko Kovacevic, Nihat, and Valeri Karpin were brought to the team of the 2002-03 season within touching distance of the championship and for the first time in the Champions League.
• Regarding the club’s recent history, the greatest success was the second place in the championship in the 2002-2003 season. In fact, until the 36th matchday, they were at the top, but a defeat by Celta Vigo (3-2) in the penultimate matchday of the championship, gave the title to Real Madrid.
• In 2007, they were relegated to the Segunda B league. They returned to the first division in 2010. In total, they have 78 seasons in the A’ division, as well as 16 in the B’. Their longest run in the top division was for 40 consecutive seasons, from 1967 to 2007.
• The club’s Basque name is Erreala or txuri-urdin, meaning blue-white, inspired by the team’s colours.

Reale Arena

The era of being an outdated and cold stadium with an athletics track is gone forever. Real Sociedad’s home ground – formerly Anoeta, now Reale Arena – is now an ultra-modern and purely football stadium.

• It was built in 1993 and until 2019 it was called Anoeta. Since the renovation in 2019 it has been called Reale Arena.
• It has a capacity of 39,313 spectators, with all its seats covered by a roof.
• It has natural grass and underfloor heating.
• It is the 11th largest stadium in Spain and the 2nd largest in the Basque Country, after Athletic Bilbao’s San Mamés.
• It is the third stadium used by Real Sociedad as its home ground, after the Estadio Ondarreta (1909–1913) and the Estadio Atocha (1913–1993).
• It has been used as a concert venue, but also as the home ground for unofficial friendly matches of the Basque Country national team.
• The initial construction cost of Anoeta was estimated at 3 billion pesetas (around 21 million euros at the time).
• The stadium was officially opened on 13 August 1993 with a friendly match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid (2-2).
• In October 2019, when the renovation was completed, Anoeta increased its capacity to 39,313 spectators. The cost of the 47 million euros project was 33 million euros for the club and ten million euros for the Basque Country government.
• A record attendance was recorded on 09.02.2020 in the local derby against Bilbao (36,730). The dimensions of the pitch are 105X68m.