Sociedad Deportiva Eibar

Éibar is a gunmaking town squeezed into a narrow valley, home to just over 27,000 people, and its club starred in one of modern European football's most beloved miracles. Founded in 1940, the Sociedad Deportiva lived discreet decades in the Segunda División, where it became the division's most veteran side, until 2014 brought a first ever promotion to the Primera, making it the smallest town ever to host Spain's elite. Promotion brought a bureaucratic obstacle that became legend: the law demanded a capital increase of 1.7 million euros, and the Defiende al Eibar campaign saw fans from dozens of countries buy shares to save the club, turning Eibar into a global case study in sound management. Seven top flight seasons followed at tiny Ipurua, with José Luis Mendilibar producing the bravest football in the league and the 9th place of 2017/18 as the historic high water mark. A club with no debt, no vanity stadium and no fear of anyone: another football is possible, and it was played in Éibar.