Elche certified their return to LaLiga Santander on Sunday five years after their traumatic administrative decline thanks to a goal by Pere Milla in the 96th minute of the second leg played against Girona at the Montilivi stadium (0-1).

The people from Alicante, who had drawn without goals in the first leg, thus return to the top flight of Spanish football, leaving the Catalan team with honey on their lips, which dominated in the first half but suffered after the expulsion of their star, Uruguayan Cristhian Stuani in the 60th minute.

The team from Elche, trained by José Rojo 'Pacheta' , returns to the top category five years later after having left the First Division due to a traumatic administrative decline by failing to comply with the economic requirements set by LaLiga.

The club, owned by Argentine businessman Christian Bragarnik and chaired by lawyer Joaquín Buitrago , has achieved promotion against all odds, since after escaping from Second B only two seasons ago a period of sporting and economic transition had been marked until attempting to return to First in two years.

Elche's first promotion to the top flight occurred in the 1958-59 season, with a team led by César Rodríguez , who acted as coach and player. The people of Elche achieved that promotion after beating Tenerife 0-3 on April 19, 1959.

After a period of splendor in the First Division throughout the decade of the sixties, the team descended in 1971, although they returned soon, in the 1972-73 season, in the first of the promotions that Argentine Roque Olsen starred in as coach. On May 1, 1973, Elche beat Barakaldo 1-0 in the Altabix field, both achieved by Aníbal Montero , sealing his return.

After a few golden years in the First Division, the team dropped again in 1978 and had to wait for the 1983-84 season, again with Olsen on the bench and already in the Martínez Valero as a stadium, to return to the top flight on May 27 1984, by beating Bilbao Athletic 4-0 with goals from Quesada, Anquela and two from López Murga.

Champion with Scribe

Elche, who only resisted one year in the First Division, returned to the top category in the 1987-88 season, with Felipe Mesones on the bench, after a goalless draw at home against Deportivo on May 1, 1988, although seven days before in Granada (0-1), the team had already celebrated the category jump.

Again, the team only lasted one year in First Division and had to wait 24 years to return from the hand of Fran Escribá , who managed to pulverize all the club and category records by making Elche champion and keeping it in the first position since the day 1 to the 42.

The penultimate promotion was certified mathematically on May 18 with the team concentrated in a hotel in Almería awaiting their match against the local team. Alcorcón's draw in Barcelona (1-1) left the Elche team with no options to fall from one of the first two places and certified its return to First Division.

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