BM Sagunto

Sagunto/Mar Valencia
Sagunto/Mar Valencia
Short name	Club Balonmano Sagunto
Founded	1963/1978
Dissolved	July, 2012
Arena	Rene Marigil, Sagunto
Capacity	800
2011–12	Liga ABF, 3rd
Club colours
Home	Away

Club Balonmano Sagunto was a Spanish women's handball club from Sagunto founded in 1978 which in July, 2012 moved to Valencia and joint CE Handbol Marítim to play in División de Honor as Valencia Aicequip.

History

Mar Valencia was founded in 1963 as Sección Femenina's women's handball team in Valencia (Medina Valencia) before becoming an independent club in 1978 as Íber Valencia. In 1993 it again changed its official name, taking the aforementioned one. It was also known as El Osito L'Eliana and Milar L'Eliana in subsequent years for sponsorship reasons, having moved to L'Eliana.

Íber/Mar dominated the Spanish scene through the 1980s and 1990s, winning a record 20 national leagues in a row between 1979 and 1998 and 19 national cups between 1981 and 2000. In 1997 it became the first Spanish team to win the Champions League by beating Viborg HK in the final.^[2] The team also reached the Champions' final the following year, but lost it to Hypo Niederösterreich^[3]

The following years marked the ending of the club's national hegemony but it still enjoyed success in national and internacional grounds. In 2000 Mar won the Cup Winners' Cup over Kuban Krasnodar,^[4] and in 2003 it reached its third Champions League final, lost to Krim Ljubljana.^[5]

In 2004 the club moved from L'Eliana to Sagunto and changed its name to Balonmano Sagunto, a.k.a. Astroc Sagunto (2004–07) and Parc Sagunto (2007–11) after its sponsors. In 2005 it won its final league to date and in 2006 it reached the Champions League's semifinals.^[6] While Sagunto still ranked among Division de Honor top three teams, its only major success in subsequent years was winning the 2008 Spanish Cup (Copa de la Reina)

Due to the lack of sponsorship, in July 2012 it moved back to Valencia to join emerging Valencian club CE Handbol Marítim, which became its successor.^[7]

Names

1963–1978: Club Medina de Valencia
1978–1992: CB Íber
1992–1994: CB Mar Valencia
1994–1997: Mar El Osito L'Eliana (moved to L'Eliana)
1997–1998: CB Milar
1998–2003: Mar El Osito L'Eliana
2003–2004: Alucine Alser Sagunto (moved to Sagunto)
2004–2007: Astroc Sagunto
2007–2010: Parc Sagunt
2010–2012: Mar Sagunto

Trophies

División de Honor Femenina (27)
- 1968, 1969, 1974, 1979 — 1998, 2000 — 2002, 2005
Copa de la Reina (20)
- 1981 — 1989, 1991 — 2000, 2008
Supercopa de España (4)
- 1999–00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06
Copa ABF (2)
- 2008, 2009
Champions League (1)
- 1997
Cup Winners' Cup (1)
- 2000
Champions Trophy (1)
- 1997