Could a club from Africa be playing in La Liga next season?
AD Ceuta — from the autonomous Spanish city of the same name, which is surrounded on the landward side by Morocco and located on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea — are the only club located on the African continent who play professional football in Europe.
As recently as 2022, Ceuta were playing in Spain’s semi-professional regional fourth tier. Public funding and shrewd management have helped them win three promotions in five years to the second division. Now, they are one step away from La Liga.
It is a positive news story for a city whose geographical position, at a crossroads between Africa and Europe, means it often makes headlines for difficult and sometimes tragic reasons.
Ceuta’s most famous footballing son is Nayim, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder who scored a stunning long-range winner for Real Zaragoza against Arsenal in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final. He is now AD Ceuta’s youth football co-ordinator.
“Ceuta’s fans are special. Here we have different cultures in a very small space,” Nayim tells The Athletic. “Football can bring everyone together like nothing else in the world. The team is playing so well, and the atmosphere in this stadium is marvellous. We could not ask for any more.”
The Athletic visited Ceuta to find out more about the club’s rise, and see how the team fits into their home city’s multicultural history and present.
Ceuta’s population of just over 80,000 live within an area of around 20 square kilometres (11.2 square miles) on a rocky landmass jutting out into the Mediterranean — one of the ‘Pillars of Hercules’ along with Gibraltar, on the northern side of the narrow 14-kilometre strait. Legend has it that the mythological figure placed the two pillars there.
Since the Phoenicians established a settlement there around 3,000 years ago, Ceuta has been ruled by Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Berbers and the Portuguese, before the Spanish monarchy gained control in 1580.
When Morocco gained independence in 1956, having previously been divided between France and Spain, Spain retained ownership of Ceuta and another north African city further east along the Moroccan coast, Melilla, both of which had majority Spanish-speaking populations. They are now ‘autonomous cities’ with similar powers to regions such as Andalusia, Catalonia and the Canary Islands.
Ceuta’s current population mix is almost evenly split between those from Christian and Muslim backgrounds, while there are also small legacy Jewish and Hindu communities. Spanish is the official language, with Darija or Moroccan Arabic also widely spoken.
“Ceuta is Spanish, in every way,” the city’s regional president, Juan Jesus Vivas, tells The Athletic. “But Ceuta is also a cosmopolitan place of coexistence, between north and south, east and west, Europe and Africa. We have a population made up of people with different religions, different cultures, different origins, who live together in peace and harmony.”
Even so, Ceuta’s location makes it a potential point of access for people from Morocco and elsewhere in Africa attempting to reach Europe. Its facilities for those intercepted after crossing the border without legal permission are past capacity, with more than 500 minors and almost 3,000 adults awaiting relocation to elsewhere in Spain. Regular attempts to reach Ceuta by sea from Moroccan territory often end tragically — in mid-October, a young Algerian man became the 36th person to die in the attempt in 2025.
“The immigration issue is inevitable because of the huge differences between the levels of employment, economic prosperity, salaries, quality of life, prospects and social services on either side of the border,” says Vivas.
“It’s two steps, but two worlds. We have to keep our security services strong to control the issue, while basing it on collaboration with the neighbouring country. Here, we experience the irreparable drama of those who lose their lives trying to reach Ceuta. This issue is for everyone — not just those on the border, land or sea.”
Ceuta’s main industry was traditionally fishing, giving the football team their nickname of ‘Los Caballas’ (‘The Mackerels’ in Spanish). About half of today’s population now work in the public sector, including the civil service, the police and the army. The rest work mostly in services, with growth in the financial and gambling sectors, drawn to the territory’s favourable tax regime.
Public funding of more than €4million (£3.5m; $4.6m at current exchange rates) from the local government boosted the club’s push for promotion from the third-tier last season, making them the envy of many rivals at that level.
Speaking from his office at the city’s presidential palace on Our Lady of Africa Square, Vivas says that support is motivated by a desire to project a positive image of Ceuta, which contrasts with the one often shown in Spanish media and other news reports.
“Football can be our vehicle to show the rest of Spain that Ceuta is a model of coexistence, and the desire to keep improving day to day,” he says. “Everyone in the city is behind the team, their president, their coach and players. Returning to Segunda (the second division) after so many years away is a dream come true.”
Ceuta midfielder Anuar Mohamed Tuhami greets the fans after a game (AD Ceuta)
Formed as Atletico Ceuta after a 1956 merger between Sociedad Deportiva Ceuta and then Segunda side Atletico Tetuan, the team started life in the second division. Following relegation in the late 1960s, Ceuta played in the regional semi-pro divisions and suffered regular financial problems.
In 2013, the club were refounded as Agrupacion Deportiva Ceuta Futbol Club after the previous entity suffered heavy debts that led to relegation into Spain’s fifth division. Three years later, current president Luhay Hamido took charge.
“The team was then in a low point, the fans were all disillusioned,” Hamido tells The Athletic. “I started to help out, and ended up taking over the club. And from there began to build, improve the structures, the finances, the scouting. There’s been a lot of hard work. We don’t have many staff, but we pay them well, and there’s a big feeling of belonging. They believe the club is theirs.”
Hamido, 43, is a charismatic figure who made national headlines in 2005 as a contestant on Spain’s version of reality show Big Brother, when cameras showed him conducting his daily prayers.
“It was an entertaining sociological experiment,” Hamido says. “Why should a Muslim not go on a TV show and pray? In Ceuta, we have four cultures living together — Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus. We need things that unite us, not divide us. And this football club is a very strong common denominator.”
Under Hamido’s presidency, the club have grown on and off the pitch. Their play-off win against suburban Madrid side Fuenlabrada in May took them back to Segunda for the first time in 57 years.
This summer, the local government promised more than €5million in extra funding for a large-scale remodelling of their 6,500-capacity Alfonso Murube Stadium — named after a former Ceuta player killed in the Spanish Civil War fighting on the side of General Franco. The club’s other sponsors are local builders, car dealers and ferry services, and the Ceuta-registered betting firm 777 Casablanca. Their league-imposed salary limit is €6.7m, the fourth-lowest in the second division this season.
Muley El Mehdi mosque in Ceuta (Antonio Sampere/Europa Press via Getty Images)
“It’s difficult,” Hamido says. “We have to pay our players well to come to Ceuta. And there are no big businesses here. So it’s just as well that we’ve the support of the local government, all the parties. They know we represent all ‘Ceuties’ (people from Ceuta), and show the true image of respect, toleration and peaceful coexistence.”
To meet the competitive challenge of Segunda — the 20th-most difficult league in the world, according to stats provider Opta — Ceuta signed 14 new players last summer, all of them either free transfers or loans. The highest-profile of these was the most talented active player to hail from the city, Anuar Mohamed Tuhami, who joined from Real Valladolid after turning down offers from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Spanish top-flight teams, to return home.
Known as Anuar, he is a Spanish citizen but his family background means he also qualifies for Morocco, for whom he won two caps in 2019.
“I feel ‘ceuti’ — 100 per cent caballa (mackerel),” the 30-year-old midfielder says. “Spanish, too. And I’m also very proud of my roots in Morocco. At Ceuta games, we have Christians, Muslims and Jews sitting together in the stands, and when we score a goal, they jump up together and hug each other. That’s the beauty that football can have. And we should all take this path.”
Another unique consequence of Ceuta’s geographical location is the logistical issues for visiting teams.
When Barcelona played a Copa del Rey tie there in January 2023, the Catalan side hired three helicopters to carry club president Joan Laporta, manager Xavi and players including Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Pedri the short distance from Malaga airport over the Mediterranean. When Sporting Gijon, based on Spain’s north coast, visited this season, they took a bus to Asturias airport, flew south to Seville, then took another bus to the port city of Algeciras, where they boarded a ferry to Ceuta.
Real Zaragoza, from Aragon in the north east, decided to charter a direct plane to Tetuan in Morocco, which is an hour by bus south of Ceuta. Five of Zaragoza’s players who were not from the European Union were unable to secure visas to pass through Morocco, though, so travelled by a mix of train, taxi and helicopter.
Ceuta themselves face similarly difficult trips for every away game, head coach Jose Juan Romero tells The Athletic.
“Our away trips can be an odyssey,” Romero says. “To get to (the eastern Spanish city) Castellon (in September), we took the boat (to Algeciras) at 6am, went by bus to Seville, got a plane to Valencia, then another bus to Castellon. Trips can take 14 hours. Coming home, if we miss the last boat, we have to stay overnight again. That’s difficult, tiring.”
Ceuta players challenge Barcelona’s then-forward Ansu Fati in January 2023 (Jorge Guerrero/AFP via Getty Images)
When The Athletic visited Ceuta for their 2-0 win against Mirandes at the Alfonso Muruba last month, well-to-do fans wearing the club’s replica shirts ate hot dogs from food trucks in the city’s Parque Maritimo, chatting in Spanish and enjoying views across the straits to Spain, before boarding free buses to the stadium.
At the same time, the local Hindu community celebrated Diwali in the hotel where some of the few Mirandes supporters who had made the journey from the northern Burgos province were staying. Guided tours of the El Bet-el Synagogue were available if you called in advance.
Ceuta’s political and commercial centre consists of well-preserved thick medieval city walls, grand whitewashed Spanish-style buildings, and familiar Spanish high-street brands such as Zara and restaurant chain Cien Montaditos. Closer to the stadium are grittier neighbourhoods, where the majority of Ceuta’s residents with Moroccan backgrounds live and where income per head is much lower. The walls of a nearby housing development are daubed with graffiti written in Arabic.
Inside the Alfonso Murube, everything looks fresh and clean, including new seats, toilets and TV cameras to meet regulations from La Liga, which runs the top two divisions of the game in Spain. Some Spanish flags were flown by teenage ‘ultras’ in one corner. Elsewhere, boys and girls in new Ceuta shirts sat beside mothers wearing headscarves.
Just five minutes into the match, Gala’s Freed From Desire blared out when Ceuta left-back Jose Matos finished off a neat passing move with a low, drilled shot. It was 2-0 before half-time, with three-time United States international Konrad de la Fuente coolly slotting his first goal since joining on loan from Swiss side Lausanne on deadline day in September. Ceuta’s dominance continued after the break, with locally-born winger Aisar Ahmed inches away from making it three.
Miami-born De la Fuente made two Champions League appearances for Barcelona in 2020-21 after graduating from their youth system, but his career stalled during spells at Marseille in France, Greece’s Olympiacos and back in Spain with Eibar.
The 24-year-old tells The Athletic after the game that he did not know too much about Ceuta before his move. “I was just really happy to play and score the goal,” he says. “We dominated from start to finish. The people are really friendly, it’s a really positive atmosphere, everyone blends really well together.”
Ceuta lost their first three games of the season, but a run of five wins and three draws in the next eight moved them close to the promotion play-off places. That raised the prospect of Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and Julian Alvarez making the ‘odyssey’ to the city next season with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid respectively. Two subsequent defeats have hit those hopes, while the tragic death of a 73-year-old Ceuta supporter during a home game against Almeria in early November was felt deeply at the club.
Everybody The Athletic spoke to during our visit was clear that avoiding relegation remains Ceuta’s objective this season. That includes Romero, who first joined when they were in the fifth tier in 2019-20.
“For those of us who’ve worked our way up from lower down, this is a dream,” he says. “Segunda is a very tough division, but we’ve no inferiority complex, we know we can compete with anyone at this level. We’re the smallest in almost everything, but no team anywhere is so united to its city, with this sense of collective belonging. We’re not going to let this opportunity escape us.”
