The 2024/2025 Castellón Season Preview

Fresh off promotion and a busy summer, Castellón are more optimistic than ever about their return to the second division.

For the first time in recent memory (and ever for some), Castellón fans have had a relaxed yet excitement-filled summer. Last year it was will we go up, the year before will we survive as a club, and the year before that it was dealing with the disappointment of relegation. And even the year before that, it was being unable to enjoy promotion due to the lockdown. This time it’s different.

After winning the Primera RFEF with several games to spare, the city has truly been able to look forward to the challenge of the second division, with a plan in place and optimism abounding. The first huge test will come today, at Ipurua against Eibar, one of the main promotion contenders and a team that had the second best home record last campaign.

The signings

Unsurprisingly, Castellón have been busy, with seven signings completed so far, and probably more to come. Congolese winger Brian Cipenga was the first man in, after playing for Paços Ferreira in the Portuguese second division last campaign. A speedy right footer playing most often as an inverted winger on the left, the man from Kinshasa should offer Castellón a lot of options in the final third. Nigerian Kenneth Mamah offers a similar profile but on the other wing as a left footer, and was brought in from Turkish side Göztepe, after helping them gain promotion to the Superlig last season.

A Castellón squad that already had a few Dutch players last year has added a few more, and of serious calibre. Perhaps the signing of the summer, the albinegros pulled off a real coup by bringing in midfielder Thomas Van den Belt on loan from Feyenoord, a player who excelled under Dick Schreuder at PEC Zwolle, winning second division player of the season during their promotion campaign. He made nine Eredivisie appearances for Feyenoord last year, and promises to be not just one of Castellón’s stars, but arguably a top 10 player in Segunda this season as well.

Joining the 23-year-old in arriving from the Netherlands are Jetro Willems and Mats Seuntjens, who bring a wealth of top flight experience to the team. The former made 22 appearances for the Dutch national team, and was the youngest player ever to play at a Euros until Lamine Yamal this summer. With almost 200 games for PSV and a full season of Premier League experience at Newcastle, the 30-year-old will be a fantastic addition on the left flank in a wing back role. Seuntjens joins after spending almost all of his career in the Eredivisie, except for one season at Genclerbirligi. The 32-year-old attacking midfielder will hopefully fill the space left by Haris Medunjanin, as one the side’s main creative players.

Iranian international goalkeeper Amir Abedzadeh and young Spanish winger Alex Calatrava complete the new arrivals so far. Abedzadeh will provide strong competition for Castellon’s player of the season last year Gonzalo Crettaz, after a season in Portugal with Maritimo last year. Calatrava joins after putting in some impressive performances for Atlético B last year in Primera RFEF.

The departures

If you count those who featured for the first team last year, ten players have departed Castalia so far. Haris Medunjanin might have hung up his boots after an extraordinary career, but he will stay on as Dick Schreuder’s assistant, and will continue to be an important dressing room presence after playing such a crucial role last season.

Manu Sánchez, one of Castellón’s most important players in his two years at the club, is now playing for Gornik Zabrze in Poland’s top flight, in what is a fantastic opportunity for him to prove himself against some higher level competition. He has started well, with one goal in just four appearances so far.

Iago Indias, Julio Gracia and Borja Granero all found new clubs in Primera RFEF, joining Ibiza, Intercity and Alcoyano respectively.

January signings Iosifov and Veldwijk have moved on to Slovenia and Thailand, and Jake Carney is now in League Two at Newport County. Gervane Kastaneer is still without a club, while Mamadou Traoré returned to Union Saint-Gilloise after his loan ended.

Preseason results

Pre-season means nothing, but it doesn’t hurt to win. And after losing their first game against Levante, the albinegros responded perfectly, with a few dominant performances in particular. The 6-0 thrashing of second division side Elche was probably the standout result, with goals from De Miguel, Douglas, Lottin, Cipenga, Villahermosa and Raúl Sánchez.

Also impressive was the 6-1 win over Gimnastic, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the second division last year. Thomas Van den Belt took advantage to score his first goal for the club in what was another dominant performance.

Season expectations

As a newly promoted side, the first objective is clearly survival. However Castellón surely have the squad to perform beyond that. Already last season, the data suggests their squad would have been good enough to stay up in the second division, and given that they knocked out Oviedo in the Copa del Rey with a half strength squad and took La Liga side Osasuna to extra time, the results back that up.

So with the window they’ve had, there’s certainly a feeling that they will be aiming for more, with a midtable finish more likely to be the objective. It’s not unheard of for newly promoted clubs to do well in the second tier - Racing Ferrol managed 10th last year, and they were in the playoff positions for a while. However this year the league seems tougher, with the other promoted sides (Deportivo, Málaga and Córdoba) also playing at an extremely high level.

To reach the playoffs, or even to flirt with them, would be an incredibly successful season, and although that will be extremely difficult, I wouldn’t put it past Dick Schreuder’s side to create the surprise.

A new name for Castalia

The big summer news off the pitch for the club was the rebrand of Castalia, now officially known as SkyFi Castalia. After securing a new stadium lease which gave the club the right to sell the naming rights, they have already taken full advantage and struck a deal with the Austin-based satellite imagery company.