The Leyma Básquet Coruña is hitting the books. After falling short in the direct promotion race to the ACB against Obradoiro on the final day of the Primera FEB regular season, the orange squad has switched gears and is now focusing on its second challenge: the playoffs. Carles Marco’s squad kicks off the first round of the phase this Thursday against Hestia Menorca (20:00 local time) at the Coliseum, where the crowd is already warming up to push the team forward. The Coruña side is fighting against its own history: out of eight previous attempts at promotion through the difficult path, only twice have they advanced past the quarterfinals. It’s a tough task for a Leyma determined to rewrite its story.
Jacobo Díaz attacks Menorca’s defense in the last duel at the Coliseum. / CASTELEIRO
A Familiar Territory: The Promotion Phase
In the twelve seasons that Leyma Coruña has played in the second tier of Spanish basketball (formerly LEB Oro, now Primera FEB), the orange team has fought for the ACB in eight of them. The first attempt came quickly: in their debut season (2012-13), right after moving up from LEB Plata, the squad then led by Antonio Herrera finished ninth and aimed for the impossible. With nothing to lose, they went toe-to-toe against Andorra and forced a fifth game, but fell in the quarterfinals. The following season, with Tito Díaz on the bench, they placed sixth and repeated the experience, but again failed to get past the first round, losing to Oviedo in two games in a best-of-three series.
Leyma first broke through the quarterfinal barrier in the 2015-16 season. That year, after finishing fifth, they caused a major upset in the first elimination round by eliminating a Breogán team that started as favorites. They needed all five games, but pulled off the feat with three wins to advance to the semifinals against Melilla. The dream ended there, against a physically stronger team, but it laid the foundation for an exciting journey that would culminate eight years later (precisely at the Javier Imbroda arena) through the direct route.
Between 2016 and 2018, Leyma again got stuck in the quarterfinals. Palencia and Manresa (where Guillem Jou was already playing) were their executioners in Díaz’s last season and Gustavo Aranzana’s first. The Coruña team had to wait until the 2020-21 season to taste the semifinals again. The arrival of Sergio García at the Palacio de los Deportes revitalized a clearly ascending project. The orange squad beat Oviedo in the quarterfinals and faced Granada in the penultimate round, a series where they won the first game but lost the next two. The Basque coach tried again the following season, but Marc Gasol’s Girona dashed the dream at the first hurdle.
Leyma’s most recent playoff appearance was in the 2022-23 season, already under Diego Epifanio. After an exciting regular season, and despite being favorites, Gipuzkoa knocked out the orange team in the quarterfinals.
Four Exceptions
Leyma has only abstained from playing the playoffs on four occasions. Twice (2014-15 and 2018-19), their sporting performance was low and they failed to reach the top nine that grants access to the final phase. In the 2019-20 season, one of the most brilliant in their history up to that point, the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the competition, preventing the league from being decided on the court. And in the fourth instance, the 2023-24 season, the Coruña team promoted directly after winning the championship in what is, so far, their only promotion to the ACB league.
