The early years were spent in the regional leagues of Extremadura, the club's first venture into Tercera División coming in the season 1984–85, which was however short-lived (immediate relegation).

The team returned a year later, and slowly began to improve performances, to the extent that by 1992–93 they reached the play-offs for third level for the first time.

After five successive failures in the play-offs, Jerez finally won promotion to the third category in 1998 (after renewing its regular season supremacy), after a 0–0 draw against Vélez.

The 2003–04 season was Jerez's most successful in terms of points, and although the club finally ranked eighth, it battled for a play-off berth until the final few weeks of the season, and only conceded 29 league goals, second-best in its group, but lost valuable points in October/November 2003, with five consecutive draws.

The club's run in the third level came to an end in the following season, which was almost entirely spent in the relegation zone, with Jerez failing to win any of its last six matches.