Their attacking quartet of Emilín, Galé, Herrerita and Isidro Lángara (all represented Spain in this period), as well as Casuco and Ricardo Gallart modernised the game with their pace and running off the ball tied with sharp passing and one-touch football, played in a style 30/40 years before its time, being dubbed Delanteras Eléctricas ("The electric forwards"); all this was connected with a rigid training and fitness regime started by a former manager of the club, Englishman Fred Pentland.

Lángara won the Pichichi Trophy three years in a row prior to the Spanish Civil War, as Oviedo broke all scoring records (174 goals in 62 league games).

When football in the country resumed in 1939, Oviedo could not play 1939–40 season, as their pitch was deemed unplayable – Francisco Franco's troops had used the stadium as an ammunition dump.

During the following decades, the club bounced back between the first and second levels, the high point being a best-ever third position in 1962–63 (ranking joint-first with Real Madrid after the first 15 rounds), while the lowest was the side's first relegation to Segunda División B, in 1978 (for a single season).

In 1984–85 Oviedo won the soon-to-be-defunct Spanish League Cup (second division), after successively defeating UD Salamanca, Bilbao Athletic, CF Lorca Deportiva, CE Sabadell FC and Atlético Madrileño (the latter with a 2–1 aggregate in the final).

In 1988 Oviedo returned to the top division, after ousting RCD Mallorca in the promotion playoffs (2–1 on aggregate, with striker Carlos, who would feature prominently for the club in the following years, scoring one of the goals), and remained in that level for 13 consecutive seasons – in 1990–91 it finished sixth, qualifying for the first time for Europe, and being knocked out in the first round by Genoa C.F.C.

[11] After being relegated two consecutive times, Real Oviedo suffered severe economic troubles, which, when coupled with a profound lack of institutional support from the city's government, resulted in the team's inability to pay its players.

The club was then forced to drop all the way to the fourth division of Spanish football, for the 2003–04 season; at this point the team nearly folded but eventually recovered and regrouped, returning to level three in the following campaign.

In another playoff against a Mallorca team – this time the reserves, the club returned again to the third division, after a penalty shootout; however, its survival remained at risk in the following years, due to continuing financial difficulties.

[18] In the 2023–24 Segunda División, Oviedo finished sixth, earning a spot in the promotion play-offs, where they reached the final, winning the first leg 1–0,[19] but lost 2–1 on aggregate to Espanyol.

Last updated: 20 November 2024Source: Real Oviedo (in Spanish) Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.

Last updated: July 2022Source: Real Oviedo Official Website The Asturian derby has been closely contested throughout its history and the two teams have met 117 times in all competitions.

The first top flight derby took place during the 1944–45 season, and honours were split over the two games: Oviedo won its home fixture 2–1, but lost by a record 0–6 at El Molinón.