The most important milestones of the club were in the 1970s and 1980s, when it finished as runner-up of the 1978–79 La Liga and played two finals of the Copa del Rey in 1981 and 1982.

On 9 October 1921, Manolo Meana became the first Sporting Gijón player to be called up with the Spanish national team, for a friendly game against Belgium.

[5] From 1940 until 1970, due to a temporary law forbidding the use of foreign words in football club names, the team's official denomination was Real Gijón.

The season started with the first round of the UEFA Cup, where on 13 September 1978, Sporting beat Torino 3–0 at El Molinón.

The club finished the first half of La Liga leading the table, tied in points with Real Madrid, but a 0–1 loss to the Merengues completely ruined their title hopes.

In the previous 1986–87 season, Sporting beat Barcelona at Camp Nou by 0–4, the biggest win away in the club's history in La Liga.

Sporting Gijón eliminated Partizan after a penalty shootout, but failed to defeat Steaua București in the second round.

The internal financial crisis and the departure of important players triggers the decline of the club, pushing it to the lower positions in La Liga.

In the 1994–95 season, Sporting remained in La Liga thanks to winning the relegation playoffs against Lleida, but three years later, following a disastrous 1997–98 campaign where Sporting only earned 13 points (two wins and seven draws in 38 games), the club was relegated to Second Division, finishing its 21-year continuous stretch in La Liga.

The 2003–04 season started with several doubts after the transfer of David Villa to Zaragoza and the election of Marcelino García Toral as head coach, who previously relegated the reserve team to Tercera División.

After accumulating €51m of debts in its worst years, Real Sporting was close to being administratively relegated at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Finally, on 15 June 2008, the club secured promotion back to La Liga after beating 2–0 Eibar in the last round.

In a season where the team broke La Liga record of 29 consecutive games without any draw (a 1–1 finish with Athletic Bilbao on 3 May 2009), Sporting avoided relegation in the last round after a win by 2–1 against last qualified Recreativo de Huelva.

In his first season, he could not win Gijón promotion to La Liga after being eliminated in the semi-finals of the play-offs by Las Palmas.

The club was only allowed to sign, by loan, three new under-23 players without experience in La Liga (Antonio Sanabria from Roma, Alen Halilović from Barcelona and Omar Mascarell from Real Madrid).

Despite an irregular path, Sporting obtained very important wins like a 1–0 at Mestalla, a 2–1 against Atlético Madrid or a 5–1 against Real Sociedad.

[16][17] After two first seasons narrowly avoiding relegation to the third division, in 2024 Sporting Gijón qualified again to the promotion play-offs to La Liga.

The club's badge is a triangle with red and white vertical stripes with 'S' (for Sporting) and 'G' (for Gijón) intertwined, in gold, across them.

[19] The club's official flag consists of nine equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white in a rectangular field in a 2:3 ratio.

The main pitch, where Sporting de Gijón B plays its games, is called Campo Pepe Ortiz and has a capacity for 3,000 people.

Mareo is a very prolific cantera, where several international football players grown being widely famous like Eloy, Ablanedo, Luis Enrique, Abelardo, Manjarín, Juanele or David Villa, World Champion in 2010 with the Spain national team.

[22] Sporting de Gijón supporters commonly call themselves Sportinguistas in order to show their dedication to the club.

[23] Sportinguistas are widely regarded as one of the most loyal, best travelling, and most cheerful supporter groups in La Liga,[24][25][26] providing one of the best atmospheres in the competition.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.