Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander played its first match on 23 February 1913, losing 1-2 to neighbouring club Strong. The club was formally registered a few months later, on 14 June 1913, as Santander Racing Club, and just a year afterwards, in 1914, King Alfonso XIII granted the side the honorific title "Real". The club's name, like many Spanish teams of that era, reflected the English sporting tradition then popular among Cantabria's elites.
Racing earned its place in Spanish football history as one of the ten founding clubs of Primera División, though the spot had to be won on the pitch — in the decisive qualifying match of 1928, the club beat Sevilla 2-0, finishing ahead of Valencia and Real Betis in the race to join the newly formed league. The team made its Primera División debut in the 1928-29 season and, in only its third year in the competition, finished as runners-up — the highest league position in its history.
A true turning point came in the 2007-08 season, when a side managed by coach Marcelino García Toral finished sixth in the league, securing the club's historic debut in the UEFA Cup. In the same decade, Racing twice reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals, losing to Getafe in 2008 and to Atlético Madrid in 2010 — both eventual finalists that season.
The team, nicknamed Verdiblancos (Green and Whites) after its kit colours, plays its home matches at Estadio El Sardinero, picturesquely located near the shore of the Bay of Biscay. Although Racing has spent recent years shuttling between Spain's top two divisions, it remains one of the oldest and most recognisable clubs in northern Spain, embodying the sporting identity of the entire Cantabria region.