Madrid - Numancia, Malaga and Sporting Gijon all gained promotion to the Spanish first division on Sunday, the last day of matches. They will replace relegated sides Levante, Murcia and Zaragoza.
Numancia go up as second division champions, no less than five points ahead of Malaga and Gijon, having secured promotion four weeks ago.
Numancia are based in the small northern town of Soria, and owe their name to the Celt-Iberian city which heroically resisted the Romans until it was completely destroyed in 133 BC.
Numancia have spent three seasons already in the top flight, the last one in 2004/2005.
Malaga, for their part, sealed promotion on Sunday with a 2-0 home win over Tenerife, which provoked a euphoric pitch invasion.
Malaga have spent 27 seasons in the top flight. They were relegated from La Liga in 2006 but have bounced back thanks to the money invested by former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz, who has put his son Fernando - defender for Real in the late 1990s - as president.
In 2002/2003 season Malaga reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
The third team to win promotion, Sporting Gijon, has an even more illustrious history than Malaga and Numancia.
Gijon ended ten years of second division hardship on Sunday with a handsome 2-0 defeat of Eibar.
Gijon have spent 36 seasons in the first division, and were an important club - both in Spain and in Europe - in the late 1970s and 1980s - producing Spanish internationals such as Quini, Antonio Maceda and Luis Enrique.
Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa started his career at Gijon, before moving on to Zaragoza and Valencia.
Villa spent Sunday evening nervously watching the Gijon-Eibar game from the Spanish training camp in Austria.
Malaga and Gijon have finished four points ahead of fallen giants Real Sociedad - Liga champions in 1981 and 1982 - who were favourites for promotion at the start of the season.
The other surprise has been the poor performance of Celta Vigo - Champions League participants in 2004 - who have finished seventh from bottom.
