The league placings have largely mirrored the fortunes of the senior team. From their formation in the 1960s until the late 1990s, Alavés B competed only in the fourth (Tercera Grupo IV) or fifth (Preferente de Álava) tiers. They achieved promotion to Segunda División B in 1999,[2][3] a year after the seniors climbed to La Liga. Alavés B remained in the third level for seven seasons, usually finishing mid-table, until demotion in 2005-06, the same year that the main side was relegated amid economic turmoil under Dmitry Piterman.
During the 2000s, Alavés B practically not contributed players to the Alavés first team, which has been almost exclusively nourished by foreign signings, and the decline of the club continued when the senior side themselves dropped into Segunda División B in 2009, while the B team were relegated back down to the fifth level. It took Alavés B only two seasons to regain fourth-level status[4][5] whereas the seniors took four years to rise again to the second level, but they then gained promotion to La Liga after three further seasons while the B team stayed put in Tercera División from that point on; they eventually gained promotion in 2018–19 via the playoffs.[6]