during the civil war, levante's ground was destroyed, but the club's squad remained intact. in contrast, gimnástico had a ground, estadio de vallejo, but had lost most of their players. as a result, in 1939 levante fc and gimnástico fc merged into levante unión deportiva. levante ud thus having origin from at least 1909 from both levante fc and gimnástico fc. at first being named unión deportiva levante-gimnástico, then changing it a few years later to , with current club colours also dating from this era (the "blaugrana", blue-garnet, home colours were originally those of gimnástico fc, while the black and white away kit, were the colours of ). moreover, levante ud not only inherited their colors from gimnástico fc but also their nickname, "granota", the frogs.