There's more to football in Catalonia than Barcelona

As Barca became a global power in the 90s and noughties, the clubs in their substantial shadow often struggled, but there has been a resurgence of interest in more localised football where the strength of the community is clear

There has been a resurgence of interest in more localised football in Catalonia where the strength of the community is clear. The fan influence, too. Andy Mitten / The National

Barcelona will play Real Betis on Saturday night in the city’s Olympic Stadium high on the hill of Montjuic. Look across from the top and you can see busy cranes above Camp Nou as it’s rebuilt. The famous stadium will seat 105,000 when fully opened and be one of the biggest in the world. Barcelona are hoping to be back in their home by August, playing to crowds of around 65,000 as the new tiers continue to rise.

Hansi Flick’s young Barcelona side have surprised and thrilled. They lead La Liga in one of the few genuine title races in top-level football, with eternal rivals Real Madrid three points behind with nine games to play. The pair meet in the league next month, but there’s plenty of football before then.

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid have again made it to the latter stages of the Uefa Champions League and there’s still a chance that both could meet in this season’s final. An away win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday ensured that Barcelona will meet Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final later this month. Both are going for a treble – Barca a quadruple, if you count the Spanish Super Cup they won in Jeddah in January. Not since Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola went head-to-head 15 years ago has it been this intense in Spain.

Barca dominate Catalan football. They’re one of three biggest clubs in the world, boasting some of the finest players, both homegrown and imported. Forward Lamine Yamal, 17, is on a fast track to becoming a superstar. On Sunday, against fellow Catalan side Girona, he ran at opponents in a sometimes ungainly style – yet still came away with the ball. He’s exciting, as are the other young Barca players.

But there are tensions and contrasts. The main group in the Espai d’Animació (vocal stand) have been banned from matches after Barca demanded the group, comprised of four fan groups, reimburse them after the club were fined €21,000 due to offensive chants. The fans have refused to pay.

Flag wavers holding a ‘Let’s Go Team’ banner in English behind the goal doesn’t cut it for authentic fan culture, though a ‘Forca Barca’ and Catalan flag do, while a chant of ‘If you don’t jump up and down you’re a Madridista’ get most up off their feet.

On Sunday against Girona, other fans sang in support of the banned groups who had brought most of the atmosphere to a stadium lacking in one, in part because it was built for athletics and not football. Barca are in their temporary home for two seasons.

The fans present also sang for Pedri to the same tune that they had sung for Lionel Messi. Pedri, 22, is a wonderful footballer, perfectly suited for Flick’s team of quick forward passes. There were concerns that playing too much too soon led to injury, but he played his best football when he played every week. Other youngsters like Alejandro Balde, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Casado and Gaviare regularly promoted from a youth system that continues to produce top class talent. The Catalan full-backs Hector Fort, 18, and Gerard Martin, 23, have fitted into the system, too. These players are technically gifted individuals but they look out and play for each other.

After a difficult couple of years in which the club’s finances became a bigger story than its football, it’s an exciting time to be a culer. No club in the world has more valuable players than Barca’s nine in Transfermarkt’s 100 most valuable in world football. Yamal, worth €180 million, is rated as the most expensive, then Pedri (13th in the world) at €120 million, Raphinha (32nd) €80 million, Pau Cubarsi (42nd) €70 million, Gavi (43rd) €70 million, Alejandro Balde (59th) €60 million, Jules Kounde (66th) €60 million, Dani Olmo 67th (€60 million) and Fermin Lopez (93rd) €50 million.

It’s big money and Barcelona need to raise big money to pay their players' wages, but what fans pay to see games depends on who they are. Go every week with a season ticket and you’ll pay a lot less than a tourist visiting for a one-off game. The cheapest ticket for a non-member for Saturday’s Betis game is €119 while it’s €159 for the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund next week. Prices vary according to opponents – they were as low as €29 for last Thursday’s game against Osasuna, with a 30 per cent discount for residents.

Barcelona are commercial and international. After eschewing a shirt sponsor for years, they now have multiple partners and their stadium bears the Spotify name. The streaming company changes their message up to four times per season with the names of artists Taylor Swift, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones and Rosalia on the front of their shirts.

Against Girona, who themselves have risen from fifth tier of Spanish football and playing in front of only 1,000 fans all the way to the Champions League this century, Barca needed to win. They went ahead via a 43rd minute own goal, but Girona equalised, wily old Dutch midfielder Daley Blind, 35, setting up the fleet-heeled Arnaut Danjuma silenced all but a 500 strong pocket of Girona fans in the 48,258 crowd. For them, it was disconcerting as the shadow cast on the pitch from the bright sunshine after Catalonia’s wettest March in years brought much needed replenishment to its reservoirs.

For opponents, experiencing Barcelona move through their gears must be ominous but that’s what they did, scoring three times in 25 minutes through Robert Lewandowski (2) and Ferran Torres. Frenkie de Jong, increasingly important for his team this season, set one up. Lewandowski leads Spain’s top scorer chart with 25 to Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe’s 22.

But there’s far more to football in Barcelona than FC Barcelona. The previous day, Espanyol held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw in their modern 41,000-seater home on the outskirts of the city, all but ending Atletico’s title hopes. Promoted Espanyol have an impressive record in that home, having only been defeated three times this season. They inflicted a defeat on Real Madrid last month which, ironically, could help Barcelona. Not that Espanyol fans will wish to help Barca further when they entertain them next month. Little love is lost between the two, but it’s that home record which should keep Espanyol up given they have won once away all season. Espanyol average 24,500 fans for home games, a loyal, loud following.

Espanyol were one of the 10 founder clubs of La Liga in 1928 along with Barca and another club from the city, Europa, plus Real Madrid, Racing Santander, Atletico Madrid and four teams from the Basque country: Real Union, Arenas Getxo, Real Sociedad and Athletic Club from Bilbao. Managed by an Englishman, Ralph Kirkby, Europa played in the inaugural three seasons before relegation.

Europa have had their moments, notably in 1997 and 1998 when they won the Copa Catalunya, twice beating Barca in the final. Then in the fifth tier, they beat Bobby Robson’s team containing Hristo Stoichkov and in 1997 and overcame a side starring Ivan de la Pena, Michael Reiziger, Sergi and Fernando Couto to win the cup a year later. They’ve spent much of their existence playing fourth tier regional football, where they do currently.

Europa play in Gracia, which was once a town in its own right, Spain’s ninth biggest before Barcelona surrounded it in 1897, irritating locals who consider themselves to be from Gracia over Barcelona. Older Graciencs still say they’re going to Barcelona – when it’s a 10-minute walk just over the Diagonal road.

Gracia still feels separate, a town with its own proud identity, and football club with Club Esportiu Europa playing on the edge of it. Crowds have surged in the past 15 years, from 500 to five times that in 2025. There’s still space in in the 4,000 capacity Nou Sardenya stadium where Europa wear their distinctive white shirts with a blue chevron. It’s a tight, homely stadium where residents of the 16-storey tower blocks which overlook the artificial pitch can watch for free.

Europa’s website long announced that they were proud to be Gracians, Catalans and Europeans (not Barcelonans nor Spanish) and crowds are increasing at lower league football in Catalonia. It’s the same in England, a post pandemic boom. Maybe it’s a rejection of the high prices charged for top level football, but seeking a more intimate community feel and authentic atmosphere, to be with your own people rather than day-tripping tourists.

Europa’s main rivals are neighbours Sant Andreu to the north. Sant Andreu were formed two years after Europa in 1909 and reached the second tier of Spanish football in the 1970s. Financial problems followed and the surrealist artist Salvador Dali donated a painting to the club to raise funds.

As FC Barcelona became a global power in the 90s and noughties, the clubs in their substantial shadow often struggled, but there has been a resurgence of interest in more localised football where the strength of the community is clear. The fan influence, too. At Europa and Sant Andreu, the anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-homophobia messages are clear.

After leaving the Olympic Stadium following Barca’s 4-1 win against Girona, The National headed across Barcelona to see the derby between Sant Andreu and Europa. Sant Andreu is a predominantly working district of 142,000 in Barcelona’s north. In one of its seven barris (neighbourhoods) is the 6,500 Camp Municipal Narcis Sala. It’s four tight, steep, stands, three of them open to the elements which seat 6,563 and it’s for this derby. Red and yellow, the colours of Sant Andreu – and the Catalan flag – proliferate.

Technical levels are high from the semi-professional players who’ve trained on the artificial pitches of clubs from a young age. These pitches are key at this level – they’re used for 12 hours per day by the club’s numerous younger teams, hundreds of players – male and female – affiliated to the club. Roman Golobart, who played in the Premier League at Wigan Athletic, started out at Europa and their women’s team is one of the best in Catalonia and has been playing in Spain’s second tier. Europa’s men’s B team play in the fifth tier of Spanish football – the same level as Girona’s reserves. Their reach extends well beyond the first XI.

At the derbi del Pla – both clubs hail from principal towns of Pla de Barcelona, the plain of the city – before they were surrounded by urban expansion, second-placed Sant Andreu take on leaders Europa on the first day after the clocks in Europe have gone forward, meaning it’s still light for the evening kick off. It’s noisy and there are impressive tifos. It feels local. Police watch events closely.

Fans also watch from the nearby apartments which overlook the pitch, like free executive boxes, the type you’d never find in this down-to-earth football ground. Catalan flags proliferate, there’s the odd Palestine flag too, while the logo of Open Arms, a Catalan NGO dedicated to search and rescue at sea (usually refugees) is prominent. Josep Guardiola, the most famous Catalan, has worn an Open Arms hoodie on numerous occasions.

Both teams were promoted to this division in 2023, both pushed for another promotion last year before losing in the play-offs. They’re even better positioned this term and it’s a heated affair, November’s previous game between the two suspended after a barrier surrounding the pitch collapsed after San Andreu scored a fifth goal (to lead 5-3) in the 47th minute. There was criticism of the facilities which long catered to a few hundred fans but now hold packed crowds of a few thousand. That November game, which was also held up for 10 minutes after a lighter was thrown onto the pitch by visiting supporters, was replayed behind closed doors.

On Sunday, Europa took the lead in the first half, Sant Andreu equalised in the second and pushed for a winner. The atmosphere was magnificent, with almost all the fans singing almost all of the time. The scoreboard did what a scoreboard should, it told the score and the time and at the end it read ‘1-1’. Top-of-the-table Europa were happiest at the end, the draw ensuring they would stay top of a league where only the leading team is promoted automatically to Spain’s two-league third tier. Both clubs are enjoying their form and have ambitions to fly high to levels where they once played, Europa to reach Spain’s second division for the first time since 1968. First, though, they need to reach the third tier for the first time since 1995 – though their travel costs for both clubs would increase significantly if promoted. At the moment they travel as far as Mallorca, Ibiza, Valencia and Elche, though most rivals are closer to home. Promotion would mean trips to Galica, a 10-hour drive away, but that’s an issue for the future and Sant Andreu will push them all the way as the season comes to a close. As the home fans leave and the away fans are kept behind to prevent the two clashing, the Europa fans are the ones singing in the cool Sant Andreu air.