Here is a quiz question - which two football clubs’ home stadiums are closest to each other? And remember, shared stadiums don’t count.
You would be hard pushed to beat Dundee and Dundee United in Scotland, for their home stadiums occupy the same street, barely 100 metres apart.
But there are two grounds that are even closer. Those of La Liga side Espanyol and UE Cornella in Barcelona. Built in 2009, Espanyol’s 41,000 capacity home backs immediately onto the main stand – in fact, the only stand – of fifth-tier Cornella.
Cornella is way out to the southwest on the Barcelona’s urban fringe near the Llobregat river, the motorway to Madrid and heavy industry. This is not the Barcelona that the tourists see, but a red belt settled by economic migrants from outside Catalonia in the 1950s and 60s.
Most residents speak Spanish over Catalan in the street, if not the classroom. Barca fans mock Espanyol in a song when they refer to them being from Cornella and not Barcelona itself. The usual petty points-scoring beloved by football rivals.
But Cornella produces footballers. Jordi Alba, David Raya, Gerard Martin and Keita Balde all came through the ranks.
“UE Cornella is among the three best youth football clubs in all of Catalonia and among the 10 best in all of Spain,” writes the club. “Their teams are of high sports level and compete against the best teams at the regional and national level."
Maybe this is why Lionel Messi, formerly at Barcelona, currently with Inter Miami, announced last week that he has bought UE Cornella.
"This move reinforces Messi's close ties to Barcelona and his commitment to the development of sport and local talent in Catalonia,” said Cornella.
“Leo Messi's arrival marks the beginning of a new chapter in the club's history, aimed at driving both sporting and institutional growth, strengthening its foundations, and continuing to invest in talent. The project is guided by a long-term vision and a strategic plan that combines ambition, sustainability, and a strong connection to its local roots.”
Cornella is a football factory. Seven days a week, footballers pack a small and far-from-modern artificial surface.
The single 1,500-seater stand is easily big enough to hold the 500 average crowds for the first team, which is pushing for promotion to the fourth tier. There are no spectator facilities on the other three sides.
When Cornella drew Barcelona in a 2021 Copa Del Rey game during the Covid pandemic, no fans were allowed in. But the stadium is so small that locals watched from the streets outside. The players ran to the fence afterwards to celebrate with fans – and others who looked like they were walking to the nearby shops.
Then, Cornella were in Spain’s third tier, up against far bigger clubs. That they stayed there for a decade despite tiny crowds was an achievement. But they were relegated in each of the past two seasons.
Enter Messi, with the club at its lowest point for 19 years. But why is Messi doing this?
It depends on who you ask. After Barcelona and Espanyol, Cornella have one of the best academy and youth teams in Catalonia. This brings players and money.
Cornella isn’t only about their first team. The club boasts 1,100 footballers and under 11s; Cornella have an incredible 15 teams.
Players in 12 of those sides pay to be coached. The best two teams at this age group don’t and Cornella’s elite youth teams play in the Liga Nacional against their equivalents at Barca or Espanyol in a 10-team group.
This is a hotbed of football talent in a country which can compete with the best in the world on that basis. The academy systems at Spanish clubs are particularly strong. Barcelona’s La Masia is the most famed, yet Real Sociedad won Spain’s Copa del Rey last week with 10 players who came through their youth system.
English Championship side Birmingham City joined up with Cornella’s talent factory in 2017. Birmingham and Cornella shared information and contacts, partly in the hope that the Midlands club will have access to the next Jordi Alba, who Cornella signed after he was released from Barcelona as a 16-year-old.
When Alba went to Valencia and then back to Barca, Cornella made €1.4 million.
Now Messi owns all of it. Just as his former teammate Gerard Pique owns an Andorran club who have risen to Spain’s second tier, despite only having average crowds of 2,500 in the mountainous Pyrenean principality.
Alba and Tiago Alcantara have bought Hospitalet, in a similar location and size to Cornella and play in Spain’s fifth tier, also on Barcelona’s working-class outskirts.
Messi's former Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr, bought a 25 per cent stake in Spanish side Almeria in February. There’s a trend.
Lower league football is booming around Barcelona, but that boom in crowds hasn’t extended to Cornella, who have had some of the smallest average crowds in their leagues in recent years, though they are usually up against bigger clubs.
Yet the impact of Messi’s ownership was immediate, with the number of Instagram followers expanding from 40,000 to 600,000 in less than a week – more than their top-flight neighbours Espanyol.
There’s a long way to go to the 182 million enjoyed by Real Madrid and 147 million by Barcelona, but it’s bigger than every club in Spain’s second tier and several La Liga clubs.
“I think it’s done with the idea that Messi and his people will grow the club and increase the value of the investment,” one person familiar with the situation told The National.
“To produce top talent in Barcelona is very hard because in the end FC Barcelona will take the best players at a young age, when there is hardly any profit for a smaller club. Barca will say the player is best [when] developing with them and they have a point.
“Messi putting his name to Cornella will also attract investors who put money in. People will pay to say that they are owners or sponsors of Messi’s club. Fans will be interested, the media. Or he just might enjoy it. His main family home, when he’s in Spain, is only a 15-minute drive away.”
