Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain, that competes in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

, the top tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1900 in

, Espanyol currently play their home games at the

RCDE Stadium RCDE Stadium, also known as Estadi Cornellà-El Prat (; es, Estadio Cornellà-El Prat ), is an all-seater football stadium on the outskirts of Cornellà de Llobregat and El Prat de Llobregat, in the wider Barcelona urban area ( Catalonia, Spai ...

, which holds up to 40,000 spectators. Domestically, Espanyol has won the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

four times, most recently in 2006. In international competitions, the club reached the UEFA Cup final in 1988 and 2007. It has a long-standing rivalry with FC Barcelona.

Name

Initially known as the Sociedad Española de Football on its foundation, the name was changed to Club Español de Fútbol in 1901. In 1906, the club folded due to financial reasons and most of the players joined the X Sporting Club, which came to win the Campionat de Catalunya three times in a row before disappearing in 1908 to merge with the Spanish Jiu-Jitsu Club to be effectively relaunched as the Club Deportivo Español, and in 1910, they adopted their present-day colours. Espanyol is one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use ''Real'' in their names and the royal crown on their badge. This right was granted to Espanyol in 1912 by Alfonso XIII and the club subsequently became known as the Real Club Deportivo Español. Following the abdication of the same king in 1931 and the declaration of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, due to prohibition of royal symbols, the club adopted the more Catalan/republican friendly name, Club Esportiu Espanyol. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, the name was reverted. The club took the Catalan spelling for its name in February 1995. The word "''Deportiu''" in Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a Catalanised form of the original word "''Deportivo''" ( Castilian), despite the correct word being "''Esportiu''" in the Catalan language. This choice was made in order to retain the initials "RCD" in the club's name.

History

Foundation and club culture

Espanyol was founded on 28 October 1900 by Ángel Rodríguez Ruiz (1879–1959), an engineering student at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

. The club's original home was in the well-off district of

Sarrià Sarria or Sarrià may refer to: *Sarrià, Barcelona, a neighbourhood in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain **Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, the Barcelona district containing Sarrià ** Sarrià Stadium, a former football stadium in Sarrià, Barcelona **Sarrià (Bar ...

; Espanyol was the first club in Spain to be formed exclusively by Spanish fans of the game, with the other early clubs having links to Britain or central Europe. File:RCD Espanyol campions 1904.jpg, CD Espanyol de Barcelona, Catalan champions in 1904 File:RCD Espanyol 1912.jpg, RCD Español in 1912. Ricardo Zamora Espanyol

The club originally played in bright yellow shirts, with the colour of the shorts being left to the individual player. A friend of the club founder owned a textile business and happened to have an abundance of yellow material left over from a job. In 1910, the club changed its name to the Club Deportivo Español and chose blue and white stripes as shirt colours and as the central colours of the club badge. Blue and white were chosen in homage to the colours appearing on the shield of the great Sicilian-Aragonese Admiral

Roger de Lluria Roger of Lauria (''c''. 1245 – 17 January 1305) was a Neapolitan admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and tal ...

, who sailed the Mediterranean protecting the interests of the Crown of Aragon in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The club was successful from the very beginning, winning the first Campionat de Catalunya in 1903 and subsequently playing in the very first

in 1903. In 1906 ''Club Español de Football'' had to suspend its activities due to a lack of players, since most of them were university students who enrolled to study at universities outside

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

. X Sporting Club took advantage of this as most of the remaining Español players joined them, which meant a big leap in quality for the club, and as a result, the X won the Catalan championship three times in a row between 1905 and 1908, beating the likes of

FC Internacional The Futbol Club Internacional, commonly referred to a was as FC Internacional, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain. Founded in 1901, FC Internacional had an "impasse" in its activities after the 1905-06 academic year, resuming them in 1 ...

and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

for the title. This historic side had the likes of Pedro Gibert,

José Irízar José Marcelino Yrízar Urbizu (5 October 1882 - 23 March 1935), better known as José Irízar was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club and FC Barcelona. Although he always appeared as Irizar in the sports press, on hi ...

and

Santiago Massana Santiago Massana Urgellés (5 June 1889 – Unknown), nicknamed Tiago, was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender. He was best known for his height, which he imposed on his opponents. His brother, Alfredo Massana, was also a footballer. C ...

. It was not until 1909 that X and Español were restructured again, when several of the former university students returned to

with the idea of refounding ''Club Español de Football'', which they achieved on 27 December 1908, when X merged with the Spanish Jiu-Jitsu Club. In the 1910s, they won the Campionat de Catalunya three times, in 1911–12, 1914–15 and 1917–18, winning later largely thanks to their backline led by

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Catala ...

. They also reached the final of the Copa del Rey twice in

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

and 1915, but lost to Athletic Bilbao on both occasions. In 1994, Espanyol created its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, Espanyol B, currently playing in the Segunda División B.

Two UEFA Cup finals (1988–2009)

Javier Clemente was hired in 1986. In his first season, he took the team to a joint-best 3rd place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. They defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach, A.C. Milan,

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

, TJ Vitkovice and Club Brugge KV to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, losing on penalties to Bayer 04 Leverkusen after a 3–3 aggregate draw. Two relegations followed, but the club remained in La Liga from winning the 1993–94 Segunda División until relegated at the conclusion of the 2019-20 COVID pandemic impacted season. President from 1989 to 1993, Juli Pardo oversaw the transformation of the club into a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva. In the wake of the accumulated debt, the club were forced to sell the

Sarrià Stadium Sarrià Stadium (in Catalan: Estadi de Sarrià ; in Spanish: Estadio de Sarrià) was a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The stadium was the home of RCD Espanyol from 1923 to 1997, and was located in the district of Sarrià. Beg ...

, which was eventually demolished in 1997. Paco Flores' Espanyol won the 2000 Copa del Rey Final 2–1 against Atlético Madrid at Mestalla, a first cup win since 1940. Six years later, under

Miguel Ángel Lotina Miguel Ángel Lotina Oruechebarría (; born 18 June 1957) is a Spanish professional manager and former footballer who played as a striker. Playing career Born in Meñaka, Biscay, Lotina started playing football with local Gernika Club, repr ...

, the club won again, this time 4–1 against Real Zaragoza in Madrid, with goals by

Raúl Tamudo Raúl Tamudo Montero (born 19 October 1977) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. An icon at Espanyol, he captained the club for almost a decade, playing nearly 400 official games, winning two Copa del Rey an ...

, Luis García (two) and Coro. With this cup win, Espanyol entered the UEFA Cup. They won all their group games, before dispatching Livorno, Maccabi Haifa, Benfica, and Werder Bremen to reach the final. In the final, held on 16 May at Hampden Park in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, Espanyol fell to fellow La Liga side Sevilla, losing 3–1 in a shootout following a 2–2 draw. They became the only football team in UEFA Cup history to remain unbeaten in the tournament, yet not take home the trophy.

Walter Pandiani Walter Gerardo Pandiani Urquiza (born 27 April 1976) is an Uruguayan football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Albion. His performances for Peñarol earned him a move to Deportivo in Spain, wh ...

, who would leave the club at the end of the season, was the UEFA Cup's top goalscorer that season. On 9 June 2007, Tamudo became Espanyol's highest-ever goalscorer after surpassing the 111 goals scored by Rafael Marañón, and ended the night with 113. On 31 May 2009, Espanyol played its last match at the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuic, a 3–0 defeat of Málaga. Espanyol had played in the Estadi Olímpic after moving from their previous ground in Sarria. With the move, club talisman Raúl Tamudo had the unique distinction of having played in three different home stadiums with his club: Sarrià, Montjuïc and, beginning in the 2009–10 season, the Cornellà-El Prat.

Recent years (2009–present)

In January 2009, former Espanyol defender

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (; born 2 March 1972) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Pochettino played as a central defender and be ...

was hired as manager with the club in the relegation zone – his first senior job. He won 2–1 against rivals Barcelona at the Camp Nou in February to help keep the club up; Barcelona, under Pep Guardiola, won the treble that season. After 12 seasons playing at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, Espanyol moved to the Estadi de Cornellá-El Prat. The new stadium was officially inaugurated on 2 August 2009 with a match between Espanyol and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

; Espanyol won 3–0, with Luis García scoring the first goal at the ground, followed by a Ben Sahar double. Six days later, Espanyol captain

Daniel Jarque Daniel Jarque González (1 January 1983 – 8 August 2009) was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a central defender and spent his entire career with Espanyol. He was named team captain one month before his death from a heart att ...

died from a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possi ...

aged 26 in the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

neighbourhood of Coverciano, where the club was at the time after playing several fixtures in Italy. Since then, in the 21st minute – his former shirt number – of every Espanyol match, an ovation is made in his honour for a full minute. After Pochettino left in 2012, the club maintained themselves in the top flight under a series of other managers. In January 2016, Chinese businessman Chen Yansheng took over the club by acquiring a 54% stake. In the 2018–19 season, Espanyol finished 7th, thus returning to the Europa League for the first time since their final run in 2006–07. However, the club suffered relegation for the first time since 1994 the following season, after a 1–0 loss at Barcelona. On 3 August 2020 the club published an official statement urging La Liga to suspend relegation; nevertheless relegation was not avoided. Espanyol won promotion back to La Liga at the first attempt on 8 May 2021 following a 0–0 draw against

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

, with four matches to spare in the 42-game season. Since 2022，RCDE has achieved a strategic cooperation with LEYU SPORTS. And LEYU became Official Asian Partner of RCDE.

Rivalries

''El derbi barceloní''

In the first half of the 20th century during the Miguel Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923–1930), FC Barcelona was seen as a symbol of

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

identity. This contrasted with RCD Espanyol which cultivated a kind of compliance with the central authority. In 1918, the municipalities of Catalonia promoted a campaign to ask the Spanish Government for a Statute of Autonomy. FC Barcelona joined that request and the Catalan press recognized FC Barcelona as a major cultural arm of the Catalan independence movement. The city's other team, RCD Espanyol, dissociated itself from the claim due to the former's success on the European stage. Today FC Barcelona is the club that is closer to the political powers in Catalonia. Its last presidents have linked the club with the Catalan independence movement and the holding of a referendum, even though this causes discomfort among some Catalan fans and those in the rest of Spain who feel neglected and think the team is biased against them. Although some of RCD Espanyol's directors have expressed pro-independence stances, the club stays out of politics. It is believed that most of the team's fans are against the independence of Catalonia. On numerous occasions RCD Espanyol has complained of unfavourable and sometimes directly offensive treatment towards the club in favour of FC Barcelona by some Catalonian public media like TV3. Despite these differences in ideology, the ''derbi'' (derby) has always been more relevant to Espanyol supporters than those of Barcelona (who hold El Clásico in higher regard instead) due to the difference in objectives. Though it is the most played local derby in the history of La Liga, it is also the most unbalanced, with Barcelona overwhelmingly dominant. In the league table, Espanyol has only managed to finish above Barça on three occasions in almost 70 years and the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey final was won by Barça in 1957. Espanyol has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6–0 victory in 1951. Espanyol achieved a 2–1 win against FC Barcelona during the 2008–09 season, becoming the first team to defeat Barcelona at Camp Nou in their treble-winning

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

. Espanyol lost 0–1 to FC Barcelona on 8 July 2020, to be relegated to the Segunda División.

Stadium

From 1923 until 1997, Espanyol played their home games in Estadi de Sarrià in the

Sarrià-Sant Gervasi Sarrià-Sant Gervasi is one of the biggest districts of Barcelona. It's the district with the highest per capita income, the largest proportion of university degrees and the lowest unemployment rate. Situated on the north-west of the city, surr ...

district of Barcelona. In 1997, they moved to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Montjuïc. For the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Espanyol moved into the newly constructed

(also known as Estadi Cornellà-El Prat) between

Cornellà de Llobregat Cornellà de Llobregat (; es, Cornellá de Llobregat) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat River. It is in the south-western part of the Barcelona me ...

and El Prat de Llobregat. File:Sarrià.jpg, Estadi de Sarrià File:Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc - Barcelona's 1992 Olympic Stadium.jpg, Estadi Olímpic de Montjüic File:Estadicornellaelprat 3.jpg,

Competition summary

*80 ''seasons in Primera División'' *4 ''seasons in Segunda División'' *8 ''participations in UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League'' *2 ''participations in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup'' *2 ''participations in UEFA Intertoto Cup''

Achievements

*In 1928, Espanyol became a founding member of

, and in 1929, the team won their first

. Espanyol has completed the highest number of seasons in La Liga without winning the title. *The team has qualified for the UEFA Cup/Europa League eight times (including the qualifications following their 2000 and 2006 Spanish Cup wins, which in earlier eras would instead have granted entry to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) and reached the final in 1988, losing to Bayer Leverkusen of then-

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

penalty kicks A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

(3–2), after a two-legged final of contrasts ended level (3–0 in

, 0–3 in Leverkusen) and in 2007, losing to compatriots Sevilla, again on penalties (3–1) after a memorable match at Hampden Park,

ended 1–1 after normal time, and 2–2 after extra time.

Honours

Men's football

National

: Winners (4): 1928–29, 1940, 1999–2000, 2005–06 :Runners-up (5):

, 1915, 1941, 1947, 1957 * Segunda División :Winners (2): 1993–94,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

:Runners-up: 2000, 2006

International

* UEFA Cup :Runners-up: 1987–88, 2006–07

Regional

* Campionat de Catalunya :Winners (11): 1903–04, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1911–12, 1914–15, 1917–18, 1928–29, 1932–33, 1936–37, 1939–40 *

Supercopa de Catalunya The Supercopa de Catalunya (''Catalonia Supercup'') is a football supercup competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation since 2014 for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. The match features the two best ran ...

:Winners: 2016

Women's football

* Primera División :Winners (1): 2005–06 :''Runners-up (3):'' 2006–07, 2009–10, 2010–11 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

:Winners (6): 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012 :''Runners-up (4):''

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, 2002, 2007, 2011

Players

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

Retired numbers

;Notes

Players with most appearances

Notes

Coaches

Club officials

Current technical staff

Board of directors

Presidents

Historical departments of RCD Espanyol

Until the 1990s, Espanyol had several sporting sections. In March 2017, the Association of Supporters and Shareholders of RCD Espanyol boosted a project for recovering the sporting sections of the club, but this time without any economic link with the football team. The new multi-sports club was created with the name of Seccions Deportives Espanyol (''Sporting sections Espanyol''). Two months later, the association confirmed that Espanyol would start competing in the 2017–18 season, with a roller hockey team and women's volleyball teams. In the next season, the basketball section was refounded and a new section of handball would be created.

Men's basketball

:Winners (1): 1941 * Catalan championship :Winners (2): 1931, 1932 :''Runners-up (3):'' 1941, 1943, 1954

Women's basketball

:Winners (1): 1943 :''Runners-up (1):'' 1944

Men's rink hockey

:Winners (11): 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962 :''Runners-up (4):'' 1946, 1952, 1953, 1958

Women's volleyball

* Superliga :Winners (3): 1985, 1988, 1991 *

:Winners (5): 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992

Men's baseball

* División de Honor :Winners (2): 1946, 1953

References

External links

Official website

RCD Espanyol
at

RCD Espanyol
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espanyol La Liga clubs Football clubs in Barcelona Football clubs in Catalonia Copa del Rey winners Organisations based in Spain with royal patronage Association football clubs established in 1900 1900 establishments in Spain