Juli Marial Mundet (3 April 1885 – 21 May 1963) was a Spanish businessman and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and later as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

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

. Most notably, he was the sixth president of both FC Barcelona and the

Catalan Football Federation The Catalan Football Federation (, ; FCF) is the Association football, football association responsible for administering football in Catalonia. It was formed on 11 November 1900 as the Football Associació de Catalunya (). It was the first footb ...

. Under Marial's leadership, the club experienced a social and sporting crisis, and despite his enthusiasm as both a player and a president, the club lost a third of its members, with only 38 remaining by the end of his presidency.

Early life

Marial was born into a wealthy Barcelona family. His father was the architect and politician Juli Marial Tey, and his mother was Caterina Mundet Farreras, both born in Barcelona, and his brother, Melcior Marial, was also a politician. Professionally, he was dedicated, like his father, to the construction sector as a contractor.

Playing career

Marial began to practice football at , featuring alongside the likes of

Romà Forns Romà Forns Saldaña (died 26 April 1942) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He made his debut as a footballer in late 1902 playing one season for Irish FC but spent the rest of his career with FC Barcelona and the Catalan XI, always as a ...

. He played as its goalkeeper from the club's foundation in 1901 until its dissolution in the autumn of 1903. He was the second president of the club (replacing Carles Renter) from practically its beginnings, and as such, Marial participated in the foundation of the

in 1900. With the disappearance of Irish FC, he joined

at the beginning of the 1903–04 season, where he played until the end of the 1907–08 season, first as a goalkeeper and later as a midfielder, winning the 1904–05 Catalan championship.

President of FC Barcelona

On 16 October 1906, while still an active player, Marial was elected as the sixth President of FC Barcelona by the members' assembly, and just like his predecessor Josep Soler, he had to steer the club through difficult times in both social and sporting terms. During these years the club experienced a social and sporting crisis, and despite his enthusiasm as both a player and a president, he was unable to resolve a situation that was getting more and more critical. At the end of his presidency, the club had lost a third of its members, dropping as low as only 38 left, the most loyal. These years the team lost a large part of its more veteran players, such as Gamper, Witty,

Meyer Meyer may refer to: People *Meyer (surname), listing people so named * Meyer (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Companies * Meyer Burger, a Swiss mechanical engineering company * Meyer Corporation * Meyer Sound Labo ...

, Ossó,

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle ...

or Parsons, who had been the pillars of the team since its foundation. However, his period in charge of the club also coincided with a major restructuring of the team, and during his tenure, several footballers arrived at the club who went on to form the first great team of Barcelona, such as Paco Bru, Charles Wallace and

Enrique Peris Enrique Peris de Vargas (27 February 1887 - 17 February 1953) was a Spanish footballer who played as a left winger. He spent most of his career at Barcelona, with whom he played over 300 matches, and won three Copa del Reys and five Catalan Champ ...

from

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 ...

in 1906, and the Massana brothers (

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon name Alfred (name), Alfred and a common Italian language, Italian, Galician language, Galician, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. Given name Artists a ...

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 h ...

and

José Berdié José Berdié Places (1887 – 31 January 1931), sometimes written as Verdié, was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Espanyol and FC Barcelona. With the latter side, he won one Catalan championship (1913), and two titles in b ...

from

X Sporting Club The X Sporting Club, officially founded as Football Club X, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed during the years 1902 and 1908. They won the Catalan championship three times in a row between 1905 and 1908. X Sporting Club ...

in 1908, and a few years later, they led the club to its first

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

victory in

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

. During his presidency, Barcelona also experienced confrontations with the

and especially with its president, Isidro Lloret, who accused Barça of benefiting from X during the Catalan championship in 1908. To put an end to the fights, Marial accepted the presidency of the Federation in October 1908, replacing Lloret, who had received strong criticism from the sports press. At the end of 1908 he left the presidency of both Barça and the Federation, being replaced by fellow goalkeeper

Vicente Reig Vicente Reig Falomir (1866 – 18 December 1918) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for FC Barcelona, and most notably, he was the 7th President of the said club in 1908, holding the position for 22 days, the shortest term in the ...

and Rafael Degollada respectively. Reig only lasted two weeks before being himself replaced by

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona and Zürich. ...

, who managed to salvage Barça from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in part thanks to the team built by Marial. During his presidency, Marial occasionally refereed some matches, most notably in the 1906–07 Catalan championship but also a few

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

played by Barça. He remained linked to FC Barcelona and in 1915 he aspired to the vice presidency in a consensus electoral candidacy headed by

Gaspar Rosés Gaspar Rosés i Arus was a Catalan politician. He was MP for the Regionalist League in Arenys de Mar in the Spanish general election, 1918. He later became President of FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelon ...

, which in the end, was not chosen.

Other sports

In addition to football, Marial was involved in other sports. He was a founding member of Club Natació Barcelona in 1907, being part of the first board of directors as an accountant. He was also a member of the ''Real Sociedad de Sport Vasco'', frequently practicing the sport of

Basque pelota Basque pelota (Basque: '' pilota'', Spanish: '' pelota vasca'', French: '' pelote basque'') is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat or a basket, against a wall (''frontis or fronto ...

at the Frontón Condal. Marial was also a member of the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC) and owner of a

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. ...

. He participated in several car races, with the highlight of his automobilist career being his triumph in the second category of the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

in 1917.

Honours

FC Barcelona * Catalan championship: ** Champions: 1904–05

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marial, Juli 1885 births 1963 deaths FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona presidents Place of birth missing Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football goalkeepers