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Catalan football championship

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Catalan Football Championship
Founded1901
Folded1940
CountrySpain
Last championsRCD Espanyol (9th title)
Most championshipsBarcelona (23 titles)

The Catalan football championship (Campionat de Catalunya) was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929.

In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, offered a trophy (the Copa Macaya) to be contested by several football teams from Spain. The league was played between 1901 and 1940 and was cancelled in Francoist Spain after the Spanish Civil War.

History

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Early history

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In 1901, Hispania AC became the first Catalan champions after winning the inaugural Copa Macaya, the first football championship played on the Iberian Peninsula.[1] The following season, 1901–02, saw FC Barcelona win the title, the club's very first piece of silverware.[2] During the 1902–03 season, two rival competitions were organized with RCD Espanyol winning the Copa Macaya after beating Hispania 3–1 in a title-deciding play-off (as they had finished level on points), while FC Barcelona won the Copa Barcelona. After 1903 the championship was organized by the Football Associació de Catalunya and it became known as the Campionat de Catalunya, and they recognized the Macaya Cup as the first edition of the Campionat de Catalunya. The stand-out players of this Copa Macaya period were Joan Gamper, who was proclaimed the top scorer of the first two tournaments with 31 and 19 goals respectively, and Gustavo Green, who is considered to have been the first great star of Catalan football, winning all the three editions of the Copa Macaya with three different clubs (Hispania, Barça and Español).[3] The winners of the Campionat de Catalunya also began to represent Catalonia in the Copa del Rey. By 1917 the league had turned professional and included a second division.

First dynasty

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The first edition of the Campionat de Catalunya in 1903–04 was won by Club Espanyol (now RCD Espanyol), which at the time had Gustavo Green, and also with Ángel Ponz and José Maria Soler. The first dynasty of the Catalan championship came shortly after, when X Sporting Club won it three times in a row between 1906 and 1908. This historic X side had great national figures of that time such as Pedro Gibert, Emilio Sampere, the Massana brothers (Santiago and Alfredo), José Irízar and José Berdié, with the latter four going on to play for Barcelona.[4] On the other hand, FC Internacional achieved three successive runner-up finishes between 1904 and 1906, and interestingly, they lost the title to a different opponent each time: Club Español, FC Barcelona and X Sporting Club respectively. This FCI team had the likes of Paco Bru, Charles Wallace and Enrique Peris, all of which went on to join Barcelona. Naturally, all of these great players joining Barcelona meant a big leap in quality for the club, and as a result, at the turn of the first decade, Barcelona was enjoying its first great team. As well as the aforementioned players, Barça also had the likes of Amechazurra, Romà Forns, Pepe Rodríguez and Carles Comamala, and this team managed to repeat X's feat of winning three championships in a row, doing it so between 1909 and 1911. Their streak came to an end when RCD Espanyol won their second championship in 1911–12, largely thanks to the goalscoring feats of their foreign players such as Frank Allack, captain Victor Gibson and the Wallace brothers, Charles and Percy.[5]

Barcelona dominance

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In the 1910s, FC Espanya, propelled by their infamous back line of Hermenegild Casellas and Eduardo Reguera, began to disrupt the monopoly of Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, winning the championship three times in 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1916–17. However, RCD Espanyol managed to form an even better defense whose solo architect was Ricardo Zamora, thus claiming the title in 1914–15 and 1917–18, winning the former after beating Barça 4–0 in the title-deciding play-off, with braces from Juan López and José Maria Tormo. The Catalan Championship then witnessed their third dynasty, which was with no doubt the greatest. At the turn of the second decade, Barça was enjoying its second golden age, which was the legendary team coached by Jack Greenwell, that also included Paulino Alcántara, Sagibarba, Félix Sesúmaga, Ricardo Zamora and Josep Samitier, and this side won 9 out of 10 titles between 1919 and 1928. The only team that managed to break their supremacy was CE Europa in the 1922–23 season, largely thanks to Estebán Pelaó, Manuel Cros and Antonio Alcázar, with the latter netting the only goal of the title-deciding play-off (they had finished tied on points) that gave CE Europa the trophy.[6]

Decline and Collapse

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In 1928 three Catalan clubs: FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol and CE Europa, became founding members of La Liga and the Campionat de Catalunya gradually began to decline in importance during the Spanish Civil War. In the 1930s, the championship was won by either Barcelona or Espanyol, except in 1933-34 when CE Sabadell FC, surprised everyone by winning it against all odds. The last competition was held on 1939-40, and the Campionat de Catalunya ended in the same way it began, with an RCD Espanyol triumph.

Historical classification

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The historical classification of Catalonia Football Championship is a classification that compiles all the matches, results, points and goals of all the teams that participated in the Championship of Catalonia football since its inception in 1900 until its disappearance in 1940.[1] The classification includes the results of the Copa Macaya, the Barcelona Cup and the championship of the Football Association of Catalonia, also considered official. The 1902–03 and 1912–13 seasons were contested with two clubs claiming championships. This classification has been done with the data collected through the archives of Los Deportes, Mundo Deportivo, La Vanguardia. Classification may contain errors due to the inaccuracy of the data published in those years,

Pos Team Seasons Points P W D L GF GA GD 1st 2nd 3rd Debut Last Appearance BR
1 FC Barcelona 39 644 402 301 42 59 1356 386 970 23 7 7 1900–1901 1939–1940 1
2 RCD Espanyol 37 513 398 231 51 117 922 520 402 9 11 9 1900–1901 1939–1940 1
3 CE Sabadell FC 24 241 272 98 45 129 442 530 -88 1 3 3 1914–1915 1939–1940 1
4 FC Espanya 18 203 190 89 25 76 323 295 28 3 4 3 1907–1908 1927–1928 1
5 CE Europa 14 195 164 81 33 50 362 260 102 1 6 1 1919–1920 1937–1938 1
6 CF Badalona 16 122 175 50 22 103 255 431 -176 0 1 2 1912–1913 (2) 1939–1940 2
7 FC Internacional 14 121 136 51 19 66 212 235 -23 0 3 3 1902–1903 (1) 1921–1922 2
8 UE Sants 9 91 110 36 19 55 182 224 -42 0 1 1 1922–1923 1932–1933 2
9 University SC 10 85 95 36 13 46 167 191 -24 0 0 3 1901–1902 1916–1917 3
10 CE Júpiter 8 85 96 38 10 48 174 219 -45 0 1 2 1929–1930 1937–1938 2
11 FC Català 14 80 119 35 10 74 179 385 -206 0 1 2 1901–1902 1914–1915 2
12 Girona FC 6 61 68 25 12 31 106 107 -1 0 1 1 1933–1934 1939–1940 2
13 Hispània AC 4 52 34 25 2 7 109 30 79 1 2 1 1900–1901 1902–1903 (2) 1
14 Terrassa FC 5 50 66 20 10 36 98 165 -67 0 0 0 1924–1925 1928–1929 4
15 FC Palafrugell 3 33 42 12 9 21 54 100 -46 0 0 1 1931–1932 1933–1934 3
16 EC Granollers 4 32 48 13 6 29 72 128 -56 0 0 0 1933–1934 1939–1940 4
17 X Sporting Club 5 31 40 15 1 24 39 65 -26 3 0 0 1903–1904 1907–1908 1
18 FC Martinenc 5 28 66 10 8 48 83 217 -134 0 0 0 1923–1924 1932–1933 6
19 FC Atlètic de Sabadell 4 27 42 12 3 27 38 93 -55 0 0 0 1915–1916 1918–1919 4
20 L'Avenç de l'Sport 6 26 50 10 6 34 60 107 -47 0 1 0 1912–1913 (2) 1922–1923 2
21 Salut SC 2 17 30 8 1 21 46 98 -52 0 0 0 1902–1903 (2) 1903–1904 5
22 Joventut FC 1 11 16 5 1 10 22 57 -35 0 0 0 1903–1904 1903–1904 6
23 Irish FC 1 10 14 4 2 8 25 24 1 0 0 0 1902–1903 (2) 1902–1903 (2) 5
24 FC Sant Gervasi 1 8 16 3 2 11 12 95 -83 0 0 0 1903–1904 1903–1904 7
25 Real Club de Polo de Barcelona 1 7 10 3 1 6 9 23 -14 0 0 0 1912–1913 (1) 1912–1913 (1) 4
26 Ibèria SC 1 7 14 3 1 10 10 25 -15 0 0 0 1902–1903 (2) 1902–1903 (2) 7
27 Club T.B.H. 1 6 8 3 0 5 12 13 -1 0 0 0 1914–1915 1914–1915 7
28 Casual SC 1 6 10 3 0 7 11 25 -14 0 0 0 1912–1913 (1) 1912–1913 (1) 5
29 FC Barcelona C 1 5 4 2 1 1 8 5 3 0 0 1 1912–1913 (2) 1912–1913 (2) 3
30 FC Numància 3 5 27 2 1 24 17 100 -83 0 0 0 1911–1912 1913–1914 5
31 FC Barcelona B 1 4 4 2 0 2 9 8 1 0 0 0 1912–1913 (2) 1912–1913 (2) 4
32 Star FC 1 4 12 2 0 10 1 30 -29 0 0 0 1909–1910 1909–1910 6
33 AUF Tarragona 1 4 8 2 0 6 0 30 -30 0 0 0 1900–1901 1900–1901 4
34 FC Central 1 2 12 1 0 11 5 40 -35 0 0 0 1909–1910 1909–1910 7
35 Club Franco-Espanyol 1 2 8 1 0 7 0 54 -54 0 0 0 1900–1901 1900–1901 5
36 Ibèric FC 1 2 16 0 2 14 4 70 -66 0 0 0 1903–1904 1903–1904 9
Active Club
Club deceased

Champions

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Source[1]

Season Champions (titles) Runners-up Third place Top scorer(s)
Player(s) (Country) Goals
1900–01 Hispania AC (1) FC Barcelona Club Espanyol [a] Joan Gamper (Barcelona)
31
1901–02 FC Barcelona (1) Hispania AC Club Espanyol Joan Gamper (Barcelona)
19
1902–03 Club Espanyol (1) Hispania AC FC Internacional Gustavo Green (Espanyol)
7
1902–03 FC Barcelona (2) Club Espanyol Hispania AC Joan Gamper (Barcelona)
21
1903–04 Club Espanyol (2) FC Internacional Català FC Carles Comamala (Barcelona)
14
1904–05 FC Barcelona (3) FC Internacional Club Espanyol Romà Forns (Barcelona)
4
1905–06 X Sporting Club (1) FC Internacional FC Barcelona Romà Forns (Barcelona)
José Quirante (Barcelona)
Juan Bargunyó (Barcelona)
Virgilio Da Costa (Barcelona)
Guillermo Galiardo (X Sporting Club)
3
1906–07 X Sporting Club (2) FC Barcelona Català FC Emilio Sampere (X Sporting Club)
4
1907–08 X Sporting Club (3) FC Barcelona FC Espanya Carles Comamala (Barcelona)
Charles Wallace (Barcelona)
3
1908–09 FC Barcelona (4) FC Espanya CD Espanyol Charles Wallace (Barcelona)
7
1909–10 FC Barcelona (5) CD Espanyol Universitary SC Carles Comamala (Barcelona)
23
1910–11 FC Barcelona (6) Català SC Universitary SC George Pattullo (Barcelona)
12
1911–12 Club Espanyol (3) FC Espanya FC Barcelona Pepe Rodríguez (Barcelona)
15
1912–13 FC Espanya (1) Club Espanyol Universitary SC Kinké (Universitary)
6
1912–13 FC Barcelona (7) FC Barcelona C Avenç FC Apolinario Rodríguez
7
1913–14 FC Espanya (2) FC Internacional RCD Espanyol Gabriel Bau (FC Espanya)
5
1914–15 RCD Espanyol (4) FC Barcelona FC Espanya José Maria Tormo (Espanyol)
7
1915–16 FC Barcelona (8) FC Espanya Sabadell FC Paulino Alcántara (Barcelona)
23
1916–17 FC Espanya (3) RCD Espanyol Sabadell FC Agustín Cruella Tena (FC Espanya)
11
1917–18 RCD Espanyol (5) FC Espanya FC Barcelona Clemente Gràcia (Espanyol)
9
1918–19 FC Barcelona (9) RCD Espanyol FC Espanya Paulino Alcántara (Barcelona)
Vicente Martínez (Barcelona)
9
1919–20 FC Barcelona (10) Sabadell FC RCD Espanyol Paulino Alcántara (Barcelona)
14
1920–21 FC Barcelona (11) CE Europa RCD Espanyol Enrique Alegre (Europa)
14
1921–22 FC Barcelona (12) CE Europa Avenç Paulino Alcántara (Barcelona)
Clemente Gràcia (Barcelona)
19
1922–23 CE Europa (1) FC Barcelona Sabadell FC Paulino Alcántara (Barcelona)
Manuel Cros (Europa)
José Julià (Europa)
7
1923–24 FC Barcelona (13) CE Europa RCD Espanyol Josep Samitier (Barcelona)
14
1924–25 FC Barcelona (14) RCD Espanyol UE Sants Josep Samitier (Barcelona)
José Luis Zabala (Espanyol)
10
1925–26 FC Barcelona (15) UE Sants Sabadell FC Josep Sastre (FC Gràcia)
13
1926–27 FC Barcelona (16) CE Europa RCD Espanyol Josep Samitier (Barcelona)
18
1927–28 FC Barcelona (17) CE Europa RCD Espanyol Manuel Cros (Europa)
21
1928–29 RCD Espanyol (6) CE Europa FC Barcelona Manuel Cros (Europa)
12
1929–30 FC Barcelona (18) RCD Espanyol CE Europa Josep Forgas (CF Badalona)
9
1930–31 FC Barcelona (19) Sabadell FC CF Badalona Edelmiro Lorenzo (Espanyol)
9
1931–32 FC Barcelona (20) RCD Espanyol CE Júpiter Josep Samitier (Barcelona)
13
1932–33 RCD Espanyol (7) FC Barcelona FC Palafrugell José Garreta (Espanyol)
19
1933–34 Sabadell FC (1) RCD Espanyol FC Barcelona Miguel Gual (Sabadell)
18
1934–35 FC Barcelona (21) Sabadell FC CE Júpiter Josep Escolà (Barcelona)
13
1935–36 FC Barcelona (22) CF Badalona Sabadell FC Josep Escolà (Barcelona)
19
1936–37 RCD Espanyol (8) FC Barcelona Girona FC Miguel Gual (Barcelona)
9
1937–38 FC Barcelona (23) CE Júpiter CF Badalona Jaime Rigual (Barcelona)
15
1939–40 RCD Espanyol (9) Girona FC FC Barcelona Martínez Català (Espanyol)
14
  1. ^ Espanyol withdrew after the fourth game.

Titles by teams

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Team Winners Runner-up Winning Years
FC Barcelona
23
7
1901–02, 1902–03, 1904–05, 1908–09, 1909–10, 1910–11, 1912–13, 1915–16, 1918–19, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1937–38
Club Espanyol / RCD Espanyol / CD Espanyol
9
9
1902–03, 1903–04, 1911–12, 1914–15, 1917–18, 1928–29, 1932–33, 1936–37, 1939–40
FC Espanya de Barcelona
3
4
1912–13, 1913–14, 1916–17
X Sporting Club
3
1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08
CE Europa
1
6
1922–23
CE Sabadell FC
1
3
1933–34
Hispania AC
1
2
1900–01

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Spain - Final Tables Catalonia". RSSSF. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Barça Rewind: The first ever title". www.fcbarcelona.com. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  3. ^ "La identidad de Gustavo Green desvelada después de 120 años" [Gustavo Green's identity revealed after 120 years] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Squad of X 1906-07 Campionat de Catalunya". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Squad of Español 1911-12 Campionat de Catalunya". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Manuel Cros, the killer of Europe". www.live-feeds.com. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
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