The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before

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 Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

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 Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Sp ...

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 ...

History

Early history

In 1901, Hispania AC became the first Catalan champions after winning the inaugural ''

Copa Macaya The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...

'', the first football championship played on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The following season, 1901–02, saw

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

win the title, the club's very first piece of silverware. During the 1902–03 season, two rival competitions were organized with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

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 Gustavo Gren Córdoba (10 May 1880 - 9 November 1965), better known as Gustavo Green, as he was often mentioned in the press of his time (Gustavo H. Green y Córdoba ), was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for FC Barcelona and RCD Espa ...

, 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). The winners of the Campionat de Catalunya also began to represent

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 ...

in 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 ...

. By 1917 the league had turned professional and included a second division.

First dynasty

The first edition of the ''Campionat de Catalunya'' in 1903–04 was won by Club Espanyol (now

), which at the time had Gustavo Green, and also with Ángel Ponz and

José Maria Soler José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernac ...

. 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 Pedro Gilbert or Don Pedro Gibert (c. 1797 – June 11, 1835) was an early 19th-century pirate, who was one of the few remaining pirates continuing to raid shipping on the Atlantic coast. Biography A former privateer in the service of the Colom ...

, Emilio Sampere, the Massana brothers (

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

and Alfredo), José Irízar and José Berdié, with the latter four going on to play for Barcelona. 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,

and X Sporting Club respectively. This FCI team had the likes of

Paco Bru Francisco Bru Sanz (12 April 1885 – 10 June 1962), also known as Paco Bru, was a Spanish football player, referee and manager. As a footballer he played as a striker and midfielder for FC Internacional and as a defender for FC Barcelona, RC ...

, 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

won their second championship in 1911–12, largely thanks to the goalscoring feats of their foreign players such as

Frank Allack Frank Albert Allack (1888 – 1967) was an English footballer who played as a forward for Spanish clubs RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona. The highlight of his career was winning the treble with Barcelona in the 1912–13 season ( Catalan championshi ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Victor Gibson and the Wallace brothers, Charles and Percy.

Barcelona dominance

In the 1910s, FC Espanya, propelled by their infamous back line of Hermenegild Casellas and

Eduardo Reguera Eduardo Reguera Andreu (13 October 1891 – 20 December 1977) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for FC Espanya and FC Barcelona. Reguera was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of FC Espanya, being a ...

, began to disrupt the monopoly of Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, winning the championship three times in 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1916–17. However,

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 John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as ...

, that also included Paulino Alcántara, Sagibarba, Félix Sesúmaga, Ricardo Zamora and

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He lat ...

, 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 Estebán Pelaó Gratacós (10 January 1898 - 28 July 1980) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder who played for CE Europa, Espanyol, and the Catalonia national team. Club career He spent most of his career at CE Europa, being a ...

Manuel Cros Manuel Cros Grau (1 September 1901 - 1 February 1986) was a Spanish footballer who played as a center-forward for CE Europa and Espanyol. In the 1920s, he was one of the great idols of Catalan football, alongside the likes of Zamora and Samiti ...

and

Antonio Alcázar Antonio Alcázar Alonso (2 May 1902 - 6 December 1966) was a Spanish footballer who played as a left winger. He was the first footballer born in Murcia to have played for the Spain national team. A historical member of CE Europa in the 1920s, he ...

, 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.

Decline and Collapse

In 1928 three Catalan clubs: FC Barcelona,

and CE Europa, became founding members of La Liga and the ''Campionat de Catalunya'' gradually began to decline in importance during the

. In the 1930s, the championship was won by either Barcelona or Espanyol, sept in 1933-34 when CE Sabadell FC, surprised everyone by winning it against all odds. The last edition of the 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

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. 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 ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since ...

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

. Classification may contain errors due to the inaccuracy of the data published in those years,

Champions

Source

Titles by Team

References

External links

List of Champions of Catalonia and Spain at www.rsssf.com

{{Authority control Catalan football competitions Defunct football leagues in Spain Sports leagues established in 1901 1901 establishments in Spain 1940 disestablishments in Spain History of football in Spain