Enrique Piñeyro Queralt, also referred to as Enric Piñeyro or the Marqués de la Mesa de Asta, was a Spanish aristocrat and president of

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. Founded ...

between 1940 and 1943. Piñeyro, allegedly, knew next to nothing about the sport and had apparently never even seen a game of football before his term as Barça president. A close friend of General José Moscardó, he had been a serving officer on the side of the Nationalists during 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 Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and was appointed club president on the basis of his loyalty to

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, Spai ...

. However, despite this, he was won over to the Barça cause and became the club’s principal defender during the early Francoist era. He resigned as club president following the controversial 1943

Copa del Generalísimo 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 footbal ...

semi-final against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. During the Piñeyro presidency, the club had to change its name and shield. In 1941 a decree banned the use of non–

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

names and the club had to change its name from the Anglised ''Football Club Barcelona'' to ''Club de Fútbol Barcelona''. The Catalan flag was also banned, leading to its removal from the club shield. The club also formed a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

team, now known as FC Barcelona Handbol, as well as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, and cycling teams. Piñeyro made his inaugural speech to his fellow

board members on 13 March 1940 and outlined his intentions to depoliticise the club off the field, while at the same time aiming for sporting greatness on it. One of the first acts of the Piñeyro administration was to campaign against a six-year ban imposed by Francoist Spain on any exiled sportsmen returning to Spain. This allowed several former

players, including

Domènec Balmanya Domènec Balmanya i Perera (; 29 December 1914 – 14 February 2002), also referred to as Domingo Balmaña, was a former Spanish football midfielder and manager who spent most of his playing career at FC Barcelona. As a manager, he guided CF Barc ...

and

Josep Escolà Josep Escolà Segalés (28 August 1914 – 7 March 1998), also referred to as José Escolà, was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. He spent most of his club career at FC Barcelona. Escolà also played for both Spain and the Catalan ...

, to return to the club. These reinforcements subsequently proved their worth during the 1941-42 season. Barça, with a team coached by

Joan Josep Nogués Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multiple ...

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

and narrowly avoided being relegated after winning a play-off against Real Murcia. Despite this, however, the club won the

, beating

Atlético Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

4–3 after extra time. A week after the play-off against Real Murcia, after two years and four months in post, Piñeyro resigned as club president on 13 August 1942. However one month later he returned for a second term. During the 1942–1943 season Barça finished third in

and reached the

semi-final where they played

. After winning the first-leg 3–0 at ''Les Corts'' they were controversially beaten 11–1 at the ''Charmartín''. It has been alleged that the Barça players were pressured into losing the game by supporters of Francoist Spain and a hostile home crowd. Piñeyro subsequently lodged a complaint with the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

and resigned as club president permanently on 20 August 1943.

Sources

* Jimmy Burns (1998)
''Barça: A People’s Passion''

External links

Piñeyro
at www.fcbarcelona.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pineyro, Enrique Year of birth missing Year of death missing FC Barcelona presidents Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (National faction)