RCD Espanyol Femení (Real Club Deportivo Español) is the

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

section of

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

and was founded in 1970.

History

RCD Espanyol was one of the pioneering teams in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, playing its first match as early as 1970. In 1971 they were one of the four major Catalan teams to take part in the Catalan Pernod Cup, playing to over 40,000 at

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. Begi ...

and 30,000 at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

; Espanyol lifted the cup by defeating rivals

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 ...

in the final. By 1979 Espanyol had won the (Catalan) league six times and the cup twice. The team's first national success came in 1989, when they first reached the

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

's final, losing it against Añorga. They won the competition for the first time in 1996, and successfully defended the title the following year. 2006 was their most successful season to date as they won their first (and for now only) league title and their third

Queen's Cup Queen's Cup may refer to: * Queen's Cup (football), a former annual football competition in Thailand (1970-2010) * Cartier Queen's Cup, an annual polo tournament in England * Queen's Cup (golf), an annual golf tournament in Thailand * Queen's Cup ...

. Thus Espanyol took part in the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

the following season. Copareina rcde

In the late 2000s to the early 2010s, Espanyol consolidated itself as one of Spain's top teams. It has been most successful in the Copa de la Reina, winning three titles in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, tying with

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

as the competition's most successful team. In the late 2010s, they consistently finished in the middle/bottom half of the league table and flirted with relegation multiple times. Espanyol had its worst-ever finish in the league when they ended the 2019–20 season in 16th place, winning none of their 21 matches and losing 16. They avoided relegation to the Reto Iberdrola when the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the national cup competitio ...

decided that there would be no relegations for the season due to suspension of the league brought on by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The 2020–21 season marked Espanyol's 50th year of existence for their women's team. That season, Espanyol were relegated to the Reto Iberdrola for the first time in their history, finishing 16th out of 18 in the league table. They failed to be promoted back immediately on the final matchday of the 2021–22 season, losing 3–0 to fellow Catalan club Levante Las Planas, who took the title instead.

Competition record

Season to season

Record in UEFA competitions

Titles

Official

* Primera División ** 2005–06: 1 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

** 1995–96, 1996–97, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12: 6 *

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya () is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the ''Catalan football championship ...

** 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: 5

Invitational

* Pyrénées Cup ** 2006, 2007: 2

Players

Current squad

References

External links

RCD Espanyol Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Espanyol RCD Espanyol Women's football clubs in Spain 1970 establishments in Catalonia Liga F clubs Football clubs in Barcelona Segunda Federación (women) clubs Association football clubs established in 1970 Primera Federación (women) clubs Women's sport in Catalonia