| Founded | 1901 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1940 |
| Country | Spain |
| Last champions | RCD Espanyol (9th title) |
| Most championships | Barcelona (23 titles) |
TheCatalan football championship(Campionat de Catalunya) was afootball competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain beforeLa 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 inFrancoist Spain after theSpanish Civil War.
In 1901,Hispania AC became the first Catalan champions after winning theinauguralCopa Macaya, the first football championship played on theIberian Peninsula.[1] The following season, 1901–02, sawFC Barcelona win the title, the club's very first piece of silverware.[2] During the1902–03 season, two rival competitions were organized withRCD Espanyol winning theCopa Macaya after beating Hispania 3–1 in a title-deciding play-off (as they had finished level on points), while FC Barcelona won theCopa Barcelona. After 1903 the championship was organized by theFootball Associació de Catalunya and it became known as theCampionat 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 wereJoan Gamper, who was proclaimed the top scorer of the first two tournaments with 31 and 19 goals respectively, andGustavo Green, who is considered to have been the first great star ofCatalan 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 representCatalonia in theCopa del Rey. By 1917 the league had turned professional and included a second division.
The first edition of theCampionat de Catalunya in 1903–04 was won by Club Espanyol (nowRCD Espanyol), which at the time had Gustavo Green, and also withÁngel Ponz andJosé Maria Soler. The first dynasty of the Catalan championship came shortly after, whenX 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 asPedro Gibert,Emilio Sampere, the Massana brothers (Santiago andAlfredo),José Irízar andJosé 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 andX Sporting Club respectively. This FCI team had the likes ofPaco Bru,Charles Wallace andEnrique 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 ofAmechazurra,Romà Forns,Pepe Rodríguez andCarles 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 whenRCD Espanyol won their second championship in 1911–12, largely thanks to the goalscoring feats of their foreign players such asFrank Allack,captainVictor Gibson and the Wallace brothers, Charles andPercy.[5]
In the 1910s,FC Espanya, propelled by their infamous back line ofHermenegild Casellas andEduardo 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 wasRicardo 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 fromJuan López andJosé 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 byJack Greenwell, that also includedPaulino Alcántara,Sagibarba,Félix Sesúmaga, Ricardo Zamora andJosep Samitier, and this side won 9 out of 10 titles between 1919 and 1928. The only team that managed to break their supremacy wasCE Europa in the 1922–23 season, largely thanks toEstebán Pelaó,Manuel Cros andAntonio 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]
In 1928 three Catalan clubs: FC Barcelona,RCD Espanyol andCE Europa, became founding members of La Liga and theCampionat de Catalunya gradually began to decline in importance during theSpanish Civil War. In the 1930s, the championship was won by either Barcelona or Espanyol, except in 1933-34 whenCE Sabadell FC, surprised everyone by winning it against all odds. The last competition was held on 1939-40, and theCampionat de Catalunya ended in the same way it began, with an RCD Espanyol triumph.
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 ofLos 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 |
Source[1]
| 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 |