Football is the most important sport in Catalonia and was introduced in the late 19th century by a combination of mostly British immigrant workers and visiting sailors, and students returning from Britain.
[1] Football first entered Catalonia thanks to the British colony that worked and lived there (and later through the Catalans returning from studying abroad), among whom a certain James Reeves stood out.
After months of recruiting they organized and played the first known football match in the city (actually in the neighboring municipality of Sants), which was held on the grounds near the Hippodrome of Can Tunis on 25 December 1892.
[3] Notable figures in the first years of this football Society include the Morris brothers (Samuel, Enrique and Miguel), captain Reeves and the Catalan Alberto Serra.
[5] From then on, Sunday football games became a regular event at Bonanova, although its vast majority were training matches (Blues vs Reds).
[6] When James Reeves returned to the United Kingdom in the autumn of 1895, the entity, which was never officially established, began to declined, and around 1896 it seems to disappear, and for this reason, no Briton played football in Catalonia (that we know of) in 1897 and 1898.
This new sport began taking root in the city in the 1890s, and soon gained followers among the youth, and most importantly, among that generation of Barcelona gymnasts, due to its outdoor nature.
That is why the first football clubs in Barcelona were born in gymnasiums, and under the protection and encouragement of characters linked to the Spanish Gymnastics Federation such as Narciso Masferrer and Jaime Vila.
[9] Five days later, on 13 December, FC Barcelona merged with the Britons, which meant a big leap in quality for the club, and as a result, Barça become one of the strongest teams in Catalonia at the turn of the century.
The original members included FC Barcelona, Sociedad Española de Football, Català SC and Hispania AC.
On the other hand, in 1920 the Spanish team participated for the first time in an international competition, the Antwerp Olympics, where they won the silver medal.
CE Europa, founding members of La Liga have played three seasons while Gimnàstic de Tarragona, UE Lleida and CD Condal all made brief appearances.
After 1990 however the Copa Generalitat, now organized by the Federació Catalana de Futbol, became an official competition and Catalan clubs in La Liga began to enter.