Espanyol

Espanyol is a football (soccer) club from Spain.

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RCD Espanyol de Barcelona is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is best known for its football (soccer) team. Espanyol currently play in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, which also hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics; having previously played at Estadi de Sarrià. The stadium, which seats 52,926 spectators, is also known as Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc. Despite being overshadowed by FC Barcelona, they are the sixth most successful football team in Football in Spain and are looking to move into a Estadi Cornellà-El Prat by 2 August 2009 in Estadi Cornellà-El Prat which will hold 40,000 spectators.

History

Foundation and club culture

Espanyol were founded on 28 October 1900 by Ángel Rodríguez, an engineering student at the University of Barcelona. The club's original home was in the well-off district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and was initially known as the Sociedad Española de Football. One year later, Espanyol changed its name to "Club Español de Fútbol." Espanyol was the first club in Spain to be formed exclusively by Spanish fans of the game as opposed to expatriates who formed other clubs such as FC Barcelona.

Espanyol originally played in bright yellow shirts, with the colour of the shorts being left to the individual player. A friend of Espanyol founder owned a textile business and happened to have an abundance of yellow material left over from a job. In 1910, Espanyol changed its name to "Club Deportivo Español" and chose blue and white stripes as shirt colours and as the central colours of Espanyol badge. Blue and white was chosen in homage to the colours appearing on the shield of the great Catalan Admiral Roger de Lluria, who sailed the Mediterranean protecting Catalonia's interests in the Middle Ages. Espanyol were successful from the very beginning, winning the Catalan football championship in 1903 and subsequently playing in the Copa del Rey.

Development of club's name

In 1906, Espanyol folded due to financial reasons and most of the players joined the "X Sporting Club." This club won the Catalan football championship three times between 1906 and 1908. In 1909, this club was effectively relaunched as "Club Deportivo Español" and in 1910, they adopted the present day colours in honour of Roger of Lauria, an Italian people naval hero.

Espanyol are one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the List of Spanish monarchs and thus entitled to use Real in their names and the Spanish Royal Crown on their badge. This right was granted to Espanyol in 1912 by Alfonso XIII of Spain and Espanyol subsequently became known as "Real Club Deportivo Español."

Following the abdication of Alfonso XIII in 1931 and the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, due to prohibition of royal symbols, Espanyol adopted the more Catalan/republican friendly name "Club Esportiu Espanyol." After the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent prohibition of the Catalan language, the name reverted to "Real Club Deportivo Español."

Espanyol took the Catalan language spelling for its name in February 1995. The word "Deportiu" in Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a Catalanised form of the the original word "Deportivo" (Castilian) despite the correct word being "Esportiu" in the Catalan language. This choice was made in order to retain the initials RCD in Espanyol's name.

UEFA Cup 2006-07

With their win in the Copa del Rey the previous season, Espanyol entered the UEFA Cup. Following a 5-3 aggregate success against FC Artmedia Bratislava they were drawn in Group F, along with Dutch giants AFC Ajax, Belgian minnows S.V. Zulte Waregem, Czech side Sparta Prague, and Austrian side FK Austria Wien. Espanyol were group winners, victorious in all four of their ties.

Their opponents in the Round of 32 were Italian side A.S. Livorno Calcio, who had just scraped into the knockout stages. Espanyol were 4-1 victors on aggregate, recording a 1-2 win in Tuscany and finishing the job 2-0 in Barcelona. Next up was Israeli side Maccabi Haifa F.C., and after a dour 0-0 draw in the away leg, Espanyol thrashed their Israeli counterparts 4-0 in the second leg. Many were starting to see Espanyol as favourites to go all the way to the final in Glasgow's Hampden Park.

However, if that were to be the case, Espanyol would have to defeat Portuguese giants S.L. Benfica, two-time UEFA Champions League winners. Espanyol did not seem fazed by this, as they raced into a 3-0 lead in Spain. However, Benfica fought back and scored two away goals to leave the tie firmly in the balance. Nevertheless, Espanyol survived a daunting trip to Lisbon, coming away with a 0-0 draw, which was enough to book them a place in the semi-finals.

Germans SV Werder Bremen lay in wait for the Catalan side in the last four, but once again, Espanyol produced a brilliant home performance to virtually seal the tie on the night. A 3-0 rout of the Germans put the Spanish firmly in control, and any real doubts about their passage to the final disappeared, with a 1-2 win in Bremen. In the final, held on 16 May in Glasgow, Scotland, Espanyol fell to fellow La Liga side Sevilla FC, losing 3-1 in a shootout following a 2-2 draw. They became the only football team in UEFA Cup history to remain unbeaten in the tournament, yet didn't take home the trophy. Walter Pandiani, who would leave Espanyol at the end of the season, was the top goal scorer of the UEFA Cup of that season.

Miscellaneous information

- In 1928, Espanyol became a founding member of La Liga, and in 1929, Espanyol won their first Copa del Rey. Ricardo Saprissa, a player from this era, later emigrated to Costa Rica where he helped form Deportivo Saprissa.
- The team has qualified nine times for the UEFA Cup (including the 2006-07 qualification following the 2006 Spanish Cup win) and reached the final in 1988, losing to Bayer 04 Leverkusen of then-West Germany on penalty shootout (2-3), after a memorable home-and-away final (3-0 in Barcelona, 0-3 in Leverkusen), and on 2007, losing to Sevilla FC on another penalty kicks round (1-3), after a memorable match (ended 1-1 on normal time, and 2-2 on the extra time).
- In 1994, Espanyol created its reserve team, RCD Espanyol B, currently playing in the Segunda División B.
- The side plays at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium, the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. A Estadi RCDE for Espanyol is currently under construction between the cities of Cornellà de Llobregat and El Prat de Llobregat, west of Barcelona. It is expected to be ready by the end of next season and will have a capacity of 40,000.
- Espanyol colaborates with Panionios, Halmstads BK & Swansea City. Espanyol has the first choice to buy players of those teams and also can loan them youn players.

Trophies

Football

- Copa del Rey
- - 4 – 1929, 1940, 2000, Copa del Rey 2005-06

- UEFA Cup
- - Runner-up (2): UEFA_Cup_1987-88, UEFA_Cup_2006-07

- Segunda División
- - 1 – Segunda División 1993-94

Women’s Football

- Liga España
- - 2005-06
- Copa de la Reina
- - 1996, 1997, 2006, 2009: 4

Men’s Basketball

- Copa del Rey de Baloncesto
- - 1941: 1
- Campionat de Catalunya
- - 1931, 1932: 2

Women’s Basketball

- Copa de España
- - 1943: 1
- Lliga Catalana EBA
- - 1981: 1

Hockey

- Copas de España
- - 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962: 11

Women’s Volleyball

- Liga España
- - 1985, 1988, 1991: 3
- Copas de España
- - 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992: 4

Baseball

- División de Honor de Béisbol
- - 1944, 1953: 2

Seasons summary

- 7 participations in UEFA Cup
- 2 participations in Intertoto Cup
- 73 seasons in La Liga
- 4 seasons in Segunda División

The numbers are established according to the official website:

As of 20 June 2009

Foreign players

- Iván Alonso
- Cristian Darío Álvarez
- Idriss Carlos Kameni
- Ben Sahar
- Román Martínez
- Shunsuke Nakamura
- Nicolás Pareja
- Milan Smiljanić
- Iván Pillud

Stadia

From 1923 until 1997, Espanyol played their home games in Estadi de Sarrià in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district of Barcelona. In 1997, they moved to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Montjuïc. For the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Espanyol will move into the newly constructed Estadi RCDE in Cornellà de Llobregat

Former players

See

Famous coaches
1900 - 1949
- Francisco Bru Sanz
- Jack Greenwell

1950 - 1969
- Juan José Nogués
- Alejandro Scopelli
- Jenő Kálmár

1970 - 1979
- José Santamaría
- Heriberto Herrera
- Ferdinand Daučík

1980 - 1989
- Xabier Azkargorta
- Javier Clemente
- Milorad Pavić (footballer)

1990 - 1999
- Luis Aragonés
- José Antonio Camacho
- Paco Flores
- Marcelo Bielsa
- Miguel Ángel Brindisi
- Ljupko Petrović

2000 -
- Miguel Ángel Lotina
- Juande Ramos
- Luis Fernández
- Tintín Márquez
- Ernesto Valverde
- Mauricio Pochettino
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see also

Related pages

Almería, Athletic Club Bilbao, Atlético Madrid, Deportivo La Coruña, Espanyol, FC Barcelona, Getafe CF, Málaga CF, Mallorca, Numancia, Osasuna, Racing Santander, Real Betis, Real Madrid, Recreativo Huelva, Sevilla FC, Sporting Gijón, Valencia CF, Valladolid, Villarreal CF