Inside Espanyol: a giant history and bright future

CAIRO – 3 December 2018: Spanish League is one of the most followed football competitions in the world and football fans are split between the League giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, the league includes other great teams and one of them is RCD Espanyol.

The club, based in Barcelona, has been living in the shadow of the city giants, Barcelona that has had much more success on domestic, continental and international levels.

However, Espanyol fans have shown loyalty to their team despite their struggles in the recent years while their arch rivals, Barcelona, has been dominating not only the city but the whole nation.

Espanyol, established in 1900, by a student in Barcelona University called Ángel Rodríguez Ruiz and the club was initially named the Sociedad Española de Football and they are the first team in Spain to be established by Spaniards.



The club home games are hosted by the 40,500 seated Estadi Cornellà-El Prat where the club fans gather week in week out to support their team.

The stadium includes one of the most decorated VIP stands where fans can enjoy watching the game in their comfortable seats.



One of the most beautiful halls in the stadium is ESPAI MEMORIAL of RCD Espanyol in which the fans can recall memories of the club's historic players during their visit.



About 20km away from the stadium, you can visit the headquarters of the club which includes 13 training pitches for the first team training sessions, also hosting the games of the academy and women teams.

“We have one of the best football academies in the world that provides our first team with players. Our target is that our first team will be fully formed of academy players by 2021,” academy Chairman, Alber Saas, told Egypt Today.

Half of Espanyol’s first team players are from the academy and more than 35 players playing at the top level have been graduated from the club's academy.



Saas added “We are in a tough race with the other team in the city, Barcelona, and many European teams who believe that Catalonia is one of the best regions to discover football players.”

Espanyol’s count on their academy started to pay off as the club established themselves as one of the main contenders for the league title and they are only seven points behind the leaders, Barcelona.