Catalan soccer information 2025/26 – Barcelona & past

Catalan soccer has traditionally been dominated by one membership with FC Barcelona having grown to turn out to be the biggest image of Catalan id over the many years. Nevertheless, anybody planning a soccer journey to Catalunya has loads of choices apart from the usual recreation and tour at Camp Nou.

On this Catalunya soccer journey information, we’ll additionally provide the lowdown on the smaller golf equipment throughout the area, with ideas for getting round and shopping for tickets.

Catalunya soccer map

Catalunya is cut up into 4 separate provinces. By far probably the most well-known and the one with the biggest inhabitants and most soccer groups is Barcelona. Inside the metropolitan space of the Catalan capital you can see top-flight golf equipment FC Barcelona and Espanyol.

Historic third-tier outfit CE Europa are additionally primarily based throughout the metropolis within the fashionable Vila de Gracia neighbourhood, and they’re in the identical league as Sabadell who’re situated outdoors Barcelona, however solely round half-hour away by rail.

There are solely two different Catalan golf equipment presently within the prime three tiers of the Spanish soccer pyramid. Girona are heading into their fourth season in a row within the prime flight, whereas Gimnastic Tarragona narrowly missed out on promotion from the Primera Federacion final season, and can due to this fact stay within the third tier for the 2025/26 marketing campaign.

Catalan soccer groups

The Barcelona golf equipment

FC Barcelona

Stadium – Camp Nou

Capability – ~60,000 (preliminary capability for 2025/26, will finally attain 105,000)

Nearest station – Palau Reial, Les Corts, Collblanc or Badal (Barcelona metro)

With an eventual capability of greater than 100,000, Camp Nou would be the largest stadium in Spain and the biggest in Europe when costly redevelopment work is full. It has been closed for the previous two years, however shall be Barcelona’s dwelling once more for the 2025/26 season, though with a diminished capability initially.

Barca have spent the final two two seasons on the Estadi Olimpic on the Montjuic Hill which overlooks town centre and was the centre-piece of the 1992 Olympic Video games. Nevertheless, they’ll be very blissful to get again to their conventional dwelling in Les Corts.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Barcelona matches:

It’s onerous to evaluate the possible demand for FC Barcelona tickets within the 2025/26 season, however the assumption is that again at Camp Nou however not at full capability, they may be more durable to come back than was the case up to now two years when many locals opted to not take up their season tickets on the comparatively inaccessible Estadi Olimpic.

Topic to availability, it is possible for you to to purchase tickets on-line by way of their web site with costs for league matches sometimes beginning at round €70 in current seasons, though that does rise for increased profile video games corresponding to Champions League fixtures. Issues will turn out to be a lot simpler when the growth work is full (more likely to be in some unspecified time in the future in 2026), however should you’re struggling to get tickets for Barca matches previous to that, there are different choices.

You possibly can get official hotel-and-ticket packages for Barcelona video games upfront by way of Sportsbreaks, whereas there are additionally choices out there on footballtravel.com.

You too can use resale platforms like Hellotickets to search for tickets, however any purchases from third-party websites are made at your personal threat.

Espanyol

Stadium – RCDE Stadium

Capability – 40,000

Nearest station – Cornella-Riera or Cornella (Rodalies de Catalunya)

Espanyol are Barcelona’s second membership and in reality it’s a distant second. As their title suggests, they don’t embrace the Catalan id in the identical manner as their rivals, and are often the butt of jokes amongst Barca supporters who declare Espanyol followers are simply Actual Madrid followers in disguise.

Many Pericos would bitterly reject that after all, and Espanyol do have an extended historical past of their very own having by no means spent a couple of season outdoors the highest flight. They’ve been relegated on quite a lot of events, together with in 2023, however they secured an instantaneous return to LaLiga as soon as extra and stayed up beneath Manolo Gonzalez final time period.

When you can attain their RCDE Stadium through the use of the Barcelona metro, it’s an extended journey with Espanyol now primarily based outdoors of town’s official limits in Cornella. It’s higher to take the sooner Rodalies de Catalunya trains and from the centre of Barcelona, you’ll be able to attain the trendy 40,000-capacity enviornment in round half an hour if beginning out from Placa de Catalunya or Placa d’Espanya.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Espanyol matches:

Espanyol’s common crowds had been simply over 25,000 throughout LaLiga 2024/25, so it’s not usually tough to get tickets for his or her video games and they’re actually cheaper than these of their metropolis rivals. Examine their web site to safe a seat for his or her upcoming matches.

The smaller Barcelona golf equipment

The province of Barcelona can also be dwelling to quite a few smaller golf equipment. The largest and most attention-grabbing of the bunch is CE Sabadell. They had been fashioned manner again in 1903 and have spent 14 seasons within the prime flight, though they haven’t been there since 1988. Since then, they’ve hovered between the second and fourth tiers. A neater technique to catch Primera Federacion (third tier) soccer can be to move to Europa’s Nou Sardenya stadium near Alfons X station on the Barcelona metro.

Badalona, Cerdanyola del Valles, Manresa, Sant Andreu, Cornella and Terrassa are different choices for lower-league soccer in and round Barcelona, with UE Sant Andreu maybe the most important of these.

The opposite Catalan golf equipment

Girona

Stadium – Estadi Montilivi

Capability – 14,624

Nearest station – Girona prepare station

Girona could also be a top-flight membership that carries the title of their metropolis and certainly province, however this has by no means traditionally been an enormous soccer space. The membership spent a lot of the 2000s within the outdated Tercera Division, earlier than a dramatic rise within the 2010s which culminated in them reaching the Primera for the primary time in 2017. Relegation adopted in 2019, however after three seasons within the second tier, they had been promoted once more and went on to safe a surprising third-place end in LaLiga 2023/24.

Their fanbase remains to be fairly small, and a robust Catalan id, in addition to hyperlinks to Manchester Metropolis, imply they aren’t universally cherished inside Spain. Nevertheless, Girona is a beautiful place to go to and so they’ll be hoping to bounce again in 2025/26 after a disappointing marketing campaign that noticed them wrestle in each LaLiga and of their first ever European competitors.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Girona matches:

To go to the Estadi Montilivi your self, you’ll be able to probably fly into Girona-Costa Brava airport to the south of town or hop on one of many common trains from Barcelona (the high-speed choices take simply 40 minutes to journey from Barcelona-Sants to Girona’s railway station). The soccer stadium is on the outskirts of city with simply over a 30-minute stroll or a brief bus or taxi journey wanted to achieve it.

Their web site has an excellent English part which allows you to see upcoming video games and whether or not tickets are but on sale. Costs have a tendency to begin at barely over €30 when purchased on-line, with a lot increased costs and demand possible for the visits of Barcelona or Actual Madrid.

Gimnastic de Tarragona

Stadium – Nou Estadi Costa Daurada

Capability – 14,591

Nearest station – Tarragona prepare station

Gimnastic de Tarragona have historically been the third-biggest membership in Catalunya after the 2 Barcelona sides, though they’ve been very a lot outperformed by Girona in recent times. Generally often known as Nastic, they spent a lot of the twenty first Century within the Segunda Division earlier than dropping right down to the third tier in 2019 the place they’ve been ever since, with play-off heartbreak denying them promotion again to the Segunda Division in 2025.

Tarragona is a lovely coastal metropolis with some attractive seashores and it may be reached simply by flying into close by Reus Airport, or by taking a regional prepare from Barcelona (simply over an hour). It’s a really nice 45-minute stroll uphill from the prepare station to the Nou Estadi by way of the outdated Roman elements of town, however you could favor to take a bus or taxi and stroll again.

Tips on how to purchase tickets for Nastic matches:

Demand to look at Primera Federacion soccer is just not nice throughout Spain, so you need to simply be capable of simply present up on matchdays and purchase a ticket with the stadium’s close to 15,000 capability greater than match for goal. In addition they have an on-line ticketing platform.

The Better of the remaining

The one actually notable membership within the fourth and by a ways least-visited Catalan province is Lleida Esportiu who play on the 13,500 capability Camp d’Esports. Formally they’re a brand new membership, based in 2011 out of the ashes of UE Lleida who had twice featured within the prime flight and twice been relegated (1950/51 & 1993/94).

They play within the Segunda Federacion (fourth tier) and you too can discover Catalan illustration in that league from UE Olot (Girona province) and Reus FC (Tarragona province).

Lastly, we must always give a point out to bold FC Andorra, a membership owned by Barcelona’s Gerard Pique who will play within the 2025/26 Segunda Division. Whereas Andorra is a tiny principality moderately than part of Catalunya, they do converse Catalan there, and should you fancy a visit to see them play, there are a number of every day buses from Barcelona Nord Station that take slightly over three hours to achieve Andorra la Vella, nestled excessive up within the Pyrenees.

Groundhopping in Catalunya – Getting round

The town of Barcelona has a giant metro (underground) community that can transport you to mainly anyplace you must get within the metropolis. You will get to the present stadiums of Barcelona and Espanyol, in addition to the likes of Europa and Badalona through the use of the metro and all these golf equipment fall inside zone one of many community with single tickets costing €2.65, whereas you will get a 10-journey go for €12.55. That is additionally eligible to be used on buses, trams and suburban trains inside Zone 1 (excluding metro companies and specific buses to/from the airport).

Catalunya additionally has an intensive rail community often known as the Rodalies de Catalunya with 18 separate strains. This connects Barcelona with a spread of cities and cities throughout the area. It’s not as common because the metro, however the primary strains out and in of Barcelona nonetheless run each ten minutes or so.

It’s a faster technique to attain the golf equipment on the outskirts of town (you need to use the identical 10-journey ticket offering you keep in zone one) and it’s also probably the most reasonably priced technique to get across the wider area. When you’re planning an enormous journey taking in a spread of video games throughout Catalunya, it’s a good suggestion to familiarise your self with the Rodalies community map, which gives reasonably priced journey from Barcelona to cities corresponding to Girona, Tarragona, Sabadell and Lleida.

In case you are extra apprehensive about time than cash, then you need to use the nationwide trains (purchase tickets on renfe.com) to get between the primary cities.

From Barcelona-Sants Station, it’s solely about an hour to Lleida and 40 minutes to Girona by way of the sooner trains. There aren’t any high-speed trains to the centre of Tarragona, however you’ll be able to nonetheless attain it in slightly over an hour by way of the very scenic regional specific line which hugs the coast, whereas some high-speed AVE companies between Barcelona and Madrid cease at Camp de Tarragona station which is a extremely inconvenient 13 km from town itself.

With such a big and reasonably priced rail community, there’s not a lot must journey by bus, however there are bus strains overlaying most main routes too.

Away from the soccer

Catalunya actually does have slightly little bit of every little thing, so there’s an enormous quantity to see and do away from the soccer.

The town of Barcelona is the beating coronary heart of the area and certainly one of Europe’s best cities. It’s filled with the structure of Antoni Gaudi with the world-famous Sagrada Familia probably the most recognisable landmark on the town. Ebook your tickets on-line should you plan to go to to economize and never waste time queuing.

The gorgeous Park Guell is one other main spotlight with nice views throughout town, whereas there are a bunch of energetic districts to discover. Whereas elements of town are fully overrun by tourism, it’s not inconceivable to get a style for the actual Barcelona if you understand the place to look.

The town does have seashores, however the very best Catalan ones lie nicely away from Barcelona. The Costa Brava which runs by way of the province of Girona to the French border is filled with picturesque seashore cities and fishing villages, whereas you too can discover some attractive and far quieter seashores within the space round Tarragona. There are additionally just a few livelier vacationer resorts corresponding to Lloret de Mar and Salou should you’re seeking to match some soccer round a vacation.

The precise cities of Girona and Tarragona are nicely value exploring for a day too. Each have fairly outdated cities with Girona’s riverside setting and vibrant buildings making it one of the vital engaging in Spain. Tarragona is one other historic metropolis, filled with little plazas whereas its well-preserved Roman amphitheatre is its predominant attraction.

There are additionally a great deal of nice climbing routes in Catalunya which is significantly extra hilly and spectacular than a lot of Spain. Near Barcelona, the weird rock formation and mountain-top monastery at Montserrat, makes it a well-liked day-trip vacation spot. There are many different nice choices although the place you’ll be able to discover the scenic countryside at your personal tempo, and should you actually wish to escape the crowds, head to the quieter province of Lleida, the gateway to the Pyrenees.