I recently learned that there is a Catalonia "National" team. According to the link below, they've been around since 1912, but have only ever played 65 times in 90 years. Can someone tell me a bit about them? Are they recognized by FIFA, or are they like the Basque team? How much support do they have in Spain? Thanks. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/cata-intres.html
From what i know they have many supporters in catalonia, but because there is no catalonian league of there own, FIFA will not recognize them as separate from space. just think of the UK with 4 separate league for each province, and they have recognized NT by fifa
Barcelona fans will tell you straight out: There is only one team that embodies Catalunya and that is Futbol Club Barcelona. And really, which team from Catalunya has the attention of the world? Definitely not Espanyol, certainly not Lleida and not in hell's chance Hospitalet. But on a more serious note, yes there is a Catalonian national team. Obviously they are not recognized by FIFA as an official national team because Catalunya is not a sovereign state (it has some autonomy but that is not to be confused with sovereignty). I can't imagine them getting support from the rest of Spain... There's a story that right before the death of Franco, the Catalonian team played the Soviet Union at Camp Nou. After the playing of the Soviet anthem, the band struck up the notes to "Marcha Real" (the Spanish national anthem)... and the crowd booed and whistled that the band stopped and struck up the tune to the Catalunyan anthem, "Els segadors." And Juan Antonio Samaranch (the ex-IOC president) and at that time a member of FCB ran onto the pitch trying to stop the band (apparently he was very pro-Franco) fearing that the playing of Els Segadors would lead to a ban by the government on the Camp Nou just as the same government had done so years before in the old Barcelona stadium, Les Corts. Well, nothing happened even though the Catalan anthem was played... as to the result, I can't remember who won.
Yes. There is a Catalan national team. In fact, they played Brazil just last Spring (as one of Brazil's pre-WC warm-ups for its Euro-contingent). And, yes, Jordi Cruyff has played for Catalonia (I think he was born in Barcelona while his dad was playing for FC Barcelona). They can actually field a decent side. If you scroll down to the bottom of this link, you can see the players who lined up against Brasil (including among others: Jordi Cruyff, Roger, and Tamudo). http://www.webdelcule.com/varios/selec-catalu.html
Yes, Jordi was born in Catalunya.. in fact, his name "Jordi" is the name of the patron saint in Catalunya.. and when he was born, Johan Cruyff had to fight the Francoist government hard to have his son's name "Jordi" as opposed to the Castellano name of "Jorge." That is why the people of Barcelona have taken Cruyff to their heart (well, most of them). Cruyff not only played and managed the club, but he integrated himself culturally by learning the language, understanding the society and by even fighting a Francoist official to have his son have a banned Catalan name.