FC Barcelona Atlètic
Futbol Club Barcelona Atlètic, commonly referred to as Barcelona B, Barça Atlètic or Barça B, is a football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in, the fourth tier of the Spanish league system. Founded in 1970, it is the reserve team of FC Barcelona and it plays its home fixtures at Johan Cruyff Stadium.
Reserve teams in Spain play in the same league system as the senior team, rather than in a reserve team league. They must play at least one level below their main side, and they are not eligible to play in the Copa del Rey.
History
Espanya Industrial
Founded on 1 August 1934 as Societat Esportiva Industrial Espanya, the club was originally the sports team of the factory with the same name, and its shirt featured blue and white vertical stripes. The company was owned by the family of Josep Antoni de Albert, who was briefly president of Barcelona in 1943; during Albert's presidency the club, now known as Club Deportivo Espanya Industrial, became Barcelona's reserve team and began to play home games at Camp de Les Corts.Initially, Industrial played in the local regional leagues but, in 1950, it was promoted to Tercera División, reaching Segunda División two years later. In 1953 the club finished as runners-up in both the league and the promotion play-off but, being a nursery club of Barcelona, it was unable to move up a division.
Condal
After winning another promotion play-off in 1956, Espanya Industrial became independent of Barcelona and was renamed Club Deportivo Condal. The club wore blue shirts with two white diagonals stripes.Condal competed once in La Liga, in the 1956–57 season, being relegated as 16th and last. In 1968, the club rejoined the Barcelona family as its reserve team, and adopted the blaugrana colours.
Barcelona Atlètic/Barcelona B
In 1970, Barcelona president Agustí Montal decided to merge Condal with another club, Atlètic Catalunya, and formed Barcelona Atlètic. Atlètic was founded in 1965 as a result of the merger of two other teams: Catalunya de Les Corts and Fabra Coats.Under the new denomination the B-team played a total of ten seasons in the second level. At the end of 1988–89 the side returned to Segunda División B – the new third level created in 1977 – after ranking 17th.
In 1990, the team was renamed Barcelona B, but club president Joan Laporta changed the name back to Barcelona Atlètic in 2008. Two years later, his successor Sandro Rosell returned to the previous denomination, until Laporta changed again the name back to Barcelona Atlètic during his second presidential term in 2022.
Former club player Luis Enrique succeeded Pep Guardiola as team manager in the summer of 2008, as the latter was appointed main squad coach. In 2009–10 the team finished second in Group III and returned to the second tier after an absence of 11 years; this was followed by a third-place finish the following campaign, however the team was not eligible for promotion due to its status as a reserve side. They remained in Segunda División for 5 years until their relegation in the 2014–15 season. In 2016–17, Barça B achieved promotion and returned to Segunda División, however, the Catalan side was relegated back to the third division after only one season.
In 2020–21, the team finished as runner-ups in their group and reached the promotion play-offs. Despite an unsuccessful bid for promotion, the team achieved a place in the newly created third division of Spanish football, Primera División RFEF. In 2024–25, the club was relegated to the newly fourth division, Segunda Federación, after 18 years at between the second and third divisions.
Season to season
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Current squadFrom Youth Academy">FC Barcelona (youth)">Youth AcademyOther players under contractOut on loanPersonnelCurrent technical staffMarc GuitartFormer coachesRecordsMost appearances;All competitions
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Top scorers;All competitions
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StadiumOn 23 September 1982 the Mini Estadi was inaugurated by Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez. Next to the ground there are two training pitches, pitch 3 and 4, which have artificial turf – the latter has a regulation size of 100 x 70 metres and has seating for 1,000 spectators.Mini Estadi has also hosted games for the Andorra national football team, and the Barcelona Dragons of American football. As a part of the Espai Barça project, the Mini Estadi was demolished and the Estadi Johan Cruyff was opened to take its place starting in the 2019–20 season. Also, as part of this project the Camp Nou underwent renovation. La MasiaInaugurated on 26 September 1966, La Masia is the name given to Barcelona's training facilities located near the Camp Nou in the Les Corts district of Barcelona. It is an ancient country residence built in 1702 and once Camp Nou was inaugurated in 1957, the building was remodelled and extended for use as the club's social headquarters.In 1979, La Masia became the residence of young players from outside of the city. In the following decades the academy forged several players that would later appear for both the main squad and the Spain national team, Guillermo Amor, Albert Ferrer, Iván de la Peña, Josep Guardiola, Carles Puyol, Gerard López, Xavi, Víctor Valdés, and Andrés Iniesta being amongst the most prominent. Lionel Messi is also an alumnus of La Masia and is one of the most famous players to play for Barcelona as well as the Argentina national football team. |