RCD Espanyol de Barcelona

Foundation and club culture

Espanyol was founded on 28 October 1900 by Ángel Rodríguez Ruiz, an engineering student at the University of Barcelona. The club's original home was in the well-off district of Sarrià; Espanyol was the first club in Spain formed exclusively by Spanish fans of the game, with the other early clubs having links to Britain or central Europe.

A friend of the club founder owned a textile business and happened to have an abundance of yellow material left over from a job. In 1910, the club changed its name to the Club Deportivo Español and at the proposal of Eduardo Corrons, the club's number one partner for many years, the club agreed to choose blue and white stripes as shirt colours and as the central colours of the club badge. Blue and white were chosen in homage to the colours on the shield of the great Sicilian-Aragonese Admiral Roger de Lluria, who sailed the Mediterranean protecting the interests of the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. The club was successful from the very beginning, winning the first Campionat de Catalunya in 1903 and subsequently playing in the first Copa del Rey in 1903. In 1906, Club Español de Football had to suspend its activities due to a lack of players, since most of them were university students who enrolled to study at universities outside Catalonia. X Sporting Club took advantage of this as most of the remaining Español players joined them, which meant a big leap in quality for the club, and as a result the…

Men's football

National

League

Segunda División Winners (2): 1993–94, 2020–21

Cups

Copa del Rey Winners (4): 1928–29, 1940, 1999–2000, 2005–06

Regional

Campionat de Catalunya Winners (9): 1902–03, 1903–04, 1911–12, 1914–15, 1917–18, 1928–29, 1932–33, 1936–37, 1939–40 Supercopa de Catalunya Winners (1): 2016

Women's football

League

Primera División Winners (1): 2005–06

Cups

Copa de la Reina Winners (6): 1996, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012