Barcelona - Mini Estadi

The history of the reserve teams for FC Barcelona is a tangled affair, with stories of mergers, fans alliances and teams going their separate ways, before the current structure was established in 1970 when FC Barcelona B, or Barcelona Atlético as it was then known, was formed.

Putting the Horse before Les Corts - CD Condal had a 20 year spell at Les Corts

The first team to be affiliated as the clubs reserve side was Sección Deportiva La España Industrial. Founded in 1923, it was  the factory team of a textile manufacturer, owned by Josep Antoni de Albert, who became President of FC Barcelona in 1943. In 1946 the team became fully affiliated to Barca and started to play at Les Corts. In 1952, the club reached La Segunda and four years later won promotion to La Primera. In order to take up their position in the top flight, the club broke away from FC Barcelona and took on the name CD Condal. They continued to play at Les Corts, but their stay in La Primera lasted just the single season and they finished in bottom place. Their matches against FC Barcelona were both played at Les Corts. The first match on 12 January 1957, with Condal as home team, ending in a 1-1 draw. The return match at er... Les Corts took place on 7 April 1957 and was a one sided affair with Barcelona winning 5-0.

Action from CD Condal matches at Les Corts in 1962 & 1963

Back in La Segunda, CD Condal played on until 1961, when beset with financial problems they resigned and dropped to the regionalised Tercera. They regained their place in La Segunda in 1965, and played on at Les Corts until it closed in February 1966. From here they enjoyed a short spell at the Camp Nou, but fell back into the Tercera at the end of the 1966-67 season. In 1970 they merged with Atlético Cataluña CF, a team set up by fans of FC Barcelona in 1965, to form the current reserve side. Atlético Cataluñ had themselves merged with another factory team, CD Fabra y Coats, and it was their ground sandwiched between the Passeig de Fabra i Puig and Carrer de Dublin, that the newly monikered Barcelona Atletico used from 1970 to 1982.

Camp Fabra y Coats

In September 1982 Barça opened the Mini Estadi, designed by local architect Josep Casals and seating 15,276 over two tiers, it made a stunning statement about the size of the club. Here was a club with 110,000 members, sports sections that are among the best in Europe and their Reserve Team play in a purpose built, all-seater stadium. It is strikingly similar in design to two other stadiums that were built at the time, CD Castellon's Nou Castalia  and FC Cartagena's Estadio Cartagonova.

Mini only in name, The Mini Estadi holds 15,276

In its heyday the stadium has seen full houses, such as in the Copa del Rey in 1984 when Barca B drew 0-0 with Real Madrid and Andorra's international matches against Holland & The Republic of Ireland. Queen, Elton John & David Bowie have all packed out the Mini Estadi, although the ill-fated attempt to bring American Football to Europe, failed to tempt the Catalan public to the Mini Estadi and the Barcelona Dragons folded in 2003.

Now that is what I call a Sports Centre

Apart from a season long drop into the Catalan Regional League in 1972-73, the team made quick progress, reaching La Segunda in 1974-75. It then spent 17 of the next 25 seasons in La Segunda, achieving a highest place finish of sixth on three separate occasions. Barcelona B dropped to Segunda 2b in 1999, and it took another eleven seasons to regain their place in La Segunda. Now back in the second flight and known as FC Barcelona B, the current crop of youngsters could be the best yet, finishing the 20010-11 season in third place. The Spanish League obviously outlaws any reserve team playing higher than La Segunda and with no chance of a Condal-style breakaway, this is as high as the team can go. The exploits of the youngsters have attracted decent crowds to the Mini Estadi, with an average gate of 6,000 in recent seasons.

On borrowed time. The Mini Estadi looks a little tired... & wet

Whilst most clubs would bite your hand off for such a stadium, I have to say it is looking a tad tired. Quite a few seats are either broken or working lose from their moorings, and all of them have faded in the Catalan sun. Talk of selling the ground for housing has been put on the back-burner, but you can't help feeling that its days are numbered. Will Barca stay true to their roots or follow the lead of so many other La Liga clubs and base the B team at the club's out of town Ciudad de Esports?

Filling up nicely... First team training day at the Mini Estadi in 2013 - Photo courtesy of @El_Seguidor_FCB