The National team of Catalonia
I’m going to attempt
to make this post without a single mention of politics, which is likely to be difficult.
Although I accept that political issues have a massive bearing internally and
externally on football and football institutions, it’s something I prefer not
to focus on or think about. I think that’s one of the reasons that so many of
us just can’t be bothered with the ongoing FIFA saga that has just seen a new
president elected. We just want to enjoy football, we want our teams do be successful;
we want to see competitive leagues and competitions that are well run and
trouble free. That’s at least how I feel about football.
Catalonia
national football team is the official national football team of the Spanish
autonomous community of Catalonia, organised by the Catalan Football Federation
(CFF). The team is not affiliated with
FIFA or UEFA which basically means they are not eligible to play in their
competitions like the World Cup and European Championship. Interestingly it
also mean that players that play for other nations such as Spain are eligible
to play in matches for Catalonia.
During my
short trip to the Catalan capital, I very much enjoyed the beautiful City, the
culture and the friendly people. One thing that is obvious to anyone that
visits is that the people are very proud to be Catalan. You see the flags
everywhere and people always refer to themselves as Catalonian, anyway I’m
going to leave that there because I’m in danger of getting into politics! The
players who play for Catalonia feel great pride to pull on the shirt, it’s
special to them.
In recent
years Catalonia have played matches against nations such as Nigeria, Brazil,
and Argentina. Beating Argentina (4-2) at the Camp Nou in 2009. Catalonia’s first
game was against France in Paris way back in 1912 where they lost (7-0).
Great players
such as Carlos Puyol, Pep Guardiola and Xavi Hernandez have all played for Catalonia
in recent years and the current squad includes the likes of Gerard pique,
Victor Valdes, Alex Vidal, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Marc Batra, Borjan
Krkic, Sergi Samper and Cesc Fabregas. Catalonia
has a population of about 7.5 million, the fact that they continually produce
such fine football players is testament to their rich footballing traditions,
their obsession with the game, their desire to nurture talent and of course the
fine football institutions that are in Catalonia.
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