My name is Alexander, a British native living in Barcelona and with in-depth knowledge of the local football scene. Although I often attend Espanyol and Barça games, my real passion lies in the lower leagues, where the sense of community runs deep in Barcelona’s many vibrant and (football mad) barrios! We will visit some of the Barcelona area’s liveliest national league clubs, such as CE Europa, CE Jupiter, UE Sant Andreu and Terrassa FC and learn their history. Additionally, CE Sabadell, CE Lleida and CE L’Hospitalet and plus the ‘B’ teams of Barça and Espanyol all play in the league above the ‘Tercera’, in the national second division (group) B.

While in Barcelona, why not catch two games in one of Europe’s busiest and noisiest cities. With almost 1.5 million people within its limits, there are numerous ‘Club Esportiu’ matches happening every weekend, the best of these teams play in the Tercera Division which is the fourth-highest level in the Spanish football league system albeit Non-Professional, nevertheless, the football is often of a high standard to watch.

Catalunya has a long rich history beyond its biggest clubs in Barca, Espanyol and Girona and many of the Spanish national WC and EC winning players in recent history hail from these parts; Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Sergio Roberto, Luis Garcia, Pepe Reina and the world’s top manager: Pep Guardiola either all started at many of the region’s excellent academies or came up through the ranks from Barca C then into the first team.

From the coaching methods, playing styles, internal organisation and infrastructure the less wealthy clubs are run by dedicated members of the community, so many of the clubs are attended by several hundred proud and boisterous locals who like to show their support to their friends, brothers and sons on the pitch making matchdays a real football experience.

Sundays at 12:00 is usually KO time across the divisions here, followed by a gap for a lunch and with the remaining games kicking off later in the afternoon at 17:00. So, we will watch two live games on the same day!