Football (soccer) plays a significant role in Spanish society, whether or not you are a fan of the sport. It reflects deep cultural rivalries and raises questions about national identity, providing a unique perspective on the country’s political complexities. Moreover, the quality of the game itself is world-class.
LaLiga
For over twenty years, LaLiga has been recognised as one of the world’s top football leagues. In continental competitions, Spanish clubs have led the way since 2000, excelling in both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
Since then, through the 2024/25 season, LaLiga teams have won 12 of the last 25 Champions League titles and finished as runners-up four times. The English Premier League follows with six victories, while Serie A (Italy) and the Bundesliga (Germany) each have three.
During this same period, up to 2024/25, Spanish sides have also lifted 12 of the last 24 Europa League trophies, with five finals contested entirely between LaLiga clubs, a clear demonstration of the league’s depth and competitive balance.
It’s not just FC Barcelona and Real Madrid making headlines. Other Spanish clubs that have made their mark in Europe include Valencia CF, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla FC, Villarreal CF, RCD Espanyol, and Athletic Club. On the domestic stage, Deportivo La Coruña, Valencia CF, and Atlético de Madrid have all claimed the LaLiga crown in the 21st century, underlining the strength across the league.
Regardless of whether you consider LaLiga the best, it offers some of the best football available, and living on the Costa Brava means that world-class matches are just a short trip away.
FC Barcelona
Let’s start with the big one: FC Barcelona. Even if you don’t follow football, you’ve likely heard of el Barça. One of the founding members of LaLiga, the Catalan club has never been relegated from Spain’s top division, a distinction shared only with Real Madrid and Athletic Club.
The team has claimed 26 LaLiga titles, second only to Real Madrid, along with 5 UEFA Champions League trophies, 31 Copa del Rey wins, and numerous other domestic and European honours. In 2010, at the height of their dominance, Barça’s famed youth academy La Masia made history by producing all three finalists for the Ballon d’Or: Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta. Messi won the award, his second, and went on to set a record with 8 Ballons d’Or.
Messi, who arrived from Argentina at just 13, spent 20 years with the club, including 18 seasons in the first team. In 2021, despite agreeing to a new contract, financial constraints, LaLiga salary cap rules, and previous poor management forced the Catalan club to let him go. He left on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barça’s success on the pitch is undeniable, but for many Catalans, the club means far more than sport. Its motto, més que un club (“more than a club”), reflects its role as a symbol of Catalan identity. During the Franco dictatorship, when Catalan language and culture were suppressed, supporting Barça became a statement of cultural pride and resistance. One of the club’s nicknames, La Blaugrana, refers to its colours: blau (blue) and grana (deep red).
Since Catalunya is not officially recognised as a national football team, FC Barcelona is, for many, the closest thing to a Catalan national side. Their fiercest rivals are Real Madrid, often seen as representing centralised Spanish power, and sometimes even called “Franco’s team”. When these two meet, the clash is known as El Clásico, one of the most-watched football matches in the world, attracting global media coverage and millions of viewers.
Find tickets, tours, match schedules and club information via the official FC Barcelona website.
Spotify Camp Nou
Barcelona’s iconic home ground, Spotify Camp Nou, remains Europe’s largest football stadium, with a capacity nearing 100,000 before renovation began. For most fixtures, tickets have been accessible, unless you’re targeting El Clásico or high-profile UEFA Champions League matches.
Following Barça’s final home game of the 2022/23 season, major renovation work started as part of the Espai Barça project. The aim is to expand the stadium’s capacity to 105,000, add a retractable roof with solar panels, a 360‑degree video screen, and rainwater-harvesting systems. But progress has been slower than hoped. Full completion is now expected in 2026 at the earliest, with key features like the roof slated for even later.
During works, FC Barcelona played their home games at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc through the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons (capacity ~50,000), significantly smaller than Camp Nou’s old figures.
The club returned to Camp Nou on 10 August 2025 for the Joan Gamper Trophy, marking a symbolic homecoming. The stadium opened with limited capacity, and the phased reopening will continue throughout the 2025/26 season.
Barça arranged with LaLiga for their first three league matches of 2025/26 to be away games, giving extra time to finish renovation and secure necessary safety certifications. Once complete, Spotify Camp Nou will offer tours, the Barcelona football museum, and unforgettable matchdays, but it won’t be the 105,000‑capacity arena until well into mid‑2026.
FC Barcelona Femení
Although FC Barcelona Femení was founded in 1970, Spain’s national women’s league didn’t launch until the 1988 – 1989 season with only nine teams. Over time, it expanded to 18 clubs and finally became entirely professional in the 2021 – 2022 season, reducing to 16 teams.
In their earlier decades, Barça Femení rarely won major titles, but in the ten years before professionalism, they captured six Primera División Femenina championships.
The 2021 – 2022 campaign marked their first as full-time professional players, resulting in one of the most dominant seasons ever seen in women’s football: 30 wins from 30 matches, a perfect 90 points, 159 goals scored, and only 11 conceded.
They also reached the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final that season, boasting world-record attendances of 91,553 in the quarter-final vs Real Madrid Femenino and 91,648 in the semi-final vs VfL Wolfsburg Women. Though they lost the final to Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, they had already lifted the trophy in 2021, making FC Barcelona the first club ever to win both the men’s and women’s Champions League titles.
Since then, Barça Femení has continued to dominate domestically and in Europe, solidifying their position among the continent’s elite. Fans can buy tickets to see them play top-level women’s football in Catalunya, a fitting showcase of how far the women’s game has come.
RCD Espanyol
Known as Barcelona’s second club, RCD Espanyol has a loyal fan base and a fierce rivalry with FC Barcelona, known as the Derbi Barceloní. Their home, the RCDE Stadium, seats 40.500 and is generally easier to get tickets for than Camp Nou. In 2024, they returned to La Liga after a brief spell in the Segunda División (LaLiga Hypermotion).
Also a founding member of LaLiga, RCD Espanyol is widely regarded as the more “Spanish” club in the city. Many of their supporters identify strongly with Spain and often oppose Catalan independence, in stark contrast to FC Barcelona and the majority of its fans, who are closely linked to the Independentista movement.
The rivalry between the two sides is intense, and the Derbi Barceloní is the most-played local derby in La Liga history. Espanyol have spent most of their history in the top tier and hold a unique record, the most seasons in the Primera División without ever winning the title.
Relegated at the end of the Covid-delayed 2019/20 season, they immediately secured promotion the following year. After another drop in 2022/23, they bounced back again in 2024, reclaiming their spot as Catalunya’s second club in Spain’s top flight.
Home matches take place at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà de Llobregat, where the team has played since leaving the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc in 2009. With FC Barcelona drawing much larger crowds, tickets for Espanyol matches are usually easy to find via the official club website, and it is a great chance to watch LaLiga football without the scramble for seats.
Girona FC
The third main football team in Catalunya is Girona FC. They play at Estadi Montilivi, a 14,624-capacity stadium located next to the university. Like other clubs, matchday ticket prices vary depending on the opponent, and you can search for tickets in English on their official club website.
Founded in 1930, Girona had never reached the top flight until the end of the 2016/17 season. After several near misses, losing three promotion play-offs in four years, they finally secured promotion to La Liga by finishing second in the division, avoiding the play-offs altogether. It was one of the club’s strongest debut seasons, even defeating Real Madrid.
Upon promotion, 44.3% of the club was acquired by City Football Group, owners of Manchester City, New York City FC, and others. Despite the financial backing, Girona were relegated at the end of the 2018/19 season after just two years in the top tier. They came agonisingly close to returning in both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, losing in the play-offs despite promising first-leg results.
On 19 June 2022, they won the play-off final and returned to La Liga, finishing their first season back comfortably in the top half of the table. The 2023/24 campaign became the most remarkable in the club’s history. Girona beat FC Barcelona both home and away, with identical 4 – 2 scorelines, and secured UEFA Champions League qualification with four matches to spare, eventually finishing third.
To comply with UEFA multi-club ownership rules, the City Football Group reduced their stake in Girona to below 30% ahead of the competition, using a blind trust and board changes to satisfy the regulations.
Girona had prepared for their first-ever Champions League campaign in 2024/25, with UEFA approving Montilivi as their home venue despite it not fully meeting top-tier requirements. Only the original 9,000 permanent seats were used, as the temporary stands added after their last promotion could not be included. Tickets were minimal, but the club kept both its home advantage and matchday revenue. They are not competing in the Champions League in 2025/26, so no stadium changes are required this season.
Footie on La Costa Brava
If you want to watch a football match, there’s no need to travel as far as Barcelona or Girona. Outside of the Primera División and Segunda División, Spanish football operates in regional slices.
A major restructuring before the 2021 – 2022 season by the RFEF (Real Federación Española de Fútbol, the governing body of football in Spain) scrapped the old Segunda División B (third tier) and Tercera División (fourth tier). In came three new national levels: the Primera Federación (third tier, two groups), the Segunda Federación (fourth tier, five groups) and the Tercera Federación (fifth tier, 18 regional groups). The top two tiers stayed unchanged.
In the Segunda Federación, Group 3 features teams from Catalunya, Aragón and the Balearic Islands. The Tercera Federación has Group 5, strictly the Catalunya territory. Below that, you’ve got the regional Lliga Catalana, such as Primera Catalana and Segona Catalana.
When UE Costa Brava merged with CF Badalona and relocated in 2022, Costa Brava lost its place on the national stage. Oh, and speaking of FC L’Escala, they’re pitching their tents in Tercera Federación, Group 5 (Catalunya) for the 2025/26 season. Not big-league glamour, but built to compete and 100% legit.
Even so, most local clubs still grind it out in the regional Lliga Catalana, and the atmosphere can be every bit as good as in the big leagues.
Palamós CF – Oldest Football Club in Catalunya
Founded in 1898, Palamós CF is the oldest football club in Catalunya and the second oldest still active in Spain, just behind Recreativo de Huelva. This proud Costa Brava side predates even FC Barcelona by a year.
Although they have never reached LaLiga’s top division, the club competed in the Segunda División from 1989 to 1995 before being relegated to the fourth tier due to financial difficulties. In May 2018, Palamós dropped again from what was then the fourth tier to the regional Primera Catalana.
At one point, a merger with UE Costa Brava (formerly Llagostera) was considered. Still, it would have meant creating an entirely new club and losing Palamós’ historic status, something the board refused to accept.
After competing in the Lliga Elit Catalana during the 2024/25 season, Palamós were relegated and now play in Primera Catalana – Grup 1 for the 2025/26 campaign. It is a tough, highly competitive regional league where promotion is far from easy. There is no need to book Palamós CF match tickets online; simply check the fixture list and head to the Estadi Municipal Palamós-Costa Brava on match day.
U.E. Figueres
Currently competing in Primera Catalana – Grup 1, U.E. Figueres was relegated from the national league at the end of the 2021/22 season. Founded in 1919, the club has fluctuated between divisions over the decades.
Their golden era was between 1986 and 1993, when they spent seven consecutive seasons in the Segunda División, overlapping with Palamós CF for four of those years, marking a high point for football in Empordà. In 2007, the then-club president and majority shareholder controversially relocated the team to Castelldefels, citing financial difficulties and limited local support.
Determined to keep football alive in the city, other shareholders and local fans re-founded U.E. Figueres, successfully maintaining 1919 as the official founding year. They had to restart in the Quarta Catalana, the lowest tier, but achieved five consecutive promotions to return to the national leagues by 2012.
After their return to the Catalan League in 2022, U.E. Figueres has continued to attract support for their Vilatenim stadium on the outskirts of town, which has a capacity of 9,472 and remains one of the more attractive football venues in the region.
F.C. L’Escala
History was made in 2022/23 when F.C. L’Escala achieved promotion from the Primera Catalana to the Tercera División RFEF for the first time. In their debut season, they finished an impressive fifth, just three points shy of a play-off spot.
Their “stadium” has a capacity of around 500 to 700 and is situated on the outskirts of town. Previously, there was no need to buy tickets in advance for their matches, but it remains to be seen how they will fare now that they are part of the Spanish league system.
Perhaps they’ll need to undertake some Camp Nou-style renovations at the Nou Camp Municipal de L’Escala (often called L’Escala Camp Nou)! You can wear your Barça shirt to the L’Escala Camp Nou too, their playing strip is also blau-grana!
Mediterranean International Cup
Every Easter Week (Setmana Santa), from 7 – 12 April 2026, the Estadi Municipal Palamós-Costa Brava hosts the Mediterranean International Cup (MIC), one of the world’s most renowned youth football tournaments. Since its inception in 2001, it has attracted top clubs and emerging talents from around the world.
The event began in the Canary Islands as the Mundialito Islas Canarias, which is why it has the MIC acronym, before relocating to Girona in 2002, where founders Josep Colomer and Judith Estrada gave it a new name but kept the same initials.
Over 1,000 matches are played each year in more than 40 municipalities, featuring players from U10 to U19 levels. Many global football stars first rose to prominence here, and the atmosphere is full of energy. Who knows, you might see the next Lionel Messi!
