RCD Espanyol/import

Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. Espanyol currently play in the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat with seats for 40,500 spectators. It was inaugurated on 2 August 2009 with a match against Liverpool, won by Espanyol, with a goal by Luis García and two goals from Ben Sahar. Espanyol has previously played at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, which also hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics, and at Estadi de Sarrià. Despite being overshadowed by Futbol Club Barcelona, they are the sixth most successful football team in Spain. The club has recently been struck with the sudden death by heart attack of club captain Daniel Jarque, who died during a pre-season training session in Italy.

Foundation and club culture
Espanyol were founded on 28 October 1901 by Ángel Rodríguez, an engineering student at the University of Barcelona. The club's original home was in the well-off district of Sarrià and was initially known as the Sociedad Española de Football. One year later, the club changed its name to Club Español de Fútbol. Espanyol was the first club in Spain to be formed exclusively by Spanish fans of the game. The club originally played in bright yellow shirts, with the colour of the shorts being left to the individual player. 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 Club Deportivo Español and chose blue and white stripes as shirt colours and as the central colours of the club badge. Blue and white was chosen in homage to the colours appearing on the shield of the great Catalan Admiral Roger de Lluria, who sailed the Mediterranean protecting Catalonia's interests in the Middle Ages. The club were successful from the very beginning, winning the Campionat de Catalunya in 1903 and subsequently playing in the Copa del Rey.

Development of club's name
In 1906, the club folded due to financial reasons and most of the players joined the X Sporting Club. This club won the Campionat de Catalunya three times between 1906 and 1908. In 1909, this club was effectively relaunched as Club Deportivo Español, and in 1910, they adopted the present day colours in honour of Admiral Roger de Llúria, an Italian naval hero.

Espanyol are one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use Real in their names and the royal crown on their badge. This right was granted to Espanyol in 1912 by Alfonso XIII and the club subsequently became known as Real Club Deportivo Español.

Following the abdication of Alfonso XIII in 1931 and the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, due to prohibition of royal symbols, the club adopted the more Catalan/republican friendly name, Club Esportiu Espanyol. After the Spanish Civil War, and the subsequent prohibition of the Catalan language, the name reverted to Real Club Deportivo Español.

The club took the Catalan spelling for its name in February 1995. The word Deportiu in Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a Catalanised form of the original word Deportivo (Castilian), despite the correct word being Esportiu in the Catalan language. This choice was made in order to retain the initials RCD in the club's name.

Current squad
''The numbers are established according to the official website: www.rcdespanyol.com and www.lfp.es


 * Updated 27 August 2010

Statistics and records

 * Copa del Rey
 * 4 – 1929, 1940, 2000, 2006


 * UEFA Cup
 * Runner-up (2): 1987–88, 2006–07


 * Segunda División
 * 1 – 1993–94

Club league highs and lows

 * See also RCD Espanyol by season