Espanyol celebrate their 126th birthday. Founded in Barcelona on 28 October 1900, they are the city's "other" club, the one in blue and white stripes, living in the shadow of a giant but with a rich history of their own. And, as we will see, they did not even start out in blue and white.

Students with a Spanish identity

The founder was Ángel Rodríguez Ruiz, an engineering student at the University of Barcelona. The club was first called Sociedad Española de Football and, according to its history, was the first in Spain made up exclusively of Spanish enthusiasts of the game, at a time when foreigners dominated football in the city. In 1901 it became Club Español de Fútbol, and in 1903 it celebrated its first Catalan championship. Between 1906 and 1909 the team temporarily folded for lack of players.

The shirt that was yellow

Few people can picture Espanyol in yellow, yet that is how they played in their early years. The reason was practical: one of the early directors ran a textile business and had yellow fabric available, so the shirts were made from it. The first crest was a simple red and yellow circle with the initials CEF. When the club was re-formed in 1910, the time came for something more permanent.

The shield of Roger de Llúria

At the assembly of 20 February 1910 the members decided to change the colours and the crest. The proposal, credited to Eduard Corrons, was to adopt the blue and white of the coat of arms of Roger de Llúria, an admiral of the medieval Crown of Aragon. That is how the "blanc-i-blaus" were born. In 1912 King Alfonso XIII granted the "Real" title, a crown was added to the crest and the stripes became diagonal. In 1995 the name took its Catalan spelling, RCD Espanyol, and Pere Durán designed a new crest with a simplified crown. The last small change, in 2005, made the yellow more golden. Today the blue and white stripes suit even the youngest fans, as the PUMA baby mini kit shows.

Parakeets and a black cat

The nickname "Periquitos" or "Pericos" has two versions. The first says that the trees around the Sarrià ground, where the team moved in 1923, were home to many parakeets. The second credits the cartoonist Valentí Castanys, who in the 1920s mocked the club's few supporters as "four black cats". The word "perico" is believed to have been added later, because of Felix the Cat, known in Catalan as "gat perico".

Sarrià, Montjuïc, Cornellà

Sarrià was Espanyol's home for 74 years. The last match there was played on 21 June 1997, a 3-2 win over Valencia. Twelve years followed at the Olympic Stadium on Montjuïc and, from 2009, the club's own ground in Cornellà-El Prat, with a capacity of 40,000. Along the way the club, a founding member of La Liga in 1928, saw players such as Ricardo Zamora wear its shirt and, in the mid-1960s, László Kubala and Alfredo Di Stéfano at the end of their careers.

Four Cups, two bitter finals

Espanyol have won the Copa del Rey four times: in 1929, 1940, 2000 and 2006. In Europe they reached the UEFA Cup final twice and lost both on penalties: in 1988 to Bayer Leverkusen and in 2007 to Sevilla at Hampden Park. Raúl Tamudo became the club's all-time top scorer. Since 2009, at every match, fans stand and applaud in the 21st minute in memory of captain Dani Jarque, who died aged 26. In 2024 the team returned to the Primera via the play-offs.

Happy birthday, Espanyol. From the yellow cloth of a textile business to the stripes of Roger de Llúria, your story is a reminder that a city's "other" club can have a big heart too.

See Espanyol shirts and merchandise at sportarena.gr.

Photo: RCDE Stadium – RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.