Club Femení Barcelona in the Lliga catalana

Club Femení Barcelona participated in the Lliga catalana de futbol femenina – the Women's Catalan Football League – from 1981 until the creation of the Liga Nacional in 1988, achieving strong results without ever winning the league. Barcelona also contested the Copa Generalitat, a direct predecessor of the Copa Catalunya and which was commonly known as the Copa Catalana, winning it once in 1985 and being runner-up twice. Outside of official competition, Barcelona regularly played friendlies against derbi femení rivals Espanyol, as well as the Catalan women's national team.

Previous Catalonia-based leagues and cups in which Barcelona had participated were not related to the FEF-sanctioned Lliga catalana and Copa Generalitat.

The Spanish Football Federation (the FEF at the time) formally recognised women's football in 1980,^[1] a decade after the FC Barcelona women's team was started and longer since women's football had started becoming popular in Catalonia.^[2] In 1981, a women's football department of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) created the Lliga catalana de futbol femenina (Women's Catalan Football League), one of several region-based top-flight women's leagues operating in Spain in the 1980s, a Spain-wide system prompted on the initiative of the FCF.^[2][3][4] Barcelona was a founding member of the Lliga catalana.^[3] Team president María Teresa Andreu suggested they change the name to Club Femenino/Femení (CF) Barcelona, to be closer to the name of the men's team, with this change made official before the 1983 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol,^[5] during the 1982–83 season; they were still sometimes known by former name Penya Femenina (P.F.) Barcelona later in the decade.^[6]

Between 1983 and 1988, the top teams in each regional league went on to compete against each other for the Copa de la Reina de Fútbol and be declared Spanish champions. In effect, the regional leagues were all secondary to the Copa de la Reina, however there was no promotion or relegation in the Lliga catalana format, despite sometimes using a group and tier system. Due to Barcelona's lack of top placements in the league, they did not participate in the Copa de la Reina during this period.^[7]

Ahead of the first official Copa de la Reina, in 1983, the relationship between FC Barcelona and its women's team was reported on as poor, with the parent club "not wanting to know" when it came to them, and PF Barcelona not being recognised as an official section of the club. They were one of six teams in the league (of fourteen) that did not have fixed training facilities or schedules.^[8] In 1984, FC Barcelona was thanked for taking a much more sustained interest in women's football, offering its stadiums (including the Camp Nou) and facilities.^[9] Since at least 1985, the team played most home games at the Mini Estadi.^[10][7]

In 1981, sisters and Barcelona players Francina and Vicenta Pubill i Font left the club due to internal differences with how it was being run, and founded the similarly-named Penya Barcelonista Barcilona. PB Barcilona took on a commercial sponsor and enjoyed a period of dominance in the 1980s, winning numerous titles in various competitions,^[11] though it was consistently expected that PB Barcilona and Barcelona both would dominate the Lliga catalana and be the teams to beat.^[12][13][14] Other top Catalan teams at the time were derbi femení rivals Espanyol and another independent team, Vallès Occidental.^[15][16][17] Despite their strong results, Barcelona never won the league.

The unified Spanish league was created in September 1988, leading to a reduction in teams remaining in the now-secondary Lliga catalana.^[18] In the 1988–89 season, when Barcelona began playing in the Liga Nacional, they fielded a subsidiary team called Barcelona Atlétic in the Lliga catalana.^[19]

The first Lliga catalana ran from 15 February to 24 May 1981.^[3]

Inscriptions for the 1981–82 league were due by 25 September 1981.^[20]

Manager	Núria Llansà

The league began on 10 October 1982, with matches set to be played on Sundays.^[21]

Barcelona players Juani Escamilla, Emilia Ibáñez and Montse Bonachera were called up to the Spain women's national football team in January 1983.^[22] Ibáñez and Bonachera played in a 0–0 draw against Switzerland in March 1983.^[23]

Manager	Núria Llansà, Diego Vega
Copa Generalitat	Runner-up

Ibáñez was again called up for Spain in March 1984.^[9]

Director	Núria Llansà
Manager	Agustín Miró
League	3rd
Copa Generalitat	Winners
Top goalscorer	Emilia Ibáñez

The team included: Montse Guimerà, Joana Bernabéu, Pilar Moreno, Kety Pulido, Marta Mestres, Mª Ángeles Navas, Conchi Capilla, M. Vandellòs, Montse Bonachera, Lucía Herrero, Emilia Ibáñez, Inmaculada Romero and Núria Rabanal.^[24] Ibáñez was the top goalscorer in the league for both the group and final phases.^[13] Having defeated the Catalan national team in May 1985, in a preparation friendly ahead of the Spanish championship for regional representative teams, three Barcelona defenders were called up for Catalonia later that month: Navas, Pulido and Herrero.^[25]

In this season, the league was held in two phases: in the first phase, two groups each played in an eight-team league, with the best-placed teams from each competing in the six-team final phase.^[14] Barcelona had to play two matches after the final matchday of the league's final phase, when they were already guaranteed third overall.^[26] The league was reported as a "fight to the death" between Barcelona and PB Barcilona, who had each won their groups unbeaten, with Barcelona's away loss to PB Barcilona the turning point.^[13][14]

League result summary^[27][13]

Group II									Final phase
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos
14	12	2	0	121	12	+109	26	1st	10	4	3	3	23	22	+1	11	3rd

Director	Núria Llansà
League	4th
Copa Generalitat	Runner-up
Top goalscorer	Emilia Ibáñez (40)

The team included: Esther I, Marta Mestres, Kety, Luci, Maruja, Esther II, Inés, Emilia Ibáñez, Navas (captain), Silvia, Patri, Inma I, Inma II, Nuri and Lourdes.^[29][30] Players including Pulido, Navas, Mestre and Ibáñez were called up to either the first or second Catalan XIs during the season.^[31][32]

In the league, PB Barcilona had proposed using the two group format again, but this was rejected by the rest of the clubs.^[33]

League result summary

Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos
24	14	5	5	111	29	+82	33	4th

Director	Núria Llansà
League	4th
Copa Generalitat	Semifinals

At some point after the previous season, Kety Pulido left Barcelona and joined San Roque;^[34] at the start of January it was noted that Barcelona (then fifth in the league) had started the season with a much-changed line-up that was still developing, looking more and more integrated with each matchday.^[35] In January, Ma. A. Navas and Marta Mestres were called up to the Catalan team;^[36] Mestres was again in April, while Navas had been involved in a serious moto accident several months previously.^[34]

League result summary^[a]

Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos
28	18	5	3	138	31	+107	41	4th

Director	Núria Llansà
League	4th
Copa Generalitat	Round of 16

Pulido was again playing for Barcelona by 1988; she as well as A. Pastor, Mestres, S. Roca and S. Serrano, were called up to the Catalan team in March 1988.^[38][39]

In this season, the league was held in two phases: in the first phase, two groups of eight competed, with the best-placed teams from each competing in the "play-offs" of the final phase. Reported as a novel introduction for the season,^[40] a similar system had been used a few years earlier.

The classification table for the final phase carried over the points that teams had earned in the group phase playing against other teams who entered the same final phase;^[41][42] in the final phase, teams only played matches against teams they had not faced in the group, with the final classification combining both.^[43]

League result summary

Group II/B									Title play-offs								Overall standings[b]
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos
13	9	2	2	>46	11	+35	20	3rd	8	5	0	3	26	8	+18	10	14	8	1	5	36	15	+21	17	4th

On 11 November, Barcelona was first in the group on 10 points, despite not having played every game.^[44]

From Group II/B, Sabadell, Barcilona, Barcelona, and Toroella progressed to the title play-offs. Ahead of the final matchday, Barcelona could still achieve second place, and so qualification to the Copa de la Reina; their loss, paired with Barcilona and Espanyol (the other second-place contenders) drawing against each other, kept them in fourth position.^[17][45]