AE Prat (Spain)

Associació Esportiva Prat is a semi-professional football club, formed on February 7th 1945, who are based in El Prat de Llobregat; which is located to the south of Barcelona in Spain and nearby to the airport.

Before the War, two local clubs; Club Deportiu Prat, formed in 1934 and CD Internacional, formed in 1935, merged in 1939 to produce Unió Deportiva Prat. The new club were crowned as Campeonato de Cataluña Amateur in its first year, before being disbanded.

Associació Esportiva Prat took over as the senior local club under President; Josep Aleu Torres. The team played in Segunda Regional football from their formation, until winning promotion to Primera Regional in 1950-51.

Relegation followed two years later, with the team regaining their Primera status for the 1956-57 season. However, the spell lasted just twelve months. Two further promotions and three relegations saw the team playing in Primera Regional for the 1964-65 campaign.

A change in the set up of Catalan regional football occurred at the end of the 1960’s; with the Regional Preferente becoming the top tier. Prat played at that level in 1969-70 before dropping back down to the Primera Regional after just one season.

Prat also enjoyed a further season; 1975-76, at the top regional level, before the club dropped even further down the pecking order to Segunda Regional after a disappointing 1978-79 campaign.

Successive promotions saw the club from Estadi Municipal Sagnier reach the fourth national Tercera División for the first time for 1984-85. Prat lasted three seasons before being relegated in 1986-87.

Prat remained at the top level of regional football until Primera Catalana was formed in 1991. The club stayed in Regional Preferente; which became the second tier until winning promotion in 1994-95.

Prat dropped down to Regional Preferente for the 1997-98 season before regaining their Primera Catalana place a year later. Prat progressed to the Tercera División for 2002-03, before suffering demotion after just one campaign.

The clubs Tercera División status was restored at the completion of the 2004-05. Two seasons later Prat were relegated, before returning to the fourth tier at the first attempt. In 2011-12, Prat finished as Grupo V champions.

In the play offs Atlético Sanluqueño were defeated to secure third tier football for the first time as AE Prat became members of Segunda División B; where they were placed in Grupo 3. The team also qualified for the Copa Del Rey for the first time.

A win at home to Gimnàstic, was followed up by victory on penalties at Estadio Carlos Tartiere over Real Oviedo. The run ended with a 3-2 home defeat to UE Llagostera. Prat were relegated back to the Tercera División in 2013-14.

Another Tercera divisional title arrived in 2015-16. Osasuna B were defeated 3-2 on aggregate as Prat returned to Segunda División B. Their spell lasted just one season, as the team was relegated.

AE Prat will play in Tercera División Grupo V in the 2017-18 season.


My visit

Tuesday 23rd January 2018

My long weekend in Barcelona was very close to completion. I'd left just one football club to visit on the way to the airport. I took the Metro from Liceu to Zona Universitària; from where I changed to the deep L9S to Parc Nou.

From there it was a ten minute walk past some social housing onto Av. Onze de Setembre, where I found Estadi Moisés Llopart. I got a glimpse through a gap on Carrer de Frederica Montseny of the ground.

Further investigation allowed further glimpses through more gaps on Carrer del Roure and Carrer del Pi, but that was as good as it was going to get. There was no way I was going to get inside for some proper photos.

What I could see was a couple of open seated stands down one side, hard standing behind the goals with a raised seated stand down the main side; which had a roof over the centre section. There was a training pitch at the north end.

It was a bit of a damp squib to finish my adventures, but I reflected on a fantastic few days as I took the Metro to the Airport ready for my flight back to Luton. I would just have to return in the future to see a bit more!