C.F.Montañesa (Spain)

Club de Futbol Montañesa is football club that was formed in 1927 as Peña Montañesa, who represent the district of Nou Barris in the Catalan city of Barcelona. The team started out life playing in an area where Calle Góngora now stands.

Much hard work was put into moving land so that the ground was fit for purpose; before the club invited other local teams to play in tournaments. The club soon became part of Catalana regional football; playing in their various divisions.

In 1951 the club moved into a new ground at Nou Barris. The venue had no dressing rooms, so players had to change 150m down the road in the basement of Bar L'Ateneu. The team won promotion from Tercera Regional in 1972-73 following victory over Pobla de Claramunt.

Facilities to Nou Barris were upgraded in the mid 1970’s following joint payments with joint tenants; UD Roquetas. The momentum continued as Montañesa lifted the Grupo 6 title in 1976-77 to win promotion to Primera Regional; the second level of regional football at the time; where the team was placed in Grupo III.

Another promotion came in 1979-80 as Montañesa reached the Preferent Regional. Relegation hit the club in 1985-86 as they dropped back to Primera Regional. However, the team fought straight back by regaining their Preferent position by winning the Grupo III title.

The rebuilt Estadi Municipal Nou Barris was opened in the summer of 1989, while the league structure was reorganised at around the same time. Montañesa went up to Primera Catalana in 1990-91 after collecting another divisional title.

However, just twelve months later the side was relegated back to Preferent football. Worse was to come in 1998-99 as the club descended to Primera Regional. The following season the club returned to the Preferent by virtue of a title win.

The 2003-04 campaign saw Montañesa secure a runners-up berth before winning promotion to Primera Catalana through the play-offs. In 2009-10 the team emulated that achievement with a play-off win to secure national Tercera División fourth tier football for the first time.

The new surroundings inspired the team, who once again reached the play-offs. After defeating Cartagena La Unión and then Rayo Cantabria on penalties, Montañesa saw their dreams of promotion ended by Sestao River.

The 2012-13 campaign saw the side narrowly avoid relegation before bouncing back the following season to finish in second place and secure a play-off berth thanks in part to star goalkeeper Andrés Burgada. Paterna were defeated before Formentera ended any hopes of promotion.

The goals of Pedro García excited the fans at Nou Barris in 2014-15, before the team was relegated back to Primera Catalana at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season.

C.F.Montañesa will play in Primera Catalana Grupo 2 in the 2017-18 season.


My visit

C.F.Montañesa 6 AE Bon Pastor 1 (Sunday 21st January 2018) Juvenil Primera Division Group 4 (att: c60)

My time in the wonderful city of Barcelona was going really well. I'd already visited a couple of other venues and matches featuring the home games of Besos Baron de Viver CF and CE Europa before I arrived at Via Júlia on Linea 4 of the Metro.

There was quite a noise coming from further up the road where I could see the rear of the stand at Nou Barris. The sound of a referees whistle meant that action was taking place; and the gates were open like at the other visited venues.

The noise was coming from a gang of fellas singing outside a bar on Carrer d'En Tissó. It didn't really register what was going in until I took a seat in the stand. The bar outside was the C.F.Montañesa clubhouse. The lads were quite possibly club members trying to add some atmosphere to the junior’s game over the road.

Nou Barris was a fine venue, dominated by an excellent raised seated stand; which had the changing rooms underneath. There was a small strip of open standing on the far side and between the ground and a gate leading to the clubhouse.

The arena was built into the side of the hill, and a café was open at the rear of the seating with a patio area for patrons to enjoy the weather. I purchased a bottle of water as the weather touched 20°.

The match was the standard I’d become accustomed to and of a decent quality. I could have quite easily sat and watched more of the game if I hadn’t another couple of grounds to visit before heading back for a siesta.