FC Martinenc (Spain)

Futbol Club Martinenc is a football club that is located in the El Guinardó district of the Spanish city of Barcelona. The club was formed in 1909 in the neighbourhood of El Clot, in Sant Martí de Provençals, from which the club took its name.

Another local club, Centre d’Esports Martinenc, joined forces in 1917 in a merger. The strengthened club became Campionat de Catalunya as well as winning the second-level championship of Spain in 1922-23.

The club progressed from the Primera Catalana in 1930-31 to play in the national third-tier Tercera División. The Franco regime took over following the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The club was forced to change their title to the Castilian, Unión Deportiva San Martín.

Martinenc continued to play their football in both the Primera Catalana and Tercera División, with the side winning Grupo III of the third-tier divisions in 1950-51, before missing out on promotion by finishing bottom of the play-off group.

The team was relegated after finishing bottom of Grupo VII in the extended Tercera División of 1954-55. In 1959, the club celebrated their fiftieth anniversary with a game against Real Madrid at Camp Ple de Gom, at which point the club had re-established their third-tier status.

The team went back down to regional football following relegation in 1962-63. The club would then spend over two decades in regional Catalana football before winning promotion to the Tercera, which had become the fourth tier in 1984-85. During their time at the regional level, the club moved into their new Municipal del Guinardó home in 1981.

The team was relegated from the Tercera after just one season. Martinenc regained their Tercera División position following promotion in 1987-88; finishing in fourth place of Grupo 5 in 1989-90 and then finishing just outside the play-off places in 1992-93. The 1994-95 campaign ended in relegation back to Primera Catalana football.

The club went down to the sixth-tier Preferente Catalana before going back up a level in 1999-00. Martinenc were relegated once again in 2002-03, going down to the seventh tier the following season. Two consecutive second-places saw the side rise a level in 2004-05, but they quickly headed back down.

A title win in 2010-11 saw a return to fifth-tier Primera football before the title was secured in 2013-14 under manager Manel Moya Ávila. It was to be a solitary season appearance in the Tercera División in the 2014-15 season, before Miguel López Díaz would later be put in charge of team affairs.

He took the team to promotion via the playoffs in 2017-18, but not for the first time, the jump proved too steep as the side went back down a year later. Javier Gómez Rigol came in as manager, taking the team to fourth place in Primera Catalana, to be followed by Andreu Campos in June 2020. 

Tito Lossio was given the job of manager in June 2022, with his team finishing eighth a few months later, with Daniel Suárez leading the scoring. Another change of manager followed for the 2023-24 campaign, with the arrival of Toni Carrillo. Pitu scored regularly in Grupo II of the competition as Martinenc reached the playoffs in what was now seventh-tier football.

A victory over San Juan Atlético de Montcada was followed by defeat, but Martinenc were not to be kept down for long, winning the title in 2024-25 to reach Lliga Elit, the sixth-tier of Spanish football, and elite level regionally.

FC Martinenc will play in Lliga Elit Catalana in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Sunday 21st January 2018

My Sunday football adventures in Barcelona were nearly done for the day as the sun began to set. My long weekend was living up to all my expectations, thanks in no small part to the grounds being open to stage junior football.

This was the case at Martinenc, where a match was taking place in the Cadet Segonda Division Grupo IXX between the D sides of Martinenc and FE Grama, where I’d just been to see their Nou Estadi Municipal de Santa Coloma home.

The Metro from Via Julia deposited me at Guinardó | Hospital de Sant Pau, from where the club was just across the road. A ramp took me up past Centre Esportiu Municipal del Guinardó to the open entrance.

Once again, the ground was dominated by a raised seating and terraced area overlooking an artificial pitch, like so many other venues I’d visited. There was a view all the way to the sea from the stand. A crowd of around 60 was watching the action on the pitch.

I was ready for food and a rest, so I walked up the slope on Carrer Torrent de Melis at the other end of the ground before catching a bus to Lesseps and then taking the Metro to Liceu on Las Ramlas, close to my hotel.