Santfeliuenc Futbol Club is a semi-professional football club that was formed on December 3rd 1905, in the town of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, located around ten miles southwest of Barcelona.
The club popularly known as ‘Santfe’ came about after Josep Plana Deu was inspired by the development of football in Barcelona and decided to set up a local club. Land was rented by the Unión Coral for home matches to be played.
In 1925, the new Campo de la Pineda was inaugurated, with the team progressing to Segunda Regional football a decade later. The Spanish Civil War between 1935 and 1939 hit the club hard. Santfe dropped down a few grades once football recommenced. In the 1950’s the club was placed in the top level of Catalan football.
In 1959-60 Santfeliuenc competed in the play-offs for a place in the Tercera División against Iberia, which was lost over three games. The club saw the defeat as an injustice, with fans being mobilised like never before.
The Catalan Football Federation implied that the club did not have adequate facilities to compete at what was then the third level of Spanish football had they progressed. A new ground was sought.
The majority of the following decade was spent in Segona Catalana with an occasional foray in the Primera Regional. Following a reorganisation of Catalan football, the Primera became the second tier of regional football. In 1977-78, the team reached that stage and then consolidated before coming close to promotion to the Preferente Regional in 1981-82.
The team did go up in 1984-85 under coach Francesc Estrada after winning Grupo 3. A 2-0 over Hospitalet Atlètic triggered mass celebrations at Campo de la Rambla. Santfe lasted five seasons in the Preferente before the divisions became the second regional level in 1988-89.
Santfe remained in the sixth-tier Preferente until they were demoted further to Primera Regional for the 1999-00 season. In 2001, the club became involved in the creation of the CFA Escuela de Fútbol Sant Feliu.
The club tried in vain to reclaim their top-level regional status; the 2003-04 season ended in disappointment when the vital promotion game ended in a 2-1 defeat to Sant Cugat. Santfeliuenc would have to wait until 2005-06 for promotion to arrive.
Coach Vique led the side, who clinched their return to the Preferente with victory against El Catllar, with the Santfe fans returning once again to back their local club. Santfeliuenc moved from the city centre to a new home, Parc Esportiu de Les Grases, in January 2007.
New young coach, Andrés González led the club to promotion in 2008-09 to Primera Catalana, the top level of Catalan regional football and the fifth level in the Spanish pyramid. Further progress was made over the following three seasons before another promotion arrived in 2012-13.
Santfe reached the Tercera División after defeating CD Masnou 4-3 on aggregate. The club consolidated in their new surroundings and finished in the bottom third, with the goals of David Toro being the highlight in the 2015-16 campaign. The side continued to loiter towards the bottom end of the table for several seasons after.
The Spanish league system was about to be restructured, with the 2020-21 season being used to decide where clubs would play the following season. Santfeliuenc's performance in Tercera División RFEF saw them demoted to the sixth-tier Primera Catalana, as Andrés González Fernández looked to help his side regain their previous status.
Sixth place in Grupo II was achieved in 2021-22 before the club was moved to Grupo III for the following campaign. The 2024-25 season saw the side finish as league runners-up.
Santfeliuenc FC will play in the Primera Catalana Grupo III in the 2025-26 season.
My visit
Santfeliuenc FC 2 UA Horta 0 (Saturday 20th January 2018) Tercera División Grupo V (att: 300)
My first full day of my Barcelona long weekend was going tremendously well, with visits to four excellent venues with junior football taking place, as well as the matches at Espanyol in La Liga and Unifacvacion Bellvitge in the top flight of junior football.
The match at the latter kicked off at 4pm, which meant I could only watch the first half before heading away to get to the evening game, which had a 6pm start. I took the Metro from Hospital de Bellvitge to Rambla Just Oliveras.
A short walk across the road led me to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat station with enough time to grab a bottle of water before the train arrived to take me the twelve minutes north east to St. Feliu de Llobregat, going past the training ground of FC Barcelona on the way.
There was a bit of drama before I even left the station, as 100 metres or so beyond the end of the platform was a level crossing. One lady crossed the track and jogged along the side of the track with her train heading towards her, and the driver hooting his horn.
After taking the more conventional route to cross the lines, I walked uphill and then took a turning, going a bit of a long way around. The small town did seem to have quite a lot of small bars, but also a lot of housing and small towers of flats, so trade must have been there?
Eventually, I arrived at the car park on Ctra. Sansón, weaving through the cars in search of an entrance to Camp de Futbol Municipal Les Grases. I eventually came to it by passing Pavelló Andrei Xepkin Sports Complex on Carrer Mataró.
After climbing some steps and going past the active indoor hall, I came to the pay desk, paying €10 to the young lady and entering an open area, with a couple of club huts across the way. One dispensed me a beer, as well as selling snacks.
A long slope took me to the back of the main spectator facilities, which consisted of a raised seated block, with a roof covering the far two-thirds. There was room for standing at the rear, and the whole area offered a good view from above the changing rooms.
A flight of stairs led down to a thin area open behind one goal, which was backed by a high boundary wall. The opposite end was enclosed by the sports complex and the raised open club area.
I was unsure whether spectators were welcome on the far side, which backed onto the road and had the subs' benches either side of the halfway line. Skatepark Sant Feliu De Llobregat, over the road, was in constant use by the local youths.
I’d taken a seat towards the town end when, just before kick off, a pair of home fans plonked themselves down a few rows in front and across with a dreaded drum! The duo sang songs more or less alone, while one banged their instrument. I had a grudging respect for them.
The match was a bit of a local derby, so Horta had a decent following among the crowd, which seemed to attract a good cross-section of the local community. Several elderly gentlemen smoked big cigars at the rear of the seats.
Horta began the game on the front foot, with Marc Rio having an opportunity to open the scoring after being set up by Gerard Nolla in the ninth minute. They were left to rue the miss five minutes later when young forward Adri Recort fired Santfe ahead from outside the box after good work from Carlos Olmo.
The visitors went back on the offensive, but were thwarted by the home defence, before Santfe went forward once again, with Josele testing out Horta keeper Andrés. I declined the opportunity of a drink at the break, but I’d taken up a standing position as the temperatures dropped to around 8°.
The teams exchanged attacks at the start of the second period. Josele went close for Santfe, testing out Andrés once again. Visiting coach Raúl Matito, who formerly held the position at Santfe, rang the changes to look for an equaliser.
It would be Santfe who doubled their score, when a fine move saw Romo set up Nacho Ruiz. His effort was converted by Adri Recort to put Andres González's team in a position of comfort. I made my move a few minutes later, even though it was a decent enough game.
I had an opportunity to watch a junior game across Barcelona at CE Júpiter, which I didn’t want to waste. I walked back to the station along Carrer de la Constitució to catch a train to Catalunya, before a couple of Metro rides to Sant Martí for my final football match of the day.
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