Unión Esportiva Cornellà is a Spanish football club that was formed following a merger on April 29th 1951, located in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the southwest of the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Fútbol Club Cables Elèctrics had been formed on April 15th 1923, before being renamed Fútbol Club Cornellà in 1931. The club merged with two other clubs in 1951: Atlètic Padró and Acadèmia Junyent to form UE Cornellà.
The team started out playing in Segunda Regional before winning promotion to Primera Regional in 1955-56 after a couple of second-place finishes. Their debut at the higher level ended in fourth place. Third place was reached in 1961-62 before Cornellà spent the 1965-66 campaign in the Segunda before returning to their top-level regional status a year later.
Catalan football was reorganised for the 1970-71 season, with Cornellà being placed in Segunda Regional, which had become one of numerous sixth-tier divisions in Spanish football. The team finished as runners-up and then third in 1971-72. Fourth place in 1976-77 was enough to clinch promotion to the fifth-tier Regional Preferente.
The team competed at this level, finishing sixth on their return, until being demoted at the end of the 1981-82 campaign. Cornellà would remain at the second level of Catalan football until winning promotion in 1995-96. This was after winning the title in 1990-91 and finishing runners-up once, and third on a couple of occasions.
Their time in the Segunda Regional wasn’t wasted, as the club set up l'Escola de Futbol Cornellà in 1985. The system would go on to produce many young players to not only represent the club, but to go on to careers around Europe.
By now, the highest level of regional football had been renamed as Primera Catalana. Cornellà remained there for three seasons, winning promotion through the play-offs to the fourth national tier Tercera División in 1998-99. Despite finishing fourth in their debut season, Cornellà struggled at the higher level.
Cornellà were relegated from Grupo V in 2001-02, but regained their status at the first time of asking by way of a Primera Catalana title win. Yet again, the Tercera División spell lasted three seasons, going back down in 2005-06.
It took the team two seasons before another Primera Catalana championship returned the club to the fourth tier in 2007-08. The goals of Enric Gallego in 2012-13 led the side to a runners-up berth. Cornellà went out in the first round of the play-offs to Deportivo B.
The club also qualified to play in the Copa Del Rey of 2014-15, where wins against Real Jaén, Zamora CF, and SD Leioa saw Cornellà reach the Round of Last 32, where the superstars of Real Madrid won the tie 9-1 on aggregate.
A fifth-place finish in Grupo III of the Segunda División B of 2015-16 saw Cornellà qualify for the Copa Del Rey for the 2016-17 season. Extra time home victories over San Sebastián de los Reyes and Extremadura UD before Hércules CF ended the run. Xavi Calm came in as manager for the 2018-19 season, one in which Cornellà reached the playoffs.
Ponferradina ended any hopes of promotion, with CD Castellón coming out on top in the playoff final the following season, as the team managed by Guillermo Fernández were assisted by the goals of Leo from midfield. In 2020-21, Atlético Madrid were beaten in the Copa Del Rey at Nou Camp Municipal.
FC Barcelona knocked out the heroes after extra time in the Round of 32 in what was a transitional season as the Spanish league system was to be reconfigured for the 2021-22 campaign. The goals of Eloy Gila helped the side secure a place in the third-tier Primera Federación RFEF, where the club was placed in Grupo II.
Raúl Casany, later replaced by Gonzalo Riutort in March 2022, helped the side consolidate before Xesc Fullana led the scoring the following season. The 2023-24 season ended in relegation to Grupo III of Segunda Federación RFEF, where the following season would see the club go through three coaches.
Neither Genís Sampietro nor Albert Garcia Xicota lasted long, with Alberto Lopo seeing out the campaign, in which Mateo Enríquez scored the goals which weren't enough to save Cornellà from dropping down to the fifth-tier Tercera Federación Grupo V. Ignasi Senabre was appointed as manager in June 2025.
UE Cornellà will play in Tercera Federación Grupo V in the 2025-26 season.
My visit
Saturday 20th January 2018
It was Saturday lunchtime on my first full day in the city of Barcelona and its environs. The sky was blue, and I was already having a wonderful time, having had a sightseeing walk and calling in to visit the grounds of CD Can Vidalet and UE Sant Ilfedons.
The Linea 5 Metro took me to Cornellà Centre from where I walked downhill through the pedestrianised Rambla de Josep Anselm Clavé, following more and more blue and white scarved football fans as I went, before stopping off.
My destination was the RCDE Stadium for the match between Espanyol and Sevilla at 1pm. I was ahead of time and required the loo; so, I decided to pop into a well-populated bar and grab a bottle of beer while I was at it.
I was delighted to see that there was a darker Voll Damm on offer. It tasted very nice, but strong. I was more than a bit shocked to find out that it was 7.2%! It certainly put a smile on my face as I walked the rest of the way.
The gates to Camp Municipal de Cornellà were open, as was in common with the visits to the previous two grounds. A decent crowd was assembled to watch the action on the main pitch; no doubt boosted by some Espanyol fans awaiting their game and using the bar and café.
The match between UE Cornellà and CF Vilanova Getru in Grupo 1 of the Preferent Cadet league had reached halftime just after I arrived. The game ended in a 4-1 home victory.
There was also football taking place on the far side, across on the smaller-sided pitch. I headed around as I took my various photos. A shocking challenge took place from two visiting players on a Cornellà junior. It really was atrocious, but I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter. It was maybe the beer?
Camp Municipal de Cornellà was dominated by a curving cantilever seated stand down the side next to RCDE Stadium. The rest of the ground had flat hard hard-standing access around the pitch, but no seating or raised areas.
It had been my intention to visit the stadium again the following evening, for the match between UE Cornellà and CD Alcoyano, but gaining early access had now opened up further options in a city full of them.