Club de Futbol Montañesa is a football club that was formed in 1927 as Peña Montañesa, which represents the district of Nou Barris in the Catalan city of Barcelona. The team started out its 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 a victory over Pobla de Claramunt.
Facilities at Nou Barris were upgraded in the mid-1970s 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, under the stewardship of Javier Cuesta, 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 under manager Manolo González. Paterna were defeated before Formentera ended any hopes of promotion.
The goals of Pedro García excited the fans at Nou Barris in 2014-15, as Toni Escudero took charge of the team, before they were relegated back to Primera Catalana at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season, where they were switched from Grupo I to Grupo II after a year.
Montañesa won the title in 2019-20 with Dani Andreu overseeing team affairs before he gave way to Ramón Calderé, who could not help the side escape relegation from Tercera División, with the Spanish league system being restructured for the 2021-22 season.
Primera Catalana became the sixth tier, as Raúl Paje Pérez came in to manage the team, leading Montañesa to the Grupo I title on their return to head back to the retitled Tercera Federación Catalana, where the side consolidated their position, finishing ninth in 2022-23, which was repeated a year later.
Axel Vizuete Continente took charge of the side ahead of the 2024-25 season.
CF Montañesa will play in the Tercera Federación Grupo V in the 2025-26 season.
My visit
CF 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 referee's whistle meant that action was taking place, and the gates were open like at the other visited venues.
My visit
CF 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 referee's 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 on 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 juniors’ 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 space 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 reached 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 had another couple of grounds to visit before heading back for a siesta.