Now that it looks like Barcelona FC along with Brightstar's Marcelo Claure will be awarded an MLS team here in Miami, the word "Barcelona" is no longer just a city in Spain.
But before there was talk of Barcelona in MLS there was another team created some 25 years after the original team was established.
On May 1, 1925 Eutimio Pérez, a Catalan immigrant from Barcelona, Spain founded Barcelona Sporting Club in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Contrary to popular belief Eutimio named the team after the city and not the team. It was years later that the crest which is almost a carbon copy of the one used by Barcelona FC, was adopted.
Barcelona SC is arguably the most successful team in Ecuadorean Soccer history having won the national tournament a record 13 times (Hence the stars around the crest), a distinction it shares with Nacional of Quito. Barcelona has also disputed the final of the Copa Libertadores twice but was unsuccessful each time.
Barcelona S.C is by far the most popular team in Ecuador and in 1987 they inaugurated "El Monumental"stadium playing versus Barcelona FC! This game ended with the home team winning 1-0. Barcelona SC invited many South American football celebrities, such as Pele, to the inauguration. Pelé was so astonished, he compared the stadium to the famous Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. The Estadio Monumental has a capacity of 89,930 spectators, making it at that time the second largest stadium in South America in terms of capacity. Today it remains the largest stadium in the South American West Coast.
Here is a video of the stadium at almost capacity. I hope to see our Miami Ultras as passionate and numerous as the ones cheering on this Barcelona team!
