If we were to ask the 'escapulada' faithful when they believed that, who knows, perhaps this season Europa would look more to the sky (LaLiga Hypermotion) than to hell (Segunda RFEF), many would recall the day in Algeciras. This is because, when the 101st minute of the seventh matchday was reached, a gallop by Adnane Ghailan, known as "the tailor" because he can make you a suit at the slightest slip-up, ended with a 2-3 on the scoreboard. An agonizing victory for the Catalans, another historic date for the collection of the Gràcia club and the impression that their presence in the category would not be merely token.

Salva Ferrer's (Martorell, 1998) new life began today in the press room of the Nou Sardenya stadium. "I can't take it anymore," he explains. You can't play with pain. And the pain has been with him for years. "I'm hanging up my boots. I've had a lot of pain in my hip for a few months now. It's a problem I've had throughout my career, but after treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma, the pain has gotten worse." The current Europa player had fought this cancer for two years and had overcome it, but the pain in his hip wouldn't go away. "When you're a young footballer and this happens to you, it's hard to understand," he says. After overcoming the lymphoma, Ferrer was able to play one more match in the Italian league before signing for Europa to return closer to home. But the pain remains, and it has only gotten worse. "We tried to figure out where it was all coming from. I thought I could keep playing. I wanted to keep playing here in Europe, but that pain didn't make sense. In preseason, we realized it was serious. The doctors recommended a prosthesis. I didn't want to accept it. I tried everything. Even with medication, the pain didn't go away. It's very difficult; you can't imagine having a prosthesis at 28," he explains. He will undergo surgery this Tuesday, closing a chapter of his life.

CE Europa is leaving Vila de Gracia. Starting next week, they will play away from the Nou Sardenya stadium because the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) requires them to "have a natural grass pitch to compete in the Primera Federación (First Division)." The club's efforts have been in vain, as they were unable to extend the six-month moratorium. since achieving promotion He has pulled every string to change a regulation he considers absurd and outdated: artificial surfaces are permitted in the Champions League and the Europa League, but not in the third tier of Spanish football. Despite promises, neither the Spanish nor the Catalan federations, nor the CSD (National Sports Council), have done enough to prevent the forced departure of Europa, a founding member of La Liga and one of the last bastions of artificial turf. popular football in the territory.

"Not Lamine Yamal or anything, the star of Rocafonda is Adnane!", shouted a European fan in the ear of a friend from the cement stands of the Nuevo Cerdeña after Adnane Ghailan Benktib (Mataró, 2000) scored the 1-0 in the Euros. It turns out that the Villa de Gracia It is the only place in the world where its goals are celebrated as much as those of its neighbor. Lamine Yamal with Barça, and a week later the footballer himself made the La Barraqueta stadium explode with joy, where the escapulados supporters watched their team's match at the Algeciras field. That day, the humblest club in the First RFEF took the lead in the competition with a comeback of the era sealed in the 101st minute by the other genius from Rocafonda, author of a double.

In a bar near the Nou Sardenya, Aday Benítez meets with ARA just over 24 hours before his debut in the First Federation this Saturday at the Juventud Torremolinos ground (7:30 p.m., LaLiga+ and FC Play). After the historic promotion as champions of the Second Federation, the club is preparing for an exciting, but also very demanding season.. "It's a challenge for me too. Despite being the team with the lowest budget and having to overcome obstacles like not being able to play at the Nou Sardenya starting in January, I consider myself a great fighter. I'm convinced we can achieve it."

Aside from those of world champion Argentina, the most iconic jerseys of the 2022 World Cup were those of the Danish national team; not because of the sporting achievements of the Nordic team, which was eliminated in the group stage, but because of the message their kits sought to convey. Hummel, the technical sponsor of the Danes, designed minimalist jerseys with its logo and the national team crest toned down, practically blurred, as a protest against "Qatar and its human rights record".

Hardly John Neeskens (Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1993) He won't forget this season. The footballer, son of Johann Neeskens, has had an exceptional year professionally, with his historic promotion to the First Division of the European Football Federation (RFEF) and his recent signing for FC Eindhoven in the Dutch Second Division. But on a personal level, he has suffered a shock that he is still struggling to assimilate: the sudden death of his father in October At 73, after feeling ill, he said: "It was one of the worst days of my life, if not the worst. I couldn't believe it, and there are still times when I think it's not possible; it was a terrible blow that I'm still carrying." He still gets goosebumps when he remembers how the Europa players and the fans chanted his name at the end of the first match the Gràcia team played at the Nou Sardenya after the tragic death. "The Europa fans are some of the best in Catalonia, and this is a moment that will forever be etched in my thoughts," he says, moved.

Years ago, when professional teams didn't go on overseas tours in exchange for tickets, the big draw of preseason training was the summer tournaments. The Gamper or Teresa Herrera, who now have a residual significance, were unmissable events; also the Ramón de Carranza in Cádiz, considered the Champions League of the dog days, which took place at the end of August and marked the start of the season.

Apart from Barça, Europa is the only Catalan club in the top four categories of Spanish football that It is not a sports corporation (SAE). With all the limitations this entails, it is structured as a non-profit entity owned by its members, which "competes against ocean liners: clubs whose largest shareholders are Japanese, Swedish, Greek, or American billionaires," its president, Héctor Ibar, declared on Tuesday.

Catalan football is no stranger to housing drama, and especially the smaller clubs below the Second Division, are suffering. The most affected are the technical secretaries, especially those from Barcelona and the surrounding areas, who are working to build squads that perform well with little money and local players. "It affects us a lot. Resources are limited, and we have to rationalize them. As a general rule, we focus on signing Catalan players who don't need housing, because renting an apartment is a very significant expense," says Josep Maria Gené, European sporting director. which has risen to First RFEF, the third national division, with one of the lowest budgets in the Second RFEF.

The oldest members of Europa, a founding club of the Spanish First Division in 1928, rub their eyes. After years of hardship and watching the Nou Sardenya stadium gradually empty, the Gràcia club has experienced a social and sporting renaissance in recent years. On Sunday, Europa secured promotion to the First Federation with one matchday remaining in the league, beating Elche B (0-1) with a goal from their eternal captain, Àlex Cano, who has played 500 matches for the club and is the second-highest scorer in history despite being a defender.

Japanese Taito Suzuki, president and majority shareholder of Sant Andreu, is one of the few foreigners in the stands at the Narcís Sala this Sunday. Now that another edition of the Barcelona derby Sant Andreu - Europa has ended, and regardless of whether the crowd was more local or foreign, almost every one of the 6,500 people who filled the stadium had a reason to have a glass of cava after a 1-1 draw that satisfies both teams because it leaves everything open despite keeping Europa at the top of Group 3 of the Second Division RFEF. This intimate and intense bond between the stands and their teams contrasts with what was experienced in another derby played today in Barcelona, Barça-Girona, witnessed in Montjuïc by thousands of tourists who don't care about the result and who cool down the atmosphere of a stadium at the same speed that they help make money in the modern football that they hate so much in Sant Andreu and Gràcia.

Valentina Berr has decided to give up. The first trans federated football player in Catalonia – and the second in Spain – announced this Tuesday, on International LGBTI+ Pride Day, that she is abandoning federated football "to preserve her mental health". The 28-year-old player of CE Europa, a Barcelona team with which this season had achieved promotion to the Spanish second division, explained that she is giving up football reluctantly. She does so because of the pressures of playing as a trans woman: "I'm not hanging up my boots; they hanging them up for me. I could no longer stand the panic and anxiety attacks I had increasingly been suffering in recent months," she said in a statement.