Sant Andreu goes crazy with their team's promotion to Primera RFEF

BarcelonaSant Andreu is celebrating. One of the historic Catalan football clubs has been able to celebrate promotion to Primera RFEF, after the triumph of the four-bar team (2-1) against Reus Reddis in a Narcís Sala packed to the rafters. More than a decade later, the club returns to the third tier of state football after a strange week as the team's coach, Natxo González, suffered a heart attack that led to him being hospitalized. Today, logically, he could not be on the bench for the match against the Reus team, a club where he also worked. The Reus fans present at Narcís Sala showed banners of support for González, who could not witness the triumph on the field with goals from Mendes and Señé, from a penalty. Goals that led to a great celebration on the stadium's pitch.

UE Sant Andreu is experiencing a sweet social moment with a record number of members and thousands of people at every match at Narcís Sala. Not all Catalan clubs can draw six thousand people as the Andreuencs have done today. La Rambla Onze de Setembre has been filled with people wearing the club's shirt hours before the match against a Reus that is also having a good season. In fact, the Reusenses, along with Terrassa and Barça Atlètic, are still fighting for a play-off spot in the same group, to see if a second Catalan promotion arrives.

L’equip of Natxo González, despite a somewhat gray start to the season, has picked up momentum months ago and has been imposing its game on all rivals. In this way, it has achieved a promotion that will allow it to be in a Primera RFEF next season, a category where three Catalans currently play. Sabadell, which is aiming for direct promotion, drawing more than eight thousand people to the Nova Creu Alta, a Nàstic fighting to avoid relegation, and Sant Andreu's great rival: El Europa. The Gràcia team is fighting to move up to Segunda, having a historic season despite having to play away from Nou Sardenya. Such is life, Sant Andreu shares a concern with Europa: it doesn't know where it will play, now that it has been promoted.

It had been evident for weeks that Sant Andreu would be promoted, which is why fans were already talking about the future, because the people of Sant Andreu have the same problem as their rivals from Europa: an artificial turf pitch. In the Primera RFEF, you have to play on natural grass, so the club will have to make a large financial investment to install it. The alternative is to play for six months at the Narcís Sala, taking advantage of a moratorium granted by the League, but then move to the Can Dragó stadium, the athletics track where Europa currently plays its matches, as the team from Gràcia has decided to continue with artificial turf at their Nou Sardenya stadium. Today's match was played with a large banner on the side that read "we will never leave the Narcís Sala".

Japanese capital in a club rooted in the territory

Sant Andreu has been owned by the Japanese Taito Suzuki since 2024, through the multinational Taica Corporation. Suzuki, who spends months in Barcelona and, to understand the club, has met with fans and even visited Montserrat to meet La Moreneta. Suzuki has always stated that his challenge is to take the club to professional football. Sant Andreu has not played in the Second Division since the 1970s. When he invested in the club, he signed a contract by which he commits to the club never abandoning the Sant Andreu district, which is why the roadmap is clear: play at Narcís Sala and modernize it. “We have no other idea than to continue in our stadium,” says the general director of UE Sant Andreu, José Manuel Pérez.

But Narcís Sala is municipal and the club is negotiating with Barcelona City Council, as they believe the investment should be made by the council. Sources from the council confirm to el ARA conversations to find the “best solution”. Especially after seeing that leaving Nou Sardenya has gone against Europa. The rival’s experience helps the Andreuencs to clearly see that they must remain at Narcís Sala, where, until 2005, there was natural grass. That year, to save money, they installed artificial turf. Unlike Nou Sardenya, where it is very difficult to install natural grass due to the presence of a car park under the pitch that complicates logistics, at Sant Andreu natural grass can be installed more efficiently, but it is expensive. David Escudé, councillor for Sports, explained that "There will be a solution for Sant Andreu. We have been working for some time to see what the possibilities are. We are working along the same lines as with Europa. The investment is almost a national one”. Escudé, however, does not rule out the possibility of seeing the two rivals, Sant Andreu and Europa, together at Can Dragó: “All lines of work have been initiated. I will not go into whether it is one or the other, because it would be disrespectful to the clubs”. Can Dragó, until recently an installation dedicated to athletics, has been remodeled this year to allow Europa to play from January, with temporary stands. A solution that Sant Andreu does not like, because the club's idea for next season is to go from six thousand members, and Can Dragó has space for three thousand people. One option would be to expand the stands at this facility, as the City Council does not currently see a clear path to installing natural grass. The general director of UE Sant Andreu, José Manuel Pérez, also confirmed that the lighting installation will also need to be improved, which means a total expenditure of over half a million euros.

While the fans and players celebrate the promotion, behind the scenes work is being done to find a solution. If natural grass is installed, whether with municipal investment or from the Japanese ownership, it would also be necessary to consider what would happen to the youth football teams, who would not be able to train at Narcís Sala. Both Europa and Sant Andreu have dozens of teams of boys and girls who can train on the pitch because artificial turf can withstand continuous use. And having many youth football teams is a good source of income. If natural grass is installed, the lower category teams would not be able to train on the pitch to maintain the surface that the Federation requires. For now, the club has announced improvements to AISS, the club's youth football ground, just in case. Such is life, when in 2005 Sant Andreu defeated Mazarron in the last promotion to Segunda B, the club opted for artificial turf. Now that the team is celebrating a new promotion, it would be time to install natural turf to prevent the club from leaving Sant Andreu. A neighborhood that, at heart, is a village, as its people like to say. A village that will have a parade next Sunday through its streets, to continue celebrating.