The housing crisis is also affecting Catalan football.
High rents and a lack of accommodation are hampering the signing policies of smaller clubs.


BarcelonaCatalan 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.
This means that next season they will face Tenerife, Racing de Ferrol, or Hércules, professional clubs with the capacity to offer high salaries and a lower ceiling. Europe already suffered this a year ago, when 13 of their players left to play in Logroño, Mérida, or Lleida, among other places, where the price per square meter is much cheaper than in Barcelona.
The minimum salary in the First RFEF is 30,000 euros gross per year, and the average monthly rent in Gràcia, where Europe is located, is 1,042 euros. Gené is very aware of this, balancing his efforts to build a competitive team without overextending himself and minimizing his housing budget: "Last year we helped three players with their apartment. But it's an exception."
One category below is Sant Andreu, Barcelona's fourth-ranked football club, below Barça, Espanyol, and Europa. The first two, and their reserve teams, also in the Second RFEF, eat separately. "We look for players from the city or the surrounding area who have apartments. If they don't, we help them find them at a reasonable price through the real estate agencies that sponsor us. Three new signings from outside the city arrived in the winter transfer window, and we helped them with the management," they point out from the Sant Andreu del Palom club.
In Nou Barris, it doesn't reach 800, but La Montañesa, the only Barcelona team in the Third RFEF apart from Europa B, isn't considering signing players who are asking for a house: "All our players are from the metropolitan area." Beyond the capital, rent prices are falling, and the impact of the housing crisis is easing somewhat, though not much. This season, in the same division as La Monta, Hospitalet, Badalona, Prat, and FE Grama have played.
All of them prioritize Catalan players who can travel to training by car, but some exceptions have been made. El Prat signed a Madrid player in the winter, paying for his roof in Corbera for half the season, and La Grama did the same with an Andalusian, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Of course, they always house them outside of Barcelona, as Cornellà does. For its part, L'Hospitalet has rented a five-bedroom apartment where those from outside live, and Badalona, if it deems it appropriate, also offers a house. Each case is different, but the message is common: "The housing crisis affects us all."
The case of Olot
"We are an identity-based club that only plays with Catalan footballers and, if necessary, from the Països Catalans. We have a philosophy of proximity and we look for players in our region and the surrounding areas, but that is not enough and we have to go down to Barcelona to sign, where most of the licenses are. When we do, we try to 'try' Agustín, president of Olot, from the Second RFEF, which in the current summer market has encountered an unexpected problem.
"We couldn't find any flats, neither expensive nor cheap. Neither Habitaclia nor Idealista... nothing. Just a penthouse for 1,800 euros," says Lluís Micaló, the club's sporting director, who believes the lack of accommodation in La Garrotxa is "limiting" his efforts to strengthen the squad, forcing him to suspend some housing offers," he clarifies. He needs to house "six or seven reinforcements" in "three or four flats." While Olot is responsible for finding a roof, the players are responsible for the rent. "It wouldn't work so well. They've responded to many people by offering to rent us their flat as a favor," says Micaló, grateful for the solidarity of the neighbors in a delicate context for Olot, the umpteenth Catalan club hit by the housing tragedy.