https://sites.google.com/appstate.edu/catalunyaspainandfutbolhowsocc/home?authuser=0
The concept of nationalism in Spain means something different as to what we think here in the US. Spain has 17 autonomous communities who all have a range of unique cultural, economic, and linguistic differences. Catalunya, the region in the Northeast of the country is one of these communities. Over the history of the nation Catalunya has seen varying degrees of independence and autonomy – something that time and time again causes friction with the national government.
Most known in the soccer world for FC Barcelona – the team that was home to Messi for over two decades, Catalunya is also home to its own sub-national team, the Catalan XI.
From the founding of the Catalan Federation in 1900, the first match (and loss) in 1910, and most recently a victory in 2025, the Catalan XI has played many games over the years against FIFA recognized national teams, other regional (sub-national) teams in Spain, and other teams across Europe.
The website that I created allowed me to break up different eras of the Catalan XI/Spain & Catalan history to create commentary on the development of Catalunya politically and as a footballing nation.
My project is broken up into 4 different eras 1. Beginnings 2. Guerra Civil (Civil War) 3. Franco Era 4. Present Day. Breaking up the project like this allowed for more clarity of the topic at hand.
I decided to switch from JSlab timeline as it was very hard to include lots of the strong sources that I had found as they would not upload well onto the website.
Besides the formatting issue there were two other main issues. Firstly, lots of secondary sources focus specifically on FC Barcelona. Now while FCB is objectively a political force in Catalunya and linked directly with the Catalan Federation and Catalan XI (as mentioned in the project itself) I did not want to soley focus on the club. Secondly, there was lots of very cool information about different matches the Catalan XI has played however they did not tie into this project so they had to be left out.
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