Welcome to…Manresa

A century-old club in the heart of Catalonia

Manresa is considered one of the most central cities of Catalonia and has been an important city to the region, not only for this fact. Its representative club has roots that trace back to 1906, being one of the oldest Catalan clubs outside of Barcelona. Moreover, it’s a club that has found its way up in the 2020s, even being close to reaching the Primera Federación. Welcome to..Manresa.

The players of Manresa in the first team’s presentation before the 2023-24 season. © CE Manresa.

A central town

The capital of the centrally located zone of the Bages, Manresa is a city of 80,000 inhabitants. Manresa is known for marking the border between the industrial suburbs of Barcelona, like Rubí, Sabadell, or Terrassa, and the rural part of Catalonia.

Manresa can be found in the heart of Catalonia, northwest of Barcelona. © Google Maps.

Currently, Manresa belongs to the smaller Catalonian cities and does not have a very booming economy. However, this was very different in the Late Middle Ages and the centuries that followed. Manresa was an important social, religious, economic, and demographic center in the northeast of Spain, a period that can still be seen through the remaining Gothic architecture.

The Basilica of Santa Maria, locally called La Seu, is the architectonic highlight of Manresa. It dates from the 14th century and was very important for Catalan Catholics for centuries. © Llegar Sin Avisar.

Manresan football

The mother of all Manresan football clubs was Manresa FC, which was the only club to represent the town until some members preferred to leave this club to create a new one: Catalònia EC. However, after some years, the directives of both clubs figured out that a reunion of both teams would be the best for Manresa, both concerning creating a solid team to represent the city and being able to maintain the club financially. They put aside their differences in 1916, giving birth to a club that we now know as Centre d’Esports Manresa.

The flag hanging around a crest has been the shape of Manresa’s crest since 1925. © lafutbolteca.com

In the 1940s, Manresa played in the highest level of Catalan amateur football, achieving promotion to the Tercera División in 1950. Considering the financial and social capacities of the blanc-i-vermells, the third tier was the highest they could realistically reach. Still, Manresa was close to debuting in the Segunda División on multiple occasions and played many seasons in the Tercera.

The Estadi Nou Congost, a stadium with a capacity of 3,500. The main stand allows for a perfect view over the playing field. © Dany Mesa.

After the 1970s, Manresa often played in inferior tiers, such as the Regional Preferente, Preferente Territorial, or the Primera Catalana. ‘Tercera División’ became a less frequently used term in the Bages, which coincided with an economic decline and a loss of members.

The entire first team in the 1998-99 season, in which Manresa ended 8th in the Primera Catalana. The red-white combination has been the standard kit of the Catalans since 1906. © Trayectorias de Fútbol.

However, Manresa’s second ‘golden era’ would arrive. In 2019, the manresans returned to the Tercera and were able to develop in a pandemic, a period in which one would assume that development would be less likely to happen. In 2022, Manresa finished the season in first place and achieved direct promotion to the Segunda Federación.

250 supporters of Manresa celebrated their team’s promotion on the city’s main square. © Álex Guerrero.

The 2022-23 would be a historic season for the red-whites, not only for their debut in the highest competition in the club’s history but also for the results obtained in this league. Manresa managed to finish fourth, which allowed them to compete in the playoffs for promotion to the Primera Federación. Even though the Catalans lost against Navalcarnero, their fans were very proud of the debut season in the fourth tier.

The players of Manresa were not alone in the first leg against Navalcarnero. © Jordi Biel.

The pride of Manresa

In 1926 in Sant Mateu de Bages, a boy was born: Estanislao Basora. He would learn how to play football at Manresa from the age of 17 until 20, before being transferred to Barcelona. At Manresa, the supporters were already aware that the right-winger could become a famous player. And he did. He won many titles as a starter in the famous Barça de les Cinc Copes, represented the Spanish national team for years, and was even a starter at the World Cup of 1950. In the same year, the Spanish government awarded Basora with the prize of Best Spanish Sportsman of the Year, while the international press regarded him as one of the best right-wingers ever. A true legend of football – and even more in Manresa.

A picture of Basora in his time at Barcelona. © FC Barcelona.

The future

Manresa was no outsider in 2022-23 and surprised everyone by playing like one. In the 2023-24 season, however, Manresa is regarded as one of the teams to look out for, even though the red-white club coincides with the likes of Hércules, Lleida, and Mestalla. It will be an interesting season in the Nou Congost, where many starters of last season stayed and are complemented by strong players. This was…Manresa.

The players of Manresa celebrate a goal in 2022. © CE Manresa.

Sources

• https://www.cemanresa.net/copia-de-club-1
• http://lafutbolteca.com/centre-desports-manresa/
• Borchers, L. (2021). GOLAZO. Self-published.
• Borchers, L. (2022). CARA O CRUZ. Self-published.