UE Sant Andreu: creating community in passion, values, and promotion

Across the world, lower-league football is undergoing an explosion of popularity in a post-pandemic world where people increasingly seek authentic and exciting experiences. 

Catalonia is no exception, with Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu becoming one of the leading neighbourhood football clubs in the country, known for electric atmospheres in their tightly-knit Narcís Sala stadium on matchdays, and a strong identity built on foundations of human values and a working-class ethos. 

Derby games with fierce rivals CE Europa, from the neighborhood of Gràcia, have become unmissable events in the Catalan football calendar in recent years, with dramatic encounters seeing fireworks on and off the pitch, especially as both teams have battled it out neck-and-neck in fighting for promotions against each other in recent years.

This Sunday, March 30, the sides will meet again in another mouthwatering clash. Europa go into the game top of the Segona Federació table, one point ahead of Sant Andreu. Only one team automatically gets promoted into the third tier of Spanish football, while four more will enter notoriously tricky playoffs, which both sides will be keen to avoid. Tickets sold out long in advance, as over 6,500 fans know that in an already highly impassioned rivalry, the stakes could not be higher. 

Sant Andreu have not beaten Europa in their home stadium in 17 years. They came within minutes of doing to at the back end of the 2023 season. Heading into the final moments of the game and with a lead, the quatribarrats looked to have control of the league leadership, but a last-minute equalizer for the escapulats ensured the draw that kept Europa top of the table.

That season, Europa won automatic promotion, but Sant Andreu were successful in the playoffs, defeating Salamanca in a rain-soaked epic. Both teams celebrated at the end of the campaign, but the rivalry and competition between the two sides only grew.

Growth and values, hand-in-hand

Sant Andreu have seen a 625% increase in the number of season ticket holders in the past five years. The team have increased from 670 members in 2020 to 4,857 by March 2025. 

Gerard Álvarez, spokesperson for the club, points to the tireless efforts club officials and fans have put in as the main driver of this growth. “The values ​​that this club represents define who we are; an anti-fascist, anti-racist, feminist, Catalanist, working class, and human rights-defending club,” he tells Catalan News. He calls the Narcís Sala stadium “the meeting point” for all sorts of different social entities and groups that hold these particular values and have love for the football club. 

“I’m not surprised by the increase because people who live this football get hooked, I’m proud of the growing numbers,” says Joanjo, a fan of the club who grew up supporting FC Barcelona all his life, but found a new footballing home in Sant Andreu in 2017. 

“My mother was very ill and a friend invited me to the UESA-Antequera playoff match and I loved the atmosphere of this local football. I became a member and discovered true faith,” he adds. “Going to watch a match with friends at an affordable price and having a few brotherly beers is priceless.”

“I used to be a Barça fan, but now I'm over them,” Joanjo explains. “That model of football where the fans don't count for anything doesn't represent me.” In the more intimate and personal environment of the Narcís Sala, he feels like his support makes a genuine difference to the club, and in turn, to the community. 

Social work

Whenever lower-league teams play against giants of Spanish football in the Copa del Rey, it’s common to see the smaller clubs cash in on the increased publicity that comes with it. But when Sant Andreu were drawn against Atletico Madrid in 2018, the Catalan side decided to take advantage of the occasion to highlight a pressing concern in society. 

Rather than wearing the sponsorship of a brand willing to pay a handsome fee on their shirt, Sant Andreu opted instead to wear the logo of Open Arms, the migrant refugee rescue ship. Soon after, the club were donating portions of replica jersey sales to the NGO, and continue to wear the emblem on their shirt up to this season. 

Before the pandemic, the club welcomed groups of locals and refugees recently arrived in Barcelona to take part in football games on mornings in the club's facilities as a way to help the new arrivals integrate into society and feel welcomed. 

“All this has made UE Sant Andreu what it is now, a club that, hand in hand with its people, has a bright future ahead,” Álvarez says. 

Results 

Values and atmosphere are one thing, but they’ve also been backed up by results on the pitch. “We’re living through one of the club's best sporting moments, with a historic promotion against Salamanca two seasons ago, reaching the playoffs last year, and now dreaming of winning the league this year,” Álvarez explains. 

It may be 17 years since Sant Andreu defeated Europa in a home game, but the away game earlier this season was one for the history books, with the ‘quatribarrats’ winning the game, played over the course of four weeks, with a final score of 4-6.

When Sant Andreu took a 3-5 lead shortly after the start of the second half, the visiting supporters were sent into raptures, resulting in the wall behind the goal separating them from the pitch collapsing. No serious injuries were reported but the game was suspended, with the final 42 minutes played behind closed doors a month later. 

This fixture was played in front of stunning tifo displays, non-stop chanting from both ends, tension you could cut with a knife, and at a dizzying pace that was tough to keep up with at times. 

Derby games between el Poble and la Vila have become essential viewing for sports fans in Catalonia. It’s been played in the 5th tier recently, now the 4th tier, and both teams are fighting to play it again in the third tier. Will they make it to the professional divisions of Spanish football?