Europa preparing for Girona in Catalan Cup final, but their president's dream doesn't end there
In Gracia, a trendy area not far from the centre Barcelona, looming in the shadows of their big league rivals, Club Esportiu Europa are hatching a plan. Just around the corner from Antoni Gaudi's Park Güell lies Nou Sardenya, the club’s 7,000 capacity stadium, where attention is turning to yet another Catalan Cup final against Girona at the end of March.
Steeped in history, Europa work in more modest settings than they used to. They currently sit third in the Catalan section of Tercera, the fourth-tier of Spanish football, and are hopeful of securing a playoff spot for the third year running. Their 0-0 draw at home to AE Prat last weekend means they have remained unbeaten since November.
The cup final may be just around the corner, but the ball is rolling on something much bigger at this once great club.
Along with the stellar names of Catalan football, FC Barcelona and Espanyol, Europa were founding fathers of La Liga in 1929, 22 years after their own inauguration, having qualified as Kings Cup runners-up during the previous season. Their manager in the years prior had been an Englishman, Ralph Kirby, who left the club in 1924 before returning to the helm six years later after spells at Barcelona and Athletic Club de Bilbao.
Over the next few decades, Europa had a turbulent time. In 1931, after relegation to the second division, they briefly merged with Gracia FC to become Catalunya FC. Financial problems followed, as did an inevitable second relegation, to their current league, Tercera.
By the 1980s, they were Europa again and their fortunes looked to be on the up as they returned to Segunda, but the next big chapter in their history wasn’t written until 1997.
They clinched the first of consecutive Copa Catalunya titles with victory in the final over Bobby Robson’s Barcelona, a team spearheaded by arguably the greatest Bulgarian footballer ever, Hristo Stoichkov. Europa triumphed 3-1. A year later they repeated the feat, but this time needing penalties to get past Louis van Gaal’s team following a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Now, 17 years later, they are preparing for a push for a third crown. They face FC Girona, themselves chasing promotion to La Liga, on March 25 at Nou Sardenya, their home. In the quarter-final, Europa eased past a depleted Barcelona B team with a 3-0 win, after beating Espanyol B earlier in the competition, to set up a semi-final with Sabadell, which they again won 3-0.
Their president is Guillaume de Bode, a Dutchman and former national schoolboy footballer. He now runs an administration business having arrived in Catalonia 28 years ago.
His family owned a house on the Costa Brava and he spent a lot of his childhood in the area on holiday when he wasn’t studying at home in Maastrict, a small town on the Holland-Belgium border. His infatuation with Europa began in the 1990s, but he took the reigns in 2003.
“I always had an interest for Europa, it came because of the name," remembers de Bode. “In 1997 and 1998, I became a big fan of the club because they won the Catalan Cup. My son was playing football as a goalkeeper for Barcelona, and there was interest from Espanyol. Because of a friend we had at Europa, he started playing here until he was 19. At that time I became involved, I brought some sponsors and then in 2003 (I became president).
De Bode recounts watching the famous Catalan Cup victories on television with a smile. That smile grows when he talks of the pride of leading Europa back to within touching distance of glory.
“It’s like a cycle. I see the people so happy that we play the cup final and for me it’s very nice to see. It’s a big fiesta for Catalan football, but also our players and all the people involved. It’s nice for us to have this opportunity to play the cup final here, in our stadium.”
In the club’s main meeting room, surrounded by photos, trophies, scarves and footballs commemorating their decorated history, de Bode reaches for a pencil and some paper. He quickly, and very loosely, sketches a map of Holland and signals, with a circle, his hometown, Maastrict. There is a small Europa fan club based there and they are hoping to make the journey to Barcelona for the final.
Most people will probably tell you that FC Barcelona’s, and Spain’s, entire recent history is thanks to a Dutchman, Johan Cruyff, and asked if he had learnt anything from him and applied it to Europa, de Bode sits back and ponders his own footballing philosophy.
“I grew up with the Dutch philosophy of football, 4-3-3," he says. ”I played in Holland and in the 1980s I always thought the people [in Spain] had forgot to find their own way of playing. You could identify British football, the Italian style, German also. The only country that was not organised was Spain.
“The influence of Cruyff, first as a player in the 70s and then as coach, was very important because he put his own style on Barcelona. Spanish football really copied that influence.
“Here in the club, for five years we have had the same coach and that is important and maybe in that way I have my own style. Before, every year they were changing the coach and now one of the reasons for success is this stability. We have to be realistic, we are a small club now, we have a big history, but you can’t live in the past."
There are no professionals on the playing or coaching staff at Europa. Coach Pedro Dolera works as a director of a bank agency, some players are at university, others in insurance companies, hospitals and sports shops.
De Bode admits his sadness, at times, for the people at the club, whom he says deserve more credit for their work than they get and he was glad to see them rewarded with a place against Girona.
“I was happy for the players and the coach because sometimes I don’t think people appreciate the time and all the things they do. The success is not always equal to all the work they do and that sometimes makes me sad to see supporters don’t see the work. They train, but some are studying and others are working.”
Training is four times a week and de Bode makes sure every team up and down the youth system, all 1,400 players, are learning the same playing style, much like their more illustrious neighbours.
“My philosophy is, if you want success, you need to make a team. The strategy is for the long term," he continues.
"We introduced this 4-3-3 system. All the teams who play 11-a-side, from 13 years old, it’s all 4-3-3 and have the same mentality now. When I go to other grounds, I hear what people say, they recognise the players and the coach and say it is a team who wants to play football."
For a moment, there is a pause. De Bode thinks about the cup run and his favourite games, which served as confirmation of his ideology working perfectly.
“Against Barcelona, it was one of the best 45 minutes I have seen in many years," he beams. "Not just for our club, but others at this level. The people sitting near me were looking and saying ‘this is unbelievable’, but the same thing happened against Sabadell. They were saying ‘how is it possible that Europa plays like this?’”
De Bode is a man who believes stability and time are the key to success, and he has big plans for Europa. He is a realist, so hasn’t set his sights on dining on the La Liga table again, but he feels promotion to Segunda A is a reasonable goal, and the club is a collective, not just 11 players on one pitch.
“We have a very big structure involving the 1,400 players we have and two football grounds to manage," he said as he continued to scribble with his pencil and paper. “We don’t think only about the first team, for us the success of the club is the school, the social aspect and the first team.
“We want to be playing in Segunda A. We have to be clear with what we want with the club. Our goal must be Segunda A, it is the only way to have economic stability.”
The biggest day in years is coming for Europa, but the world doesn’t stop spinning. Guillaume de Bode’s plan for the club is much deeper than a third Catalan Cup win, but it would certainly be a fantastic start to a great journey.
