First games The Catalonia team made their debut in 1905. In its early years, it primarily played matches against club sides, including
Club Espanyol,
Madrid CF,
FC Barcelona and
Irún Sporting Club. On 24 July 1910, the team played its first international match against a Paris XI, losing 1-3. Catalonia's goal in that match was scored by
Carles Comamala. The lineup for the match was Costa,
Bru, Halden,
Massana,
Aguirreche,
Sampere,
Barenys, Angoso,
Berdié, Comamala, and Roteta. On 20 February 1912, Catalonia played its first official international friendly against
France, losing 7–0 in
Paris. The Catalonia team consisted of
Reñé,
Irízar,
Amechazurra, German,
Peris,
Kinké,
Forns,
Pepe Rodríguez,
Comamala,
Morales, and Ramirez. The two sides met again on 1 December 1912, in
Barcelona, where Catalonia secured a 1–0 victory, with the winning goal scored by
Genaro de la Riva of
RCD Espanyol. On 8 December 1912, Catalonia faced a selection of foreign players at the
Camp de la Indústria in a benefit match for the
Sindicat de Periodistes. The Catalan side won 5–2, with goals scored by
Massana (two),
Comamala,
Forns, and an own goal by
Wallace. The foreign team's goals were scored by Wallace and Stewart. Catalonia's lineup for the match was Renyé, Amechazurra, Irízar, A. Massana, Sagnier,
Quirante, Armet-Kinké,
A. Comamala, C. Comamala, Janer, and Forns, while the foreign selection comprised Manchan, Braussendorf,
Wallace,
Rositzky,
Greenwell,
Morris,
Allack, Kaiser,
Steel, Stewart, and McLean. In 1914, the Catalan XI played the
Basque Country XI for the first time, although no record of the result survived. The first recorded match between the two sides took place on 3 January 1915 at
San Mamés Stadium and ended in a 6–1 defeat for Catalonia.
Copa Príncep d'Astúries Between 1915 and 1926, the Catalan XI competed in the
Copa Príncep d'Astúries, an inter-regional competition. They finished as runners-up in 1915 and won for the first time in 1916, beating a
Castile/Madrid XI 8–5 over two games, including a shocking 6–3 win in the first leg at the
Campo de O'Donnell in
Madrid. They then relinquished the trophy in 1917 after losing 2–0 to a weak Castile XI side. During the 1920s, a team featuring
Josep Samitier,
Paulino Alcántara,
Sagibarba and
Ricardo Zamora helped the Catalan XI win the competition in
1924 and
1926. In the quarter-finals of the former, Catalonia defeated a
Gipuzkoa XI featuring
René Petit by a score of 2–1, and then beat
Biscay XI 1–0 in the semi-finals with the solitary goal being scored by
Cristóbal Martí. The
final was played on 24 February 1924 in
San Mamés against a
Castile/Madrid XI, and the game was a tremendously competitive clash, with back-and-forth drama on the scoreboard, but at the end of regulation time the match was tied at 3–3 with Samitier (twice) and
Piera scoring the Catalan goals. In extra-time
Juan Monjardín appeared to have won the game for the Castile/Madrid XI when he scored past Zamora, but with two minutes remaining
Emili Sagi-Barba leveled the scores at 4–4 when no one was expecting it anymore, and the draw forced a replay two days later and this time Catalonia ended up winning 3–2 with goals from
Carulla, Samitier and Piera, thus becoming champion. As well as playing other regional teams from throughout
Spain and
Europe, the 1920s also saw the Catalan XI play several international friendly matches. On 13 March 1924, at the
Camp de Les Corts, the Catalan XI played
Spain for the first time. The Spain XI included Josep Samitier and Zamora, two of the best Catalan players of the era, while the Catalan XI featured Alcántara and Sagibarba. Samiter scored twice to help Spain to a 7–0 win. On 13 December 1925, Samitier, Zamora, Alcántara and Sagibarba were on the same side as the Catalan XI beat
Czechoslovakia at the
Estadi de Sarrià. After conceding a penalty and going down 1–0, Sagibarba then equalized with another penalty before Samitier clinched a 2–1 win. On 7 July 1926, the Catalan XI played Czechoslovakia in
Prague. Despite Samitier putting the Catalans 1–0 ahead, they eventually lost 2–1.
Catalonia vs. Brazil During the 1930s, Catalonia continued playing friendly games against an array of teams; 1934 was a particularly good year. On 2 February, they played Spain and lost 2–0 at Les Corts. Four months later, they played Brazil twice. On 17 June, the Catalan XI beat Brazil 2–1 at Les Corts and then on 24 June, they held them to a 2–2 draw at the Vista Alegre in
Girona. The Brazil team had been in Europe to play in the official
1934 FIFA World Cup and included the legendary
Leônidas in their team. The Catalan XI completed a good month when on June 29 they beat the reigning official
La Liga champions,
Athletic Bilbao, 5–1.
The Franco era After the
Spanish Civil War,
caudillo Francisco Franco imposed several restrictions on
Catalonia, abolishing the
Generalitat de Catalunya and banning the official use of the
Catalan language and the
Catalan flag. Despite these restrictions, the Catalan XI continued to play regularly during this period and even played Spain twice. On 19 October 1947, at the Sarrià and with a team featuring
Juan Velasco,
Marià Gonzalvo,
Joan Segarra and
César, they beat Spain 3–1. On 9 August 1953, Spain avenged this defeat with a 6–0 win. During this era, several notable Barcelona players, including the Spanish players
László Kubala,
Luis Suárez,
Evaristo and later
Chus Pereda, played for the Catalan XI. On 26 January 1955, in a friendly game against
Bologna at Les Corts, Kubala was also joined by another guest player,
Alfredo Di Stéfano. The Catalan XI won 6–2 with two goals from Kubala and one from Di Stéfano. On 1 September 1956, Di Stéfano returned to Les Corts with Real Madrid, recent winners of the first official
European Cup, and played a
Selecció de Barcelona. Real won the game 7–3. The Catalan XI marked the end of the Franco era with a friendly game against the
Soviet Union at the
Camp Nou on 6 June 1976. The team included
Carles Rexach, guest
Netherlands players
Johan Cruyff and
Johan Neeskens and
Chilean international Carlos Caszely who played for
Espanyol. The game finished 1–1 with Neeskens scoring for the Catalan XI. Cruyff's son,
Jordi, would subsequently play regularly for the Catalan XI.
Democratic era at the Camp Nou Since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s, the Catalonia representative team has regularly played international friendly matches. They put together a string of successful results against countries like
Bulgaria,
Nigeria,
Yugoslavia,
Lithuania and
Chile. On 5 May 2002, Catalonia hosted Brazil in a warm up friendly game before the official
2002 World Cup. Brazil, who went on to win the official competition, beat Catalonia 3–1. In 2004, Brazil returned for a second friendly game and this time won 5–2 at the
Camp Nou, where some months later Argentina defeated Catalonia 3–0. The last friendly matches have been against
Paraguay,
Costa Rica, Basque Country, Argentina and
Colombia.
Johan Cruyff era On 2 November 2009, it was announced that Dutch legend and former Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff would be the new coach of Catalonia. On 22 December 2009, they played a friendly against Argentina, which ended in a Catalonia win, 4–2 at Camp Nou. On 28 December 2010, Catalonia played another friendly against
Honduras winning 4–0 at
Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. On 30 December 2011, Catalonia played
Tunisia in a goalless draw at the Lluís Companys. In their last game under Cruyff, on 2 January 2013, Catalonia drew with Nigeria at the
Cornellà-El Prat, 1–1.
Post-Cruyff era Former player
Gerard was appointed new coach for the Catalan team for two years. His first match with the team took place on 30 December 2013 against
Cape Verde at the Olímpic Lluís Companys. ==Fixtures and results==