User:League Octopus/sandbox - Fútbol Club L'Escala

Fútbol Club L'Escala is a Spanish football club based in L'Escala in the comarca of the Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. The club's first team plays in the Tercera Catalana having been relegated from the Segona Catalana at the end of the 2011-12 season.

The club is normally known as FC L'Escala or L'Escala FC but in the past has also been called CF La Escala.

History
It is generally acknowledged that FC L'Escala was founded in 1912 when football became established in this Costa Brava resort. However the Llibre d’Or del Futbol Català (Golden Book of Catalan Football) published in 1928 indicates that the club was founded in May 1921 (probably the date the club was first affiliated with the Catalan Football Federation). Another publication, Escala Costa Brava, provides the date 15 March 1922.

For the 1922-23 season the club participated for the first time in the Third Division (Tercera Categoria) of the Catalan football championship and completed eight consecutive seasons at this level until the end of the 1929-30 season. Third tier Catalan football was of significance at a time before Spanish Primera División was established in 1929 and the Spanish football league system began to evolve. For those eight seasons FC L'Escala were playing just two tiers below FC Barcelona who participated in the Primera Categoria of the Catalan football championship.

In more recent years over the last decade FC L'Escala has competed in Segona Catalana known as Primera Territorial (Level 6) but this sequence came to an end with relegation at the end of the 2011-12 season and they now participate in Tercera Catalana (Level 7). The club's best season during this period was in 2001-02 when they won Group 1 of the Segona Catalana but failed to progess via the promotion playoffs to the Primera Catalana (Level 5). In 2002-03 the club reached the fourth round of the Copa Catalunya before going down 3-1 at home to UE Figueres.

The most famous player to have donned the club's colours was José Puig Puig who played for FC L'Escala in 1939-40 before moving on to Girona FC and FC Barcelona where he made 178 appearances and represented the Spanish national team on 3 occasions. In more recent times the club has made a number of unusual signings including Martín Prest, the Argentinian striker, who previously played for Airdrieonians, Ross County and Raith Rovers. Three other South Americans joined the club in 2007, Cesar Alberto Castro (Venezuela), David Meza (Paraguay) and Roberto Fabian Sanchez Doldan (Paraguay), before all three then moved on to the Greek Super League club Atromitos.

FC L'Escala use the Nou Camp Municipal which was built in 1999 and comprises a 2,500 capacity enclosed modern stadium with a stand, standing areas and floodlights and all weather surface. The ground is located near the outskirts of the town and the main concrete stand runs along the west side of the pitch. There is a second all weather pitch immediately to the north which helps serve the clubs youth development sides. Improvements to infrastructure are continuing to take place and new changing rooms have been provided costing 275,000 euros (175,000 euros contributed by the City of L'Escala and 100,000 euros by the Council of Girona). Further improvements are envisaged including additional seating and improved pitches.

The fact that the club is located in an attractive Costa Bravan resort is reflected in their popularity as a venue for prestige pre-season friendlies against higher league opposition. In July and August 2012 the club hosted fixtures against Girona FC and CE Sabadell from the Segunda División (tier 2). In July 2011 the club played FC Barcelona B, another Segunda División side, going down 0-8 before 2,000 spectators. Photographic evidence from the past shows another home match against FC Barcelona, this time at different ground with a large number of spectators in attendance.

Season to Season
The most successful period of FC L'Escala was in the 8 seasons from 1922 to 1930 when the club competed in the third tier of the Catalan football championship:

For many seasons FC L'Escala has competed in the Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in Catalonia in tiers 6 or 7:

Notable former players

 * 🇪🇸 José Puig Puig
 * 🇦🇷 Martín Prest
 * 🇻🇪 Cesar Alberto Castro
 * 🇵🇾 David Meza
 * 🇵🇾 Roberto Fabian Sanchez Doldan