Published 2024-03-31 17.36
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BARCELONA. 33 league gold, 26 Copa del Rey and a whopping 22 Champions League titles.
FC Barcelona soccer team?
No, FC Barcelona Hoquei – The roller skating hockey team.
Sportbladet has been there and seen a league match with the club’s most successful section.
- FC Barcelona’s roller hockey team is the club’s most successful team. They have won 33 league titles, 26 Copa del Rey and 22 Champions League titles.
- This success contrasts with the club’s football team, which has “only” won five Champions League titles and 27 league titles.
- Roller hockey is a lesser known sport internationally but very popular in Catalonia, where FC Barcelona are based. It is an intense sport that requires a lot of skill and endurance.
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– So, you know it’s not on ice, right?
Even a press officer for Barcelona’s roller hockey team was evidently aware of the Swedes’ fascination with ice hockey, given that it was the above question that was initially asked when Sportbladet submitted its accreditation application for Monday’s league match against Parlem Calafell.
It should be said that FC Barcelona also has an ice hockey team. There are even Swedes who have played there.
But the ice hockey team has never come close to bringing as much attention and success to the association as the roller hockey team.
The form of roller skating that the Barça men play is four-wheeled – so not to be confused with inline hockey (which is all the more popular in the US and other parts of Europe). It is the same form of roller hockey that was featured as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Olympics, in Barcelona in particular.
And precisely FC Barcelona has been the best throughout the ages at that.
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fullscreen chevron-rightnextIgnacio Alabart, FC Barcelona
1 / 2Foto: Makoto Asahara
Showed off another trophy
When Sportbladet visits the Palau Blaugrana, home of the club’s basketball, handball and roller hockey teams, they proudly display the club’s recently won 26th Copa del Rey title before relegation. This to the tune of ‘Barça song‘. The Copa title is the latest of trophies to add to an already overflowing trophy cabinet. FC Barcelona’s football section – the world famous one – is actually not close overall, although they have more cup titles.
33 league titles in hockey compared to 27 in football.
But perhaps above all 22 (!) Champions League titles. The soccer team has “only” five.
Of course, the competition in a soccer European Cup is somewhat tougher than that in the roller hockey counterpart, where it has mainly been Portuguese representatives who have stood in the way of the Spaniards over the years. Likewise in the league where it is primarily a Catalan and Galician affair rather than a comprehensive Spanish one.
But the numbers still speak their clear and dominant language.
And the fact that the hockey on paper has more success than the football section? It’s something that Real Madrid fans in Spain can often sneer at in discussions with their footballing antagonists. Now what does it really have to do with football.
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1 / 2Foto: Makoto Asahara
Splattering goalkeepers
As I write this, midfielder (yes, they only have midfielders and forwards, no backs) Ignacio Alabart thumps it 1-0 for the home team. The audience, still quite large in number, reacts relatively restrained. Perhaps because this match doesn’t mean an awful lot, as Barça has already mathematically secured the regular season victory. However, they had a 54 league game unbeaten streak to take care of on Monday.
The sound of a stick hitting a puck… sorry, ball still reminds me of a Swedish ice rink. Likewise the sound of the same ball bouncing against the rim. At least if you close your eyes. But once you open your eyes, you quickly notice that this is something completely different from what we in Sweden call hockey. Helmetless to begin with. Constant four-on-four play, with very few substitutions. Plus two goalies at each end who mostly look like ungrateful sputtering helplessly as they are forced to try to save shots with a mitt instead of a picking glove. At the same time as they pound their clubs on the wooden floor a little at random (it’s certainly not at random, but Sportbladet’s emissary couldn’t figure out the timing of the club blows during two 25-minute halves).
“FC Barcelona is not just football”
When the aforementioned halves are over, it is 6-1 on the scoreboard and Ignacio Alabart has scored a hat-trick. The 55th straight league game without a loss was never in danger.
– Our team played a very good match. We were able to show the audience what we practiced during the week. Very happy for the victory and points, says the 27-year-old, La Masia-raised, match hero to Sportbladet.
A 55th straight league match without a loss thus secured. For a Barcelona well on its way to yet another title in the prize cupboard. And even more distance down to the football section in the title count.
What is the secret behind your success?
– The quality of the players, the management staff and everything. That’s the key. There is a lot of work behind what the audience gets to see. We will continue in that way to make people happy, win titles, represent the club. It’s nice that we can show that FC Barcelona is not just football. There is basketball, futsal, handball, hockey… There is much more in this association.
What is the best thing about the sport?
– It is a very intense sport but also very entertaining. No one can say that you would be bored on the field. That’s the coolest thing. No one gets bored watching either.
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1 / 2Foto: Makoto Asahara
“There is more skill here than in ice hockey”
No, in any case there was no room for the players to be lazy on the pitch.
Maybe I’m the one who thinks too much about ice hockey, but how do you manage to play with so few players and get changed?
– It’s tough. It is a very intense sport. Trying to stay on the pitch for 50 minutes is tough. When you’re younger, you’re used to playing two or three games in a row, but when you’re older, you still have to change. We usually drive eight to ten minutes per change, says Ignacio Alabart.
Have you ever tried ice hockey?
– No. But when I went to New York with my family when I was little, I went to an NHL store with my dad. I got to try the clubs and they were different. It’s something I’d still like to try. Although it is completely different.
But your hockey is tougher?
– Haha, yes, this is tougher. Here you can see more skill and quality of the players. But they are different sports. Both are interesting in their own way.
