The U.S. tour that 'saved' Barcelona - and why only half their squad came back (2024)

One of the most decisive chapters in Barcelona’s history had its conclusion in New York City — although the story, until this weekend, has spent many years in relative obscurity.

It takes us back to 1937, and to a Spain that had been plunged into civil war after the right-wing military coup which would lead to decades of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco.

All national domestic football was suspended. One of Franco’s soldiers killed Barca president Josep Sunol, an important political figure who had travelled to visit troops at a front near Madrid. In the provinces of Catalonia and Valencia, a Mediterranean League was organised in which Barca took part. But the following year, Franco’s progress in the conflict left Catalonia isolated from the rest of the Republican zone, and a second Mediterranean League season was not possible.

Barca found themselves with financial problems. With no competition to feature in, they were heavily in debt and their membership dropped from 7,719 to 2,500. An overseas tour was organised in the hope of raising much-needed funds. They were headed for Mexico.

“Barca received several offers to come and play from Mexico’s president, Lazaro Cardenas,” FC Barcelona historian Frederic Porta tells The Athletic.

“The first two or three offers were rejected over a lack of guarantees (of how much Barca would earn) but Cardenas insisted and through Manuel Mas Serrano, a businessman who had played baseball for Barca in previous years, he got the club to think again.

“It is important to remember that Cardenas was president of the only democracy that was loyal and allied to the Second Spanish Republic, which was in danger.”

On 6 August 1936, 88 years ago today, Josep Sunyol i Garriga, unanimously appointed president of FC Barcelona a year earlier, was shot by fascist troops in the Sierra de Guadarrama. His tragic death was the prelude to one of most troubled eras in club history… pic.twitter.com/d3ipaB8Cex

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 6, 2024

Sixteen Barca players were accompanied by their Irish coach Patrick O’Connell, who, according to Porta, had returned home after the outbreak of the civil war. The expedition was led by members of the ‘staff committee’ such as Rossend Calvet, and also included the masseur Angel Mur and logistics manager Modesto Amoros.

The journey to Central America was not an easy one. It began on May 18, 1937, and there was early danger in the trip heading north towards the French port city of Saint-Nazaire. They went by train and, when they were about to arrive in the northern Spanish town of Portbou, near the French border, fascist warplanes carrying out a bombing meant they had to take shelter in a tunnel for several hours.

From France, they went by boat to Mexico. Arriving on June 8, they received a warm welcome and celebrated as ambassadors of the Republican cause.

“May the stay of the Catalan footballers erase the impression of tragedy and mourning that they bring from their afflicted homeland, and may Mexican football reap the benefits that this visit will bring them,” wrote a local newspaper.

Barca began their trip with a 2-0 defeat by Club America before victories over Atlante (2-1), Real Club Espana (5-4) and Club Necaxa (4-2 and 2-1). They suffered a 5-1 loss to Asturias before beating America 3-2 in a rematch but lost both their games against the Mexican national team (5-2 and 3-1).

On August 28, the tour came to an end with a 7-2 win over Cidosa. Or at least, that was supposed to be the end.

“The tour is going to be extended by four more games, but sit down because you are going to New York,” Mas told Calvet on the phone, according to the author Enric Calpena’s version of events in his book, En Guerra.

However, some historians say the decision to extend the tour was taken in mid-July, after the first five matches, because they could not find boat tickets back home. Others say they stayed as their families told them not to return — not only because of the situation back home but also due to them earning more money than in Barcelona, where they had to accept significant salary cuts because of the war.

Barca set off for the United States, but one member of the group stayed behind in Mexico. Marti Ventolra had fallen in love with the niece of Mexico’s president. They were to be married and Ventolra eventually settled in the country — their son Jose would go on to play for Mexico at the 1970 World Cup.

According to Calpena’s book, the New York trip, which was Barca’s first time in the city, was paid for by friends and supporters there. Although their welcome was not as warm as in Mexico — football was less popular in the United States — Barca were once again seen as ambassadors of the anti-fascist resistance.

Some historians reflect accounts of the players being moved by the sight of the Statue of Liberty when they arrived, linking it to the situation back home and wondering what the consequences of a fascist victory might be when they returned.

Their first match was on September 6, beating Brooklyn Hispano 4-2 at Commercial Field in Brooklyn. They then won 4-3 against a side described on Barca’s website as “the New York team”, before also beating another outfit described as “the American Soccer League” in a 2-0 victory. The tour ended with a 3-0 win over a “Jewish Community soccer team”.

The tour made a profit of 461,799 Spanish pesetas. It is difficult to gauge that sum’s equivalent contemporary value — estimates range from €1million (£858,000; $1.1m) to up to 10 times that. Either way, it more than covered the club’s debts of 200,000 Spanish pesetas. The money was carefully deposited into a bank in Paris so that it would not be intercepted by Franco.

According to Porta, a “spy” going by the name of Esteve Pedrol had been following Barca’s tour. “He passed information about all their activities back to Franco’s government in Burgos,” the historian says.

The tour lasted over three months, and it saved Barca financially. Without it, the club would not have been able to shake off its debts, let alone guarantee its continuity. But of the 16 players who went, nine did not return. Their families had encouraged them to stay away because of the critical situation in the country and in Catalonia. Some, such as Ventolra, settled in Mexico, others in France.

With Barca currently on tour in the United States again (they play the final match of their trip in Baltimore on Tuesday evening, facing AC Milan), last Sunday a commemorative event was held in Brooklyn, at the site where Barca played their first-ever games on U.S. soil. Now called Hamilton Metz Field, it has been converted into a training ground where children’s teams play.

Attended by local children who held up pictures of Barca’s 1937 squad, as well as Barcelona club president Joan Laporta and New York City mayor Eric Adams, it was a fitting memorial to a remarkable time in Barca’s history, with the event organised as part of the club’s celebrations of its founding almost 125 years ago, on November 29, 1899.

(Top photo: FC Barcelona)

Before joining The Athletic as a football writer, Laia Cervelló worked at Diario Sport reporting on FC Barcelona for four years. She has also worked for another four years for BeIN SPORTS Spain and GOLTV. She began her career as a journalist at 'betevé', the public television station in Barcelona, where she spent almost nine years.