The Damm Football Club has already found its definitive home. That idea that a group of company workers had 70 years ago materializes today in a sports city at the foot of Montjuïc, with 30,000 square meters dedicated to youth football. "This is unique in all of Spain; in the world, I don't know, because it's very big," said its president, Ramon Agenjo, accompanied by his granddaughter, sixth generation of the Damm family, who was in charge of making the honorary kick-off, as her grandmother, Josefina Bosch Damm, did in 1954 at the club's first match. These new facilities with which Damm reinforces its commitment to sport, the origin of its foundation, confirming that a brewing company can also say that of més que un club.
At the inauguration ceremony of the sports city was, precisely, the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, a temporary neighbor of CF Damm, accompanied by colleagues such as the CEO of Espanyol, Mao Ye Wu. Also attending were the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. As it was not to be forgotten that they were on a field, not everything was suits, with the exception of the businessman and philanthropist Sergi Ferrer-Salat with a Free Palestine t-shirt, and congratulations were heard from football idols such as Pep Guardiola, Vicente del Bosque, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, also giving way to new promises such as Javi Puado and Dani Olmo. But, without a doubt, the one who always manages to arouse passions is Leo Messi. Even if it was only a few-second video, as soon as he appeared on screen, a murmur of "ohhh" filled the stadium.
The club's new sports city stands on the space previously occupied by the old Golf Montjuïc, in the heart of the Marina neighborhood, with the Calatrava Tower in the background. Unused for years, Damm acquired the land for three million euros from Club Natació Montjuïc in early 2021. "Go ahead Ramon, buy the land. It will always be a source of pride for us," Agenjo recalled that the company's executive president, Demetrio Carceller Arce, told him, who, for his part, assured that maintaining CF Damm was the only personal commitment he made when he assumed the leadership of the company 30 years ago. "Now I can say: mission accomplished," Carceller Arce remarked.
Thus began to become a reality the project of having its own headquarters in which to concentrate in a single space all the club's needs, not only a football field and its stands but also its almost one hundred workers, including directors, technical team, staff and medical services. "Now we are all together. It was our dream because we are a family," defended Agenjo, recently appointed president of Barcelona Global. "We have more identity as a club," said the coach of the women's youth team, Ana Barbancho.
In addition, they have achieved something even more improbable, staying within the same Catalan capital, after having been looking for locations within a 30-kilometer radius. Finding that space has allowed to reinforce the sporting identity that the Olympic Games gave to Montjuïc, also updated with the temporary relocation of Barça. For Collboni, this "mountain of culture and sport" is enhanced by Damm's commitment and will also be enhanced by the improvement actions in which the city council is working, accompanied by the expansion of the MNAC ---with its director Pepe Serra present at the inauguration of the sports city--- and the renovation of the Fira de Barcelona pavilions.
With a budgeted investment of between three and four million euros, as was said when the project was announced, the works for the headquarters of the Damm Football Club began at the end of 2022. The facilities consist of two 11-a-side football fields ---one can be divided into two 7-a-side football fields---, and two buildings. The main building houses the club's offices, medical services, a gym, a study room, a laundry and the changing rooms of the main field. In the second, located between the two fields, are the second changing rooms, a catering area and the stands, with capacity for up to 550 spectators. The Barcelona architecture studios Max de Cusa and Hiha Studio designed the complex.
Until settling in Montjuïc, the club had been changing fields. CF Damm played its first matches on the disappeared grounds of La Ferroviaria, in Sant Andreu, and on the Alevín field, in La Meridiana, very close to the current Pegaso park. Later, in the 1980s, the brewers bought the Aeda field, popularly known as La Selva field, in Nou Barris. They stayed there until 2012, when they moved to the Horta Municipal Sports Center and, years later, to the CEM Vall d'Hebron-Teixonera.
A great youth academy
If authorities began occupying the field this Monday, shortly after, the players of Damm Football Club's Juvenil A, both the men's and women's teams, took over, playing two friendly matches against Barça and Espanyol on the inaugural day. However, the first brewers to step on this grass were the players of the men's Juvenil A, protagonists of the first training session at the sports city at the end of July. Since then, activity has been accelerating in facilities that are overcoming the first matches of the new season.
The inaugural day ended with two friendly matches between the players of Damm Football Club's Juvenil A, both the men's and women's teams, against Barça and EspanyolMore than 200 male and female players were part of CF Damm last season, in which the men's Infantil B, Alevín B, and Alevín C teams became league champions. Historically, the club has a total of 156 titles, 35 leagues, and more than 20 cups. But these are not the only titles managed in a club that, primarily, is a very good youth academy, with all players under 19 years old and a scholarship that covers the costs of sports practice. In the 2023-2024 season, a total of 26 male players and 2 female players ceased to bebrewersto join professional teams, moves that add to the 220 professionals who have done so in previous years, destined for Barça, Espanyol, Real Madrid or Girona. Names likeDavid López,Marc Casadó, Joan Garcia,Gerard MorenoorEdu Expósito, but alsoMaria PérezandIrina Uribe, have passed through its ranks.
With some departures that are never easy, the training entity faces the new season with the creation of the second women's team, a field in which the club still has a lot of ground to cover until all pending categories are completed. The Women's Juvenil A was born in 2014 and its players became champions of the League and the Copa de Catalunya in 2019. Now, they will be accompanied by the Women's Juvenil B, which will start competing in Second Division.