Taking roots: UD Barbadás
The Galician side will celebrate its silver jubilee playing an historic Copa del Rey match against Real Valladolid
Barbadás is a sleeper town that grows next to Ourense, one of the most important cities and provinces of Galicia along with Pontevedra, Vigo and La Coruña. It has a population of around 12.000 people, many of them young, and is known for its gothic chapels and churches.
Its club is UD Barbadás, who compete in the Spanish sixth division and will face a LaLiga team for the first time in its history. They play in Os Carrís, a 400 seat stadium with synthetic turf near a river and a park where there are logs carved in the shape of animals. The side will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2023 and counts in its ranks one of Spain’s most handsome men, according to the Mr. Spain beauty contest.
Born of a fusion
In the late ‘90s the two villages of the Barbadás council, Parada and Piñor, were represented by one team. Its name was Agrupación Deportiva Parada Piñor, who competed in the eight Spanish division and trained in A Chaira, a dirt football field. The club was starting to decline, so their board members decided to reach an agreement with a local school of sports to merge and continue its activity. José Manuel Fernández was one of the architects of this union and, as a result, UD Barbadás was born in 1998.
The Galician side started at the bottom, but in its first five years of existence they managed to climb two divisions. In the 2012/13 season the team got promoted to Tercera Federación, the fifth Spanish tier, and survived there until the 2017/18 campaign. “Our biggest achievement as a club until the Copa del Rey fixture were the seven years competing in Tercera Federación”, says José Manuel Fernández, ex-chairman of the club. “We played against recognized teams like SD Compostela, RC Celta Vigo “B”, Pontevedra CF or Racing Ferrol”.
In the last four seasons, UD Barbadás have been flirting with the top of the sixth division table but failed to achieve promotion. At the moment, that is the goal pursued by every member of the club, who also have a long term dream in mind: produce players from the academy who could play for the first team or in the best leagues in the future.
“Only a few footballers from our province are in the top divisions. It would be a dream seeing a player come out of our academy, reach elite football and remember us” comments José Manuel Fernández.
A new generation is coming
Almost 25 years after its creation, the team is evolving as the town does. Barbadás is a place where lots of young people live and there wasn’t much interest in local football until the last years, when the kids who were born in the area have started to be UD Barbadás supporters.
In 2020 Pablo Campelo took over the reins of the club succeeding José Manuel Fernández, who was in charge for 23 years. Its mission was to adapt to the changing times and encourage young people from the village to be involved with the team. Those targets are being achieved thanks to the work board members are doing in the club’s youth academy, where more than 250 children play football.
“Pablo turned this around, he changed the club for the better. Every game we can see more people wearing their blue shirts on the stands, and fans are really excited about the Copa del Rey game”, comments José Manuel Fernández.
All eyes are on the goal
Nobody in the club is a football professional, but one of its players could have a career in the modeling world. Borja Atanes, the team’s goalkeeper, was selected as the third most handsome guy in Spain. He competed in the most recent Mr. Spain contest, which took place in Barcelona on June. He represented the province of Ourense and came third in a competition in which 49 people took part.
“At home, we saw that there was a contest to be elected as Mr. Ourense and my family encouraged me to participate” says the keeper, who studies a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education in the University of Vigo. “I had to send photos and my social media profiles to the jury, and they chose me”.
I was the face of a local shop’s marketing campaign, but today I earn nothing with modeling”, says Atanes, who keeps alive his dream of going pro: “I still would love to be a professional footballer. I have been playing since I was 6 and I would love my family to be able to switch on the TV and watch me playing in the best divisions. I am growing up and as time goes by it gets more complicated, but hope is the last thing you lose”.
Moving home
On 19th of October, UD Barbadás managed to win 2-1 against the Asturian side Atlético Lugones to go through the first round of Copa del Rey. The game was played in Os Carrís, a stadium where unfortunately the local team won´t compete against Real Valladolid. The reasons are that the pitch doesn’t meet all the requirements regarding lighting, separation of stands from the field, accessibility and medical facilities.
As a result, the match will be held in the O Couto stadium, home of the Unión Deportiva Ourense and Ourense CF. It is just seven kilometers away from Barbadás, so going there won’t be a problem for the supporters who don’t want to miss such an historic game.
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“Being selfish, we preferred to play in Os Carrís. But we understand the desire of LaLiga clubs, who want to compete in the best possible pitch” argues José Manuel Fernández, founder of the club. “O Couto is a historic stadium, and despite being under renovation, we will have a better attendance”.
Loyal to UD Barbadás
In recent years, the performance of the team in the league and the desire to return to Tercera Federación has fanned the flame among the people of the village. This excitement was sown before the game against Atlético Lugones with a colorful reception to the players. The fans used flares and drums to create a unique atmosphere in the town.
“Barça and Madrid always get more attention, that’s clear. But for those of us who live 200 meters away from the ground, UD Barbadás is our priority” says Iker Gabeiras, proud supporter of the club. “It’s a way to switch off from the week and we have a lot of fun watching and cheering our warriors”.
This love to the team is also represented with an odd fact, as the group of UD Barbadás fans send a community manager to away games with one mission: upload a video every ten minutes on Instagram to report on what is happening on the grass.
For the Copa del Rey match, the excitement in the town was growing around the possibility of not only watching their players facing LaLiga footballers but the presence of Ronaldo Nazario in the skybox. The former Brazilian star, considered as one of the best strikers in football history, owns Real Valladolid since 2018. Unfortunately, he won’t go to O Couto this Saturday (kick off is at 3 pm) due to his busy schedule.
Despite this, fans and members of the club are now focusing on the game and their chances of making a splash in the first round of Copa del Rey:
“It’s very satisfying to face Real Valladolid in an official match. Anything can happen in football, we have a small chance of going through. We are aware of that, but we want the game to be a celebration for our fans and players, as we will surely never have this kind of event again” explains José Manuel Fernández.
“Why can’t we win? We know it’s vital to avoid conceding as long as possible and give them a scare” says Iker Gabeiras, who also knows how they would celebrate the victory: “If we win, we would invade the dressing room and go to Ourense to celebrate as this weekend is the Magosto festival.”
Beyond the more than likely defeat against a team who are five division above them, every person related to UD Barbadás agree that they are proud of its club because of their humility and ability to make people feel at home.
UD Barbadás represents everything a town club means: a name in the community, excitement about football and an escape from the problems of everyday life. This weekend, they will experience their most glamourous date, but the most important thing won’t be the final result but the sense of belonging that the match will awaken in its fans.
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