Article updated: 17/10/2025
One of the benefits of developing this website is that you build an integral knowledge of exactly where a particular city is in Spain. This proves particularly useful when you avoid flying with a budget airline to Barcelona, as you will end up 65 miles to the southwest of the Catalan capital, between Tarragona and Reus. Still, if you do end up in southwest Catalunya, why not visit the other Camp Nou?
For over a century, CF Reus was one of the elder statesmen of football in Catalunya, having been founded in 1909. They started playing at the Velòdrom del Carrer Sant Joan, but moved to the Camp de la Carretera de Salou in 1913. In 1917, they joined forces with Club Velocipedista & SC Olimpia to form Reus Deportiu. A Year later, they joined the Catalan Football Federation and moved to the Camp del Carrer Aleixar in 1919. It was at the Camp del Aleixar that they won back-to-back Catalan Second Division titles in 1923 & 24. The football arm of the club moved to a new field on Calle de Gaudí in 1924, but progress was halted by the outbreak of the Civil War. In the 1940s, now named Reus Deportivo, the club reached the Tercera, but soon afterwards fell on hard times and, with finances tight, fell into the Catalan Regional leagues. In 1951, the sports club split into two separate entities, with Club de Fútbol Reus Deportivo, focused on football.
CF Reus spent much of the next three decades switching between the Tercera and the regional leagues, and in October 1977, the club opened the Camp Nou. Having reverted to the Catalan version of their name, CF Reus did experience a mini-bounce from moving to their new stadium. In the 1978-79 season, the club led the league for the majority of the season, but fell away in the final month, which allowed U.D. Vall d’Uixó and CF Badalona to claim promotion. A year later, FC Andorra pipped CF Reus to promotion by a single point. A first Tercera title arrived in 1981, which led to promotion to Segunda B for the first time. A comfortable fourteenth-place finish was achieved in 1981-82, but the following season proved to be a resounding failure, with the club finishing bottom of the table with just 17 points. 1984 saw the sale of the Camp Nou to the Municipality, and there followed 20 years of Tercera and regional football. Then, in 2002, out of the blue, CF Reus finished third in the Tercera and qualified for the play-offs to Segunda B. Here, they totally dominated the playoff group, which featured Villajoyosa, Atlético Baleares and Yeclano.
Hopes were high that this latest visit to Segunda B would last longer than the stay in the 1980s. Alas, whilst CF Reus battled hard throughout the 2002-03 season, an eighteenth-place finish was three points from safety. The club returned to the Tercera for two seasons before more success saw the club return to Segunda B after beating Constancia and Mar Menor in the playoffs. However, in the 2005-06 season, CF Reus served up some familiar fare; battling hard, but ultimately failing to avoid the drop. After six long seasons in the Tercera, CF Reus navigated their way through the playoffs, beating Universidad de Oviedo, Naxara and Comarca de Níjar to return to the third tier of Spanish football in 2011.
After five seasons of improving results, CF Reus topped Group III of Segunda B in the 2015-16 season, then beat Racing Santander 4-0 over two legs to earn promotion to La Segunda. However, after two respectable mid-table finishes in 2016-17 & 2017-18, their dream turned sour. The start of the 2018-19 season was played against a backdrop of financial uncertainty, with players & staff going unpaid for months on end. On 18 January 2019, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional suspended CF Reus from competing. Ten days later, the club was expelled from the competition for three years (and therefore relegated) and fined €250,000 due to the non-payment of players’ salaries. The club had accumulated debts of €452,000 in unpaid salaries, and their place in the 2019-20 Segunda B competition was taken by FC Andorra, after they paid the bond, which cleared the debt. It took until October 2020 for CF Reus to be wound up, after the club’s owners failed to present a plan to pay off the debts, which were estimated to be in the region of €9 million.
Unsurprisingly, the Camp Nou in Reus is at the opposite end of the scale when compared to its more illustrious namesake 65 miles up the coast. The stadium’s official opening took place on 12 October 1977, when CF Reus lost 0-1 to FC Barcelona. With a capacity of 4,700, the main feature is the west Tribuna, although it looks more like a health centre than a sports centre from the outside of the ground. Inside, however, it is rather neat & orderly. Dating from 2004, the high, white cantilevered roof replaced a rather rickety propped cover that resembled the canopy of a burger van. The back tier of the stand was also replaced, and it now features 8 rows of multicoloured seats and impressive media facilities. The lower tier of six rows of seats extends around the pitch, narrowing to four rows behind each goal. The east side has an elevated second tier, curiously separated into four boxes, behind which are training facilities.
This story has a happy ending, however. In the summer of 2021, CF Reddis, traditionally the second strongest club in Reus, entered into a partnership with the youth branch of CF Reus Deportiu, choosing the name Reus FC Reddis. In addition, they switched to red and black as their main colours, whilst using their traditional blue & white stripes as their changed kit. CF Reddis has played at the Estadi Municipal de Reus since it opened in 1977, and between 2010 & 2015, served as CF Reus’ reserve side. Three promotions in four seasons, including the Tercera title in June 2024, saw Reus FC Reddis reach the Segunda Federación.
Estadios de España 