The lowdown on RCD Mallorca
FC Barcelona visit RCD Mallorca this Tuesday at 7pm CET, so here’s the lowdown on the host club.
WHERE ARE THEY FROM?
The Mediterranean island of Mallorca, visited by some 28 million mainly sun-seeking tourists every year, needs little introduction. The football club are based in the capital, Palma de Mallorca, with its wonderful cathedral and old town.
HISTORY
Founded in 1916 as Alfonso XIII Foot-Ball Club, the first of many first division appearances for what is now called Real Club Deportivo Mallorca came in 1960. But they would not be a regular feature until they spent 16 seasons among the elite from 1997 to 2013, including their proudest hour of all, winning the Copa del Rey in 2003, with two goals in the final against Huelva scored by a man who would later be a legend at Barça, Samuel Eto’o.
In 2017, they dropped down to the third tier Division 2B, but the recovery has been spectacular. Two years later and they were back with the big boys, and although they were immediately relegated they bounced straight back up in 2021 and have held onto their place ever since, and also reached the cup final again last season, missing out on the title to Athletic Club.
THE STADIUM
The 26,000 capacity Estadi de Son Moix, which replaced the former Estadi Lluís Sitjar in 1999, is the largest in the islands. There has been talk in recent years of plans to raise the capacity to the region of 40,000, but at least for the time being they are on hold.
HEAD TO HEAD
Back in the 1999-2000 season, Mallorca beat Barça both home and away, but in 33 league meetings since then, Barça have only lost to the islanders three times (and twice at home), although all of those were late season encounters without too much left to play for.
The blaugrana dominance in recent seasons has been stronger than ever. Barça have won 11 of the last 12 games, the only blip coming at San Moix last season, when it took a Fermin Lopez goal 15 minutes from time to snatch a 2-2 draw.
The game at the Estado Olimpic was a close one too, Lamine Yamal scoring the only goal, and a tremendous one it was, in a 1-0 win for Barça.
Last five meetings (all La Liga)
08/03/24 Barça 1-0 Mallorca
26/09/23 Mallorca 2-2 Barça
28/05/23 Barça 3-0 Mallorca
01/10/22 Mallorca 0-1 Barça
01/05/22 Barça 2-1 Mallorca
FORM GUIDE
Mallorca have not played European football since 2004, but the way their season has gone so far, they could well be competing around the continent in 2025/26. Having put a slow start to the campaign behind them to climb up to what is currently an impressive sixth in the table.
But they have achieved that in somewhat erratic fashion, with some extraordinarily tight encounters. In fact, to date Mallorca have neither won nor lost a single game by a margin of more than one goal.
Since the international break, they first won 3-2 away to the same side that then went on to win away to Barça, Las Palmas, and at the weekend saw off struggling Valencia 2-1.
THE PLAYERS
Most capped internationals
Cyle Larin (Canada 78), Vedat Muriqi (Kosovo 58), Takuma Asano (Japan 53), Johan Mojica (Colombia 36), Martin Valjent (Slovakia 12), Omar Mascarell (Equatorial Guinea 5)
Barça connections
Right back Mateu Morey is from Mallorca but from 2015–19 he was part of La Masia and featured in the squad that won the 2017–18 UEFA Youth League. He left for Borussia Dortmund, and returned to his home island this season.
Fellow full-back Valery Fernández was also a La Masia resident for a while in his youth, but he made his name at Girona, from where he is currently on loan.
THE BOSS
With Javier Aguirre now preparing the Mexican national team for the 2026 World Cup, the Basque Jagoba Arrasate is now in charge of Mallorca. Never a player at the highest level, he started out in coaching at Real Sociedad, eventually managing the first team. From there, he took jobs at Numancia and then Osasuna, who he guided not only back into the top flight but also into Europe.