Barcelona B

1970s: Beginnings

Women's football in Spain, particularly Barcelona, had a certain level of popularity in the 1960s, but was amateur, unofficial and technically banned. The "embryo" of Barcelona Femení was the Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, formed in November 1970. In at least as early as the 1960s, FC Barcelona had women's teams play in exhibition games at the Camp Nou; the club does not consider these as antecedents to its current women's team as they "[were] teams that had been created only for that occasion, unlike Selecció Ciutat [de Barcelona], which was created with the idea of continuity and laying the groundwork for a future project." Upon Barcelona announcing Selecció Barcelona as its new women's team, El Noticiero Universal reported that the club had almost pioneered women's football in Spain "many years earlier", having gone so far as to organise a game that could not be played for reasons beyond their control.

The team was created after footballer Immaculada Cabecerán approached the club with the proposition in November 1970; the resulting team has continuity to the present. The Selecció Barcelona played their first match on Christmas Day 1970, winning on penalties against Unió Esportiva Centelles in front of a crowd of around 60,000 people. Although the team was not officially part of the club structure, it was the first match played by a women's team formally associated with FC Barcelona (then known as CF Barcelona). The women's team then changed its name to Penya Femenina Barça (Peña Femenina Barcelonista) in early 1971, quickly becoming very popular, and played more matches at the Camp Nou with large crowds. PF Barcelona wore the club's blaugrana strip from 1971, without the crest. They were runner-up in the first cup competition in Catalonia, in 1971, before winning the Catalonia-based league in 1973.

The initial strength of women's football in Spain was flagging by 1975, and by September 1977 there was no longer a women's league in Catalonia, with the idea of one also considered somewhat unrealistic. In February 1977, P.F. Barcelona had to publish a call for players in the Revista Barcelonista, with the magazine suggesting there was a crisis in lack of players. It promoted the team as a way to "keep in shape" and look good, rather than emphasising sport. During the down period of the late 1970s, Barcelona was one of the large teams that continued playing, including against women's teams from leagues in other countries. Maria Teresa Andreu, president of P.F. Barcelona at the time, felt that FC Barcelona respected the team, with the club supporting and involving them. A Catalan women's league was established again by the 1978–79 season, with a concurrent cup competition in which P.F. Barcelona Atlético finished as runners-up after losing the final on penalties, before P.F. Barcelona was second in the league in 1979–80.

1981–1988: Lliga catalana and rivalry with Barcilona

The Spanish Football Federation (then FEF, now RFEF) formally recognised women's football in 1980 and in 1981 approved for a women's football department of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) to create the Women's Catalan Football League, of which Barcelona was a founding member. In the 1982–83 season, the team took former player and advocate Núria Llansà as coach, and changed its name. Andreu suggested the team be called Club Femenino/Femení (CF) Barcelona, to be closer to the name of the men's team, with this change made official before the 1983 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol; they were still sometimes known as Penya Femenina Barcelona later in the decade, and were not an official section of FC Barcelona. How the women's team was run had caused a splinter group to leave and form the independent team Penya Barcelonista Barcilona in 1981, led by former Barcelona players Francina and Vicenta Pubill i Font. In terms of titles, Barcilona was much more successful than Barcelona in the 1980s, though the two were considered the teams to beat within Catalan women's football and "fought to the death" in the league. Other top Catalan teams at the time were derbi femení rivals Espanyol and another independent team, Vallès Occidental. Barcelona won its first official competition – the Copa Generalitat/Copa Catalana, a predecessor to the Copa Catalunya — by defeating Barcilona and Vallès Occidental in 1985.