Jordi Alba cited after Badalona tunnel outburst

Jordi Alba was cited in the referee’s report after CE L’Hospitalet’s 0-2 home defeat to CF Badalona in the first leg of the Catalan promotion playoff to Spain’s Segunda Federación on May 17, according to the official match record and a report published by Marca. The incident was recorded during a temporary stoppage late in the match, after the officiating crew reported that objects had been thrown from the stands and one water bottle struck assistant referee No. 1 in the back. The match resumed after five minutes and finished without further crowd incidents, the referee’s account said. Marca reported on May 22 that Alba was identified in the report as delivering the insults in the tunnel during that stoppage. ### What exactly does the referee’s report say happened in the tunnel? The referee’s report, as quoted by Marca, said the confrontation came “during the temporary suspension” as the officials entered the tunnel to the dressing rooms. The report identified the speaker as “Jordi Alba Ramos” and said he moved to within half a meter of the referee before addressing the officiating team in abusive terms. Marca quoted the language as: “sois unos chulos y unos sinvergüenzas. (fcf.cat) Sois unos hijos de p... Sois lamentables los cuatro.” Marca also reported that the same document cited Javier de San Nicolás, identified as CE L’Hospitalet’s sporting director, for telling the officials: “es una puta verguenza. Sois muy malos.” The report said the delegates of both teams reviewed the contents of the match report without objections, according to Marca’s account of the document. (marca.com) ### Why had the match been stopped in the first place? The official FCF match page lists the game as CE L’Hospitalet against CF Badalona, played on May 17 at 12:30 p.m., with Badalona winning 2-0 in the first leg of the playoff tie. The referee named on the official acta page was Xavier Montava Baqué, with Eric Garcia Sanchez and Albert Sans Lopez as assistants and Joan Canós Martínez as fourth official. (marca.com) Marca’s reproduction of the report said the stoppage came in the 85th minute after a local supporter threw a water bottle that hit assistant referee No. 1 in the back, and two other local supporters threw lighters in his direction. The referee then ordered both teams to the dressing rooms, instructed the local delegate to make a public-address warning, and restarted the match after five minutes, Marca reported. (fcf.cat) ### Was Alba there as a player, an executive or something else? Marca described Alba as “uno de los propietarios” of the club involved in the incident. A separate Mundo Deportivo report on May 22 described Alba as “uno de los propietarios de L’Hospitalet,” not Badalona, in its account of the same episode. The official FCF acta for the match lists no Jordi Alba among Badalona’s players or technical staff. (marca.com) CF Badalona’s own transparency and shareholder pages state that the club has three majority shareholders and three minority shareholders, but the site excerpts available through search do not name them individually. On the material available publicly through those club pages, Reuters could not independently confirm Alba as a Badalona owner. ### Where does the confusion over the club identity come from? (marca.com) Marca’s article referred to Alba as a Badalona owner in its headline and opening description, but the quoted section of the referee’s report shown in the same article identified him as “propietario del C.E. Hospitalet.” Mundo Deportivo also described Alba as an owner of L’Hospitalet in its report on the incident. Those two descriptions point to a discrepancy between the news write-up and the wording attributed to the match report. (cfbadalona.net) The official FCF acta page confirms only the fixture, result, venue and match officials. It does not display the disciplinary narrative section in the snippet available through search, so the full wording of the report could not be independently read on the federation page from the material retrieved. ### What happens next in the disciplinary process? (marca.com) The Federació Catalana de Futbol maintains a sanctions page for the 2025-26 “Play Off Ascens a Segona Federació” competition. That page is the federation’s public venue for listing disciplinary measures tied to the playoff competition, though the search snippet retrieved did not show a ruling tied to this incident. (fcf.cat) As of Saturday, May 23, the next concrete step is a disciplinary publication, if any, on that FCF sanctions page or in a competition ruling tied to the May 17 playoff match between CE L’Hospitalet and CF Badalona. (fcf.cat)