History of Madrid CC

The Club was originally formed back in 1975 by a group comprised of English and Indians. Soon after other nationalities joined the club.

  • Madrid CC was the only cricket club in Spain until 1982 when Barcelona CC was formed.
  • In 1982 we saw the first game between the two sides. Madrid CC was disbanded in the early 1990’s due to internal issues and some key members moving abroad.
  • In April 2001 Thomas Fryer put an advert in the InMadrid English language newspaper asking if there was anyone in Madrid interested in playing cricket. Alex King and Jonathan Woodward answered the advert and the three players started training in a basketball court using tennis balls and a kit bag as a wicket.
  • During the months of May, June and July 2001 about another 10 people joined in and we fast ran out of room for a basketball court and, obviously wanted to play proper cricket. Therefore a search began for a ground in Madrid. Making the club more formal Tom Fryer became the President of the first committee to run Madrid CC. In April 2002 Madrid CC had a new home at The British Council School. It was just an artificial surface football pitch but was just what the club needed in order to grow.
  • In 2002 Madrid CC toured for the first time, visiting Sporting Alfaz CC on the East Coast of Spain.
  • In 2003 Madrid CC formed its first youth program, attended by an average of 16 children every week. The children were mainly from ex pat families but it was a good start to what should be the future of cricket in Spain.
  • In 2006 Luv Sayal became President of the Club.
  • In 2007 David Leonida was voted in as President of the club.
  • In 2007 Madrid CC hosted its first Annual Solidarity T20 Cricket Tournament here in Madrid. The tournament took place on two rugby pitches in the Complutense University and was played by the Pakistan Embassy, the British Embassy, the Bangladesh Embassy and a team from The Rest of The World. The event raised over 2000€ for UNICEF.
  • On the 5th May 2007 Madrid CC played its first Spanish League match against Mojacar. New to the league, Madrid CC were the underdogs but scraped their first win of many in emphatic style with Jonathan Woodward (31 not out) hitting the winning runs in a last wicket stand with Nadeem Alvi. The win buoyed Madrid CC into winning their following 4 games and taking them into the finals of the league. Madrid CC beat Javea CC in the Semi Final with Jonathan Woodward hitting a four to reach the required total in a 9th wicket stand with Manuel Fernandez to reach the final. We lost the final against Sporting Alfaz, the team we first played in our history 6 years earlier.
  • In 2008 the ICC awarded Madrid CC a European award for its work on the tournament in 2007.
  • In 2008 Madrid CC again reach the finals of the Spanish League.
  • In 2009 Madrid CC found a new ground to train at in the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Alcorcon, Madrid. This proved to be a great move. The Club grew at an enormous rate going from 23 members to 43 in one year.
  • 2009 also saw Madrid CC’s Second Annual Solidarity T20 Cricket Tournament. This time we held it in La Manga Club Resort with two full size cricket grounds and 8 teams. The teams came from all over Europe, including England, Holland, Spain and Norway. Farokh Engineer also attended the event as a celebrity guest and was a huge hit.
  • In August 2009 Jonathan Woodward took over as President of Madrid CC when David Leonida had to stand down for personal reasons.
  • Jonathan Woodward was then Re-elected President for the 2010 season
  • The 3rd Madrid CC Annual Solidarity T20 Cricket Tournament in 2010 saw a waiting list of 24 teams. 3 international players from Holland also played with the Dutch National Champions – Excelsior CC – The tournament was very nearly cancelled when 6 of the teams coming from abroad had their flights affected by the volcanic ash cloud coming from Iceland!
  • Madrid CC purchase a bowling machine and new kit with monies raised from the T20 tournament.
  • The 4th Madrid CC Annual T20 Solidarity Cricket Tournament in 2011 was held with teams from Estonia, England, The Canary Islands and Mainland Spain.
  • Due to the huge numbers of new players a group made up of Pakistani players left Madrid CC to form a new club they have called Madrid Utd CC. This was the first of 4 new clubs formed in 2010. Madrid CC, undeterred by the leaving players still went ahead with plans for a second team and put the Madrid CC 2nd’s into the Division 2 League for the first time.
  • Jonathan Woodward re-elected as President of Madrid CC for the 2011 season.
  • Madrid CC purchase a new Flicx Pitch with monies raised from the T20 tournament.
  • In 2011 Madrid CC managed to reintroduce the Youth program with great success. With an average of 24 children taking part each week the future looks bright for Madrid CC. But the most encouraging sign of all is that 50% of these children are Spanish.
  • In 2012 Madrid CC hosted its 5th Annual Solidarity T20 Cricket Tournament. This time we ran a netball tournament alongside the cricket one. It was small with 4 participating sides but was a huge success. The tournament doubled the best ever fund raising effort of any previous event!
  • In 2013 Jonathan Woodward was re-elected President Madrid CC, and has been ever since.