Barcelona Dragons

World League of American Football (1991-1997)
NFL Europe (1998-2003)

Tombstone

Born: May 19, 1990 – WLAF founding franchise¹
Folded: Postseason 2003

First Game: March 24, 1991 (W 19-7 vs. New York-New Jersey Knights)
Last Game: June 7, 2003 (33-7 @ Rhein Fire)

World Bowl Champions: 1997

Stadia

1991-2002: Montjuic Stadium (54,000)²
Opened: 1929

2003: Miniestadi

Marketing

Team Colors: Dark Green, Scarlet & Gold³

Ownership

Owners:

1991-1992: Josep Figueras
1992: WLAF

Trophy Case

NFL Europe Offensive Most Valuable Player

1999: Lawrence Phillips
2001: Mike Green

World League Defensive Most Valuable Player

1992: Adrian Jones

NFL Europe Defensive Most Valuable Player

1998: Josh Taves
1999: Mike Maslowski

NFL Europe Coach of the Year

2001: Jack Bicknell

Background

The Barcelona Dragons were a founding franchise in the NFL-backed World League of American Football (1991-1992), which sought to serve as both a developmental league for the NFL and a marketing mechanism to extend the NFL brand into European markets. The original concept saw a mix of European (Barcelona, Frankfurt & London) franchises with North American franchises.

The NFL pulled the plug on the WLAF after two seasons in September 1992. But the league was re-organized as the Europe-only “World League” in 1995 and the Barcelona Dragons returned to action after a two-year hiatus. In 1998 the World League was re-branded as NFL Europe. The Dragons played nine seasons in the re-booted league before going out of business after the 2003 season.

World Bowls

All told, the Dragons played eleven seasons and made four trips to the World Bowl championship game. This included the WLAF’s first championship game on June 9th, 1991. The Dragons ended the league’s debut season with a whimper, bowing out 21-0 to the host London Monarchs before 61,108 spectators at Wembley Stadium.

On June 22, 1997, the Dragons captured their only World Bowl victory. Before an announced home crowd of 31,100 at Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic, quarterback Jon Kitna passed for 401 yards and 2 touchdowns to Barcelona over the Rhein Fire 38-24. Kitna, undrafted out of college in 1996, would make his first NFL start with the Seattle Seahawks six months later and go on to a 15-year NFL career.

Barcelona later lost World Bowl VII to the Frankfurt Galaxy (38-24) in 1999 and fell again World Bowl IX to the Berlin Thunder (24-17) in 2001.

Notable Names

Jon Kitna was Barcelona’s greatest success story in the desired purpose of the WLAF/NFL Europe’s operating as a developmental league. But the team also featured a number of other prominent American ex-college stars finishing out their playing days overseason.

Former Boston College head coach Jack Bicknell was the Dragons’ only head coach for their 11-year history. The team employed quite a few former Boston College Eagles over the years, including 1985 Outland Trophy winner Mike Ruth, who played for the 1991 and 1992 Dragons after his NFL career failed to pan out.

Other notable players included ex-Penn State defensive lineman Bruce Clark, the #4 overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft, who finished his career with Barcelona in 1991. Former Notre Dame quarterback Tony Rice, who led the Fighting Irish to the national championship in 1988, played for the Dragons in 1991 and 1992 but could not unseat ex-Rutgers signal caller Scott Erney for the starting job. Former Temple running back Paul Palmer, an NFL 1st round draft bust in 1987, played for the Dragons in 1991 and 1992.

Murder-for-Hire Conviction of Eric Naposki

The Dragons – and the World League’s – most notorious player was former UConn linebacker Eric Naposki. Naposki, who kicked around the NFL briefly in the late 1980’s as an undrafted free agent, was Barcelona’s leading tackler in 1991. He played the 1991 & 1992 seasons during the WLAF era and later returned to play for the Dragons again in 1996 and 1997. In 2012, a judge sentenced Naposki to life in prison without parole for the 15-year old murder-for-hire of Bill McLaughlin in Newport Beach, California in December 1994. The murder went unsolved for 15 years before Naposki and a female accomplice were arrested. Chillingly, Naposki continued to play for the Dragons for two seasons after committing the killing.