Cathedral City

Club de Fútbol Cathedral City, commonly known as Cathedral City, Catedral or the Cats, was a professional football club based in El din, Marquez, and played in the CMSC.

Founded in 1933 as the result of a merger between several of the major English-speaking teams in El din; the area surrounding the club’s Thirteenth Street home became ever more hispanophone as the wealthier Anglo population moved to the suburbs, and in time the team became universally known as Catedral, comprised almost solely of Hispanic players, and the stadium as La Decimotercia, because Marquezian Spanish is a law unto itself. Despite attracting some of the largest attendances in the country, Cathedral City struggled throughout the NFBL and early CMSC periods. During the final years of the former, the club shared top-flight status with Sports of El din (the new name of old city rivals Recreativo) and franchise side the El din Giants, leading to fiercely contested clásicos; but the local player base was spread too thinly for any of the city’s clubs to mount a title challenge.

Catedral became renowned for their failure to win major silverware despite their still sizeable support, though during the early years of the CMSC they could boast a third-place league finish in season X and a distant second-place in XVII as part of a Marquezian one-two-three behind the all-Hispanic Castillo FC and mostly so Marquez-Onwere; Catedral once again becoming standard-bearers for the Anglo population on-field despite their support base. Later, the club was forced out of its long-time home after the ground failed top-flight safety checks, and a reluctant ground share with the El din Marbles – the latest incarnation of Recreativo – followed.

Though able to move into their new home, La Neuva Decimotercia, Cathedral City spent much of the International Era as a mid-table club at best, with one of several sojourns in the CMSC2 giving them, in XXXV, a first significant title by topping the second division table. Prior to this however, the Cats had for a time enjoyed a breakthrough period under Charlie Cunningham, winning few friends with their industrial style of play but placing third in XXVIII’s Apertura stage in a hugely congested race for the Champions’ Cup places behind runaway leaders Albrecht FC. Catedral ultimately produced a stunning run to the leading UICA competition’s semi-finals and followed it up the following season with a top-four league finish, powered by the combination up front of troubled former wonderkid Jason Federici and Kura-Pellandi boxer-turned-targetman Teddy Ozi-Meyer, and the defensive partnership of C&M stars Caleb Christmas and Enrique Silva de Aviz.

Internal strife cost the club dearly thereafter. Owner Nigel Morilla sacked Cunningham after a weak start and hired Luís Enrique Torrealba, but the former coach soon hit back in the press. Accusations of financial impropriety led to an ultimately fruitless police investigation, but the club thereafter was placed in the hands of a fans consortium. On-field the ship was steadied despite the arrest of Federici for cocaine possession and curb crawling, but the club was soon reliant on free signings and youth team products. The latter served them well enough for a time, but El din’s well of talent was increasingly being monopolised by the Marbles, now billionaire-owned and clearly the city’s leading club.

In their final seasons under Fran Russell, Catedral once again attempted to reinvent themselves as standard-bearers for Hispanic Marquez, as well as targeting players from Aguazul, Valladares and other Spanish-speaking countries. It served them adequately, before everything in Candelariasian football went kaboom or, if you must, kabum.

Notable CMSC1 International Era players
Goalkeepers
 * Danny Evans
 * Leon Fluck
 * Adeliz Giménez
 * Erika Larreneta Ibanez

Defenders
 * Harry Bradley
 * Caleb Christmas
 * Miguel Ángel Cortés
 * Alex Duxbury
 * Pablo Estévez
 * Sebastián Ferreira
 * Terry Hall
 * Demario Ortiz
 * Thoma Oseku
 * Courtney Poole
 * Enrique Silva de Aviz
 * Leon Tiller

Midfielders
 * Nate Adams
 * Morgan Banz
 * Nicole Delara
 * Francis Doyle
 * Danny Evans
 * Johnathan Filmar
 * Kurt Folgueira
 * Emilio Guaman
 * Jordan Hawker
 * Sirahiej Karatkevich
 * Blagojce Makedonski
 * Ilga NorthWalker
 * Evan Pallotta
 * Zachary Pinkowski
 * Armando Rivas
 * Alfonso Yeboah

Forwards
 * Calvin Castillo
 * Marcel de Winter
 * Jason Federici
 * Greg Innisvale
 * Jatobá
 * Teddy Ozi-Mayer
 * Jamie Rawlinson
 * Ricardo Luis Solaris