FC Barcelona

Barcelona
Full name	Futbol Club Barcelona
Short name	FCB
Founded	29 November 1899
Ground	Camp Nou
Capacity	99,786
President	Josep Maria Bartomeu
Head coach	Luis Enrique
Assistant coach	Juan Carlos Unzué
League	La Liga
Last season	2014–15
Website	http://www.fcbarcelona.com/

Futbol Club Barcelona, also known as Barcelona, and informally referred to as Barça, is a Spanish football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Established in 1899 by a group of young foreigners in Barcelona, the club's formation was the product of a developing interest in football, and other British sports, across the European continent. These roots have embedded Barcelona's intercultural identity, multi-sport focus, and allegiance to Barcelona and Catalonia. Today, the club is a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). Contradictory to many other football clubs, Barcelona is owned and operated by supporters. It is the second most valuable sporting team in the world, worth $3.2 billion, and the world's fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover amounting to €484.6 million.

Domestically, Barcelona has won 23 La Liga, 27 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona has won five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, four UEFA Super Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a shared record two FIFA Club World Cup trophies.

Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, and has the largest social media following of any sports team in the world. Barcelona's players have won a record number of Ballon d'Or awards (10), as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards (7). In 2010, the club created history when three players who came through its youth academy (Messi, Iniesta and Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world in the FIFA Ballon d'Or awards, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football school.

Barcelona was one of the founding members of La Liga, the top tier in Spanish football. Since the Liga's inauguration, Barcelona, along with Atletico Bilbao and Real Madrid, have never been relegated from the top division. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, completing the sextuple in also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In 2011, the club became European champions again and won five trophies. This Barcelona team, which reached a record six consecutive Champions League semi-finals and won 14 trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time. In June 2015, Barcelona became the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twice.

History

1899—1909: Foundation and Survival

The founding members of FC Barcelona.
© The official FC Barcelona website

In 1898, Hans Gamper, a Swiss native, moved to Barcelona for professional reasons. Leisurely, he played football with a group of friends in Bonanova, sparking his interest in the potential formation of a team.

In October 1899, Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended — Walter Wild (the first director of the club) and Otto Kunzle from Switzerland, John and William Parsons from England, Otto Maier from Germany, and Lluís d’Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol and Josep Llobet from Catalonia — and Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born.

The club's first coat of arms.
© The official FC Barcelona website

Gamper was a sports lover — a former athlete, cyclist, football and rugby player — who saw sport as a means of exalting the human spirit. He aimed to create an organization open to the everyone, regardless of their ancestry. He envisaged a club that served as a means of social integration, and he created a democratic society governed by its associates. As a sign of his gratitude to Catalonia, the country that had welcomed him, Gamper imbued FC Barcelona with the essence that has come to define it ever since: its commitment to Catalan identity.

In 1899, the first kit was fashioned, featuring the colors blue and claret. The first shirt was half blue and half claret, the sleeves were opposite colors, and the shorts were white. One of the many theories explaining the origin of the kit colors — blue and scarlet — is that Gamper wanted to honor the Basel team, where he had played before moving to Catalonia. To this day, Barcelona shirts consist of the colors blue and claret.

During a period of less than ten years, Barcelona moved between four different grounds. Their difficulty in finding a permanent ground was due to economic instability and lack of acreage at a time when the city was undergoing urban expansion. Between 1899 and 1900, the former cycle track grounds at Bonanova (today, Turó Park) were Barcelona's home premises. Between 1900 and 1901, the Hotel Casanovas grounds (today, Hospital de Sant Pau) were used.

The Copa Macaya was Barcelona's first official title.
© The official FC Barcelona website

1901 to 1905 marked the use of the Carretera d’Horta grounds, and between 1905 and 1909 Barcelona called the Carrer de Muntaner grounds home.

In 1902, Barcelona won their first official title at the Copa Macaya. This tournament was the precursor to the Catalan Football Championship and was initiated by Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, after he announced his intention to organize a competition between Catalan teams. Hispania won the first edition, but the following year Barcelona stole the title without losing a single match. They also participated in the first Copa del Rey, losing 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final.

1909—1919: Revitalization

Joan Gamper — Barcelona's veteran club president.

Kamper — now known as Joan Gamper — became club president in 1908, finding the club in financial difficulty after not winning a competition since the Campionat de Catalunya in 1905. At the time, 38 members of the club were ready to abandon it. Club president on five separate occasions between 1908 and 1925, he spent 25 years in total at the helm. One of his fundamental accomplishments was ensuring Barça acquired its own stadium and thus generated a stable income.

This marked a new stage in the club's history, which consolidated it within the football panorama and social milieu of the city and country. A number of different circumstances helped revitalize the club at such a time, including an increase in membership and the acquisition of the Club's own football grounds for the first time.

Camp de la Indústria — Barcelona's first home stadium.
© The official FC Barcelona website

On 14 March 1909 the team moved into the Camp de la Indústria, a stadium with a capacity of 6,000. To celebrate their new surroundings, the club conducted a logo contest the following year. Carles Comamala won the contest, and his suggestion became the crest that the club has retained to this day. Barça fans associate this grounds with the origin of the nickname "culers" (literally "arse-people"), used to refer to supporters of FC Barcelona. Far from offensive, the nickname instead refers to fans seated in the highest row of the stadium. From outside, people walking past could only identify their backsides.

A range of sporting sporting successes and growing recognition accorded to players saw football develop into a mass phenomenon, turning it into a professional sport. This contributed to Barcelona's rapid growth; the number of members increased from 201 in 1909 to 2,973 in less than ten years.

During these years Barça laid down solid foundations in order to define the type of football club it wanted to be. This took it beyond the original dream of the group of friends that had founded it in 1899; the Club was here to stay.

From the inaugural year in 1910 to 1913, the club won a series of titles. This included the Spanish Cup (King's Cup) and four consecutive Pyrenees Cups. The aforementioned efforts in the Pyrenees Cup were particularly outstanding due to the competitive nature of the competition and its prestige. Only the finest teams of Languedoc, Midi and Aquitaine (Southern France), the Basque Country and Catalonia were invited to contend. The players who defeated Madrid in the Spanish Cup were hailed heroes, and naturally when they returned to Barcelona, celebrations were held. The team were greeted at Passeig de Gràcia station, with the crowd following them to the building where the celebration dinner was held. The Canaletes drinks stand, in the center of Barcelona, became the site where football results were announced. Fans have congregated here ever since to celebrate Barça's successes.

Paulino Alcántara — the man considered to be Barcelona's first star player.

In 1912, Paulino Alcántara, from the Philippines, played his debut season aged just 15. He is, without a doubt, Barça’s first star player and the Club’s top goalscorer. He scored a staggering 369 goals in 357 matches, representing an impressive average of one goal per match.

On 4 February 1917, the club held its first testimonial match honor Ramón Torralba, who played for fifteen years between 1913 and 1928. The match was against local side Terrassa: Barcelona won 6–2.

Ramón Torralba, a man best remembered for his lengthy career at Barça.
© The official FC Barcelona website

The 1909–10 season marked the beginning of Barcelona’s dominance in the Catalan Football Championships, which lasted until 1922. Impressive results ensured Barça clenched the title an astonishing eight times.

1919—1930: A Golden Age

Ricardo Zamora — FC Barcelona's legendary goalkeeper.
© The official FC Barcelona website

In 1919, Barcelona's legendary goalkeeper, Ricardo Zamora, made his debut in the infamous squad coached by Jack Greenwell. Despite only being with the club three seasons before moving to rivals Real Madrid, Zamora's performances made sure he left his mark on the team. Zamora was later nicknamed "el Diví" (The Divine One) due to his impossible saves.

Josep Samitier — FC Barcelona's legendary forward.
© The official FC Barcelona website

Alongside Zamora, Josep Samitier also debuted for the Blaugrana. Considered one of the most emblematic players in the history of FC Barcelona and the best forward in Europe at that time, Samitier lead a formidable Barça into a Golden Age that would last throughout the 1920s. He was affectionately nicknamed "home llagosta" (Lobster Man) due to his on-field acrobatics. He became the first idol of Catalan football, later acquiring 454 appearances and 333 goals throughout his time at Barcelona.

In 1922, 20,000 Barcelona fans helped finance a new stadium, which upon completion would become one of the best football grounds of the time. Camp de Les Corts was designed by Santiago Mestres and Josep Alemany and had an initial capacity of 22,000, however, excessive enlargements tripled this capacity to 60,000 by the 1940s. Its cost originally totaled 991,984.05 pesetas.

Jack Greenwell, a former Barcelona player himself, was recruited as the first full-manager in the club's history.

President Joan Gamper recruited Jack Greenwell as the first full-manager in Barcelona's history. After this hiring, the club's fortunes began to improve on the field. During the Gamper-led era, Barcelona won eleven Campeonato de Cataluña, six Copa del Rey and four Pyrenees Cups, sparking the Golden Age.

On 8 December 1924, FC Barcelona celebrated its 25th birthday with two matches against Real Unión de Irun at Les Corts football grounds.

On 14 June 1925, in a spontaneous reaction against Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, the crowd in Camp de Les Corts jeered the Royal March. As a reprisal, the ground was closed for six months and Gamper was forced to relinquish the presidency of the club.

The most significant victory of the decade was the Spanish Cup win in 1928.
© The official FC Barcelona website

The Blaugrana's most significant victory of the decade came in the form of the 1928 Spanish Cup. At the final, which took place in Santander, Barça beat Real Sociedad 3–1, after the first two matches ended in a draw. Barcelona's publicity rose as the celebrations ensuring included victory broadcasts on radios across the Spanish nation.

On 12 February 1929, a new competition began: the League. In only a few years, this competition would become the championship par excellence of Spanish football. It lasted four-and-half months and FC Barcelona was the first champion with twenty-five points, two more than Real Madrid, which finished in second place. This victory was not met with great enthusiasm at the time, as the League was thought of as an inferior competition.

1930—1939: Facing Affliction

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Club's employees were faced with the threat of having FC Barcelona taken from them, prompting them to make an important committee decision that ultimately saved the organisation. The committee demonstrated its firm resolve not to break away from its pre-war leadership.

The 1930s were marked by political instability and general crisis, which inevitably took its toll on FC Barcelona. During this decade, the club endured copious tragic events, including the death of its founder, the Second Spanish Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the assassination of its president, Josep Suñol. In essence, it was a period characterized by ambiguity, which saw a reduction in membership and the cancellation of some players' contracts.

Joan Gamper's coffin being carried throughout the streets.
© The official FC Barcelona website

In 1930, two years after Barcelona's great victory at the Spanish Cup, Joan Gamper committed suicide after a period of depression brought on by personal and financial problems. The club's founder had been a dynamic businessman and sportsman, responsible for the creation and development of a unique football club, yet he had died aged only 52. The demise of Barça's founder was a bad omen for the years to follow.

Without Gamper, the club embarked upon a period that saw public life become increasingly politicized. During the 1930s, the populace showed more interest in political affairs than it did in football matches. In July 1935, the new president Josep Suñol i Garriga made it clear that he believed in political ideals based on Catalan nationalism. Using the motto "Sport and Citizenship", he emphasized the association between society and sport.

Barcelona won four Catalan League titles throughout the decade.
© The official FC Barcelona website

FC Barcelona entered a period of decline where success at a national level continued to evade them. Attendance at matches dropped as the citizens of Barcelona were preoccupied with discussing political matters. However, despite deficiency at a national level, Barcelona achieved success competing in the Catalan League Championship, winning the 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938 editions.

With Suñol as president, the Club's economy underwent modest development and Barça embarked upon a new sporting policy with the purchase of promising players. The war, however, was a massive setback to the team's seemingly brighter future.

A month after the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, several Barcelona players enlisted in the ranks of those who fought against the military uprising, along with players from Athletic Bilbao.

Josep Suñol — Barcelona's new president.

During the Civil War, President Josep Suñol was a member of parliament for the ERC (left wing party in favour of Catalan independence) in Madrid. Suñol traveled to parliament from Valencia where he had gone on behalf of Joan Casanovas, the president of the Parliament of Catalonia. On 6 August 1936, Josep Suñol was shot dead by Francoist forces. He was dubbed the martyr of barcelonisme, and his murder was a defining moment in the history of FC Barcelona and Catalan identity. At one of the most troublesome times ever experienced by Catalonia or Spain, the club was left without a president in the midst of a revolution.

During the 1936–37 season, the Catalan Football Federation hosted a tournament, the Mediterranean League, in which six Catalan and four Valencian teams played. The competition was held due to the cancellation of the League tournament for reasons concerning the war. FC Barcelona became the Mediterranean League champions. Since 1939, no team has held such a title as the competition was abolished by a decree following General Franco's victory.

© The official FC Barcelona website

In the summer of 1937, to escape the war and, at the same time, obtain funds for the organisation’s lamentable finances, the Barça squad toured the United States and Mexico. The tour led to the financial security of the club, but also resulted in half of the team seeking asylum in Mexico and France, making it harder for the remaining team to contest for trophies. They were received in Mexico as ambassadors of democracy and liberty.

On 16 March 1938, Barcelona came under aerial bombardment from the Italian Air Force, resulting in 3000 deaths. A few months later, Catalonia came under occupation, and as a symbol of the "undisciplined" Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, faced a number of restrictions. All signs of regional nationalism, including language, flag and other signs of separatism were banned throughout Spain. The Catalan flag was outlawed and the club were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures compelled the club to change its name to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and to eliminate the Catalan flag from its crest.

Club rivalries

El Clásico

Main article: El Clásico

El derbi Barceloní

Main article: El derbi Barceloní

Finances and ownership

In 2010, Forbes evaluated Barcelona's worth to be around €752 million (USD $1 billion), ranking them fourth after Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Arsenal, based on figures from the 2008–09 season.

Values

"FC Barcelona is more than a club in Catalonia because it is the sports club that most represents the country and is also one of its greatest ambassadors."

• Respect
• Effort
• Ambition
• Teamwork
• Humility

Respect for others is one of the basic requirements of democratic life and the capacity to live in society. It affects the individual and has both a social and a collective dimension. Respect is a fundamental part of sport, for sport generates situations of tension that have to be resolved almost instantaneously. There is therefore a need, above rules and standards, for this value to be present in order to guarantee cordial and correct interrelations between people. In sport, respect is needed in similar situations to those where it is demanded in wider society, but the intensity of the moment implies that the presence or absence of respect can be very obvious and can affect the development of the situation or event.

There are many social models that avoid effort and advocate instead luck, opportunism and immediate triumph. However, effort is a value that can take us to unthinkable heights and lead us to achieve targets and objectives that may at other times appear distant or inaccessible. Dedication, rigor, constancy, sacrifice and perseverance all bear fruit, while luck and the search for a quick win are often fleeting and momentary. Note that at school, teachers have for a long time being promoting a culture of effort as the vehicle for academic development and personal achievement, and this helps to construct new social models.

Ambition is the desire to achieve the maximum performance and do things not only well but also as well as is feasibly possible and to improve every day. This value is applicable both to individuals and to groups. It involves use of a web of values as varied as excellence, patience, discipline, order, motivation and responsibility. Indeed, ambition invokes and requires a broad system of values and, in turn, is related with a job being done well, effort and rigor. Regarding targets, ambition is probably the surest way of achieving them, for it is the impulse to grow.

Teamwork implies that the subject forms part of a group and that, as a member of the same, becomes an active element that acts on behalf of the whole (sometimes even to the determine of their own individuality). There are undeniable benefits of knowing that you are part of a team and this requires the learning and accentuation of many other values.

Often when athletes, and people in general, achieve the goals they have set themselves, they start feeling superior in physical, moral, economic and other terms, and this leads them to forget certain values that have in all probability helped them to achieved those very goals: effort, perseverance, self-control, etc. We are all aware of how FC Barcelona has dealt with its victories of recent years, and how it has always shown humility (and also such values as effort, rigor, responsibility and others) to win respect in its field, and among its opponents, and generally everyone. Humility probably consists of knowing how to be clear about one’s values, and to maintain them and defend them even in situations where you are clearly superior and more successful.

© The official FC Barcelona website

Anthem

Main article: Cant del Barça

Crest and shirt

Crest

Ever since Barcelona's foundation, the club has proudly adorned their shirts with an emblem. At first it was the coat of arms of the city Barcelona. This was a diamond shape divided into four quarters, with a crown and a bat on top, surrounded by two branches, one of a laurel tree and the other a palm. This crest, even at such an early stage, was a way of expressing the club’s link to the city in which it was born.

Stadiums

• Camp de la Indústria
• Camp de Les Corts
• Camp Nou

Main article: Camp de la Indústria

Main article: Camp de Les Corts

Main article: Camp Nou

Honors

UEFA Champions League
1991-92, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2014-15
FIFA Club World Cup
2009-10, 2011-12
European Cup Winners Cup
1978-79, 1981-82, 1988-89, 1996-97
Fair Cup
1957-58, 1959-60, 1965-66
European Super Cup
1992-93, 1997-98, 2009-10, 2011-12
Latin Cup
1948-49, 1951-52
Pyrenees Cup
1909-10, 1910-11, 1911-12, 1912-13
Spanish League Championship
1928-29, 1944-45, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1973-74, 1984-85, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2014-15
Spanish Cup
1909-10, 1911-12, 1912-13, 1919-20, 1921-22, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1927-28, 1941-42, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1962-63, 1967-68, 1970-71, 1977-78, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2008-09, 2011-12, 2014-15
Spanish Supercup
1983-84, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1996-97, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14
Spanish League Cup
1982-83, 1985-86
Mediterranian League
1937
Catalan League
1937-38
Catalan League Championship
1901-1902, 1902-03, 1904-05, 1908-09, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1912-13, 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1937-38
Supercopa Catalunya
2014-15
Catalan Cup
1990-91, 1992-93, 1999-00, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2012-13, 2013-14
Eva Duarte Cup
1948-49, 1951-52, 1952-53

Players

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Marc-André ter Stegen 3 DF Gerard Piqué (4th captain) 4 MF Ivan Rakitić 5 MF Sergio Busquets (3rd captain) 7 FW Pedro Rodríguez 8 MF Andrés Iniesta (captain) 9 FW Luis Suárez 10 FW Lionel Messi (vice-captain) 11 FW Neymar 12 MF Rafinha 13 GK Claudio Bravo 14 MF Javier Mascherano

No. Position Player 15 DF Marc Bartra 16 DF Douglas 18 DF Jordi Alba 20 MF Sergi Roberto 21 DF Adriano 22 DF Dani Alves 23 DF Thomas Vermaelen 24 DF Jérémy Mathieu 25 GK Jordi Masip — MF Alex Song — MF Arda Turan — MF Aleix Vidal

Out on loan

No. Position Player — DF Martín Montoya (at Inter Milan until 30 June 2016) — MF Denis Suárez (at Sevilla until 30 June 2016) — FW Cristian Tello (at Porto until 30 June 2016)

Personnel

Current technical staff

See also: List of FC Barcelona managers

Position	Staff
Head coach	Luis Enrique
Assistant manager	Juan Carlos Unzué
Second manager	Robert Moreno
Auxiliary coach	Joan Barbarà
Fitness coach	Rafel Pol Edu Pons Francesc Cos Paco Seiruŀlo
Goalkeeping coach	José Ramón de la Fuente
Scoutings	Isidre Ramón Jesús Casas Jordi Melero Jaume Torras
Physiotherapist	Jaume Munill Juanjo Brau Xavi López Xavi Linde
Psychologist	Joaquín Valdés
Doctor	Ramón Canal Ricard Pruna Daniel Medina
Team liaison	Carles Naval
Director of football	Ariedo Braida
Assistant director of football	Carles Rexach
Academy director	Jordi Roura
B team coach	Jordi Vinyals

Management

Board members

See also: List of FC Barcelona presidents

Office	Name
President	Vacant
President Commission	Ramon Adell
Vice-president of economic and strategic area	Javier Faus
Vice-president of social area	Jordi Cardoner
Vice-president of institutional area	Carles Vilarrubí
Vice-president of sports area	Jordi Mestre
Vice-president of media and communication area	Manel Arroyo
Treasurer	Susana Monje
Board secretary	Antoni Freixa
Director of sports area (Medical area)	Jordi Monés
Director of sports area (Football)	Josep Ramon Vidal
Director of sports area (Basketball)	Joan Bladé
Director of sports area (Futsal)	Javier Bordas
Director of sports area (Youth football)	Ramon Cierco Noguer
Director of social area and sports area (Handball)	Eduard Coll
Director of social area	Ramon Pont
Director of social area	Pilar Guinovart
Director of economic and strategic area	Jordi Moix
Director of economic and strategic area	Silvio Elías
Director of technology area	Dídac Lee

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