The club is popularly known as Futbol Club Barcelona. It was established in 1899 and is based in Catalonia, Spain. Barca was founded by a group of English, Swiss and Spanish footballers led by Joan Gamper. The club started from playing amateur football in 1910 in the different regional competitions. In 1910, the club commenced participation in European competitions and had won fourteen UEFA trophies to date. One of the club’s most significant achievements is co-founding La Liga, a top tier in Spanish football, along with some other clubs in Spain.
Presently, Barcelona has never been relegated from the Spanish League to date. They are one of the highly-rated teams in the PayPal bookies alongside Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The football club officially began in a meeting at the Gimnasio Sole on 29 November. There were 11 players in attendance of which included the club’s first director. In representing the club’s virtue, the jersey was designed in blue and red stripes, which were eventually used in a football match against Hispania in 1900.
However, most Catalonia believes the colors were designed in commensuration of Joan Gamper home team, Fc Basel. On 14 March 1909, the team started to use the Camp de la Industria, which hosted 8,000 spectators. Gamper appointed Jack Greenwell as the first full-time manager in Barcelona’s history. The Gamper era was the beginning of better days for the club, as they won six Copa del Rey, four Pyrenees cups, and eleven Campeonato de Cataluña, which led to the golden age.
5 Things you never know about Fc Barcelona
- The club, FC Barcelona, is majorly owned by its members.
- The club has a strong alliance with the Catalans nationalist movement, including the management and supporters, making the club reputable.
- The club is the second most popular team in entire Europe.
- Fc Barcelona has produced the highest number of Balloon d’Or winners across the various continents of the world.
- Futbol Club Barcelona invented their style of play known as tiki-taka or the total football philosophy. This style of play can be accredited to the Johan Cruyff management era, where he engaged this football style with one of the best teams known as the “Dream Team.”
The 1957-1978 Era
The Era commenced with the just-completed stadium fondly called “Camp Nou.” It is one of the largest stadiums in Europe to date. It had Helenio Herrera as the coach, and a couple of different football stars in the team, including the young Luis Suarez, who won the European footballer award in 1960. In 1961, the team became the first to defeat the Real Madrid team in the European cup play-off.
The club achieved numerous feats during this time, including winning the 1973-1974 season and defeating Real Madrid in a high-scoring game (5-0) right in their own home. The club signed Johan Cruyff from Ajax with a whooping sum of £ 920,000, and the signature was instrumental in the team’s performance for the season. Johan eventually won the European footballer of the year award for two consecutive seasons (1973 & 1974). The election of Joseph Lluis Nunez as a new president (The club’s first elected president) concluded the Era.
The 1979-2003 Era
The newly elected president maintained a strict policy regarding discipline and wages, but this only harmed the club’s image. It facilitated the departure of world-class players like Romario, Ronaldo, and Diego Maradona in the 1984/1985 season. The latter, who was signed with a record fee of £5 million from Boca juniors, left for Napoli. However, on 16 May 1979, the club won its first UEFA Cup winners’ cup by defeating Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-3 in Basel in the competition’s final match.
In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager, with the birthing of the dream team. Barcelona won 5 La Liga titles during Cruyff’s tenure, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, European Cup, and the Copa del Rey. Nevertheless, the regime ended in a bad manner, as the manager fell out with the president. Van Gal retired and was replaced by Radomir Antic. At the concluding part of the year, the club signed one of the best players in history, Ronaldinho.
The 2004-2014 Era
Laporta was elected as the club’s president and further employed two great managers during his tenure. In 2003, Rijkaard assisted the club in returning to winning ways with an agile team with world-class players. Rijkaard was sacked as the manager after a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid, and the president appointed the Barcelona B coach Pep Guardiola to take over. Rijkaard managed the club for four years (2003-2008) and was eventually replaced by Guardiola in 2008, who left triumphantly in 2012.
Lionel Messi was introduced into the team in 2006, and he is presently the best player in the club. Guardiola did a great job, as he deployed the tik-taka system of play and achieved numerous feats for the club.
On 13 June 2010, Rosell was elected as the club’s new president. However, Guardiola was replaced by Gerrard Martino as the new manager on 22 July 2013.
2014-Present
Josep Bartomeu succeeded as the club president until 2021, when Laporta replaced him. Kate Richardson, the author confirmed the appointment of Luis Enrique, Ernesto Valverde, and Quique Setien as managers for the past seven years. Presently, the club is led by Laporta and manages by Ronald Koeman. Although the club is yet to return to its glory days, the fans are optimistic about the upcoming season with the return of Laporta.
FC Barcelona remains one of the best clubs in Europe, with a total number of 26 La Liga titles, 5 UEFA champions’ league trophies, 3 FIFA club world cup trophies, and 31 Copa del Rey trophies. The club’s main partners are Nike, Rakuten and Beko.