FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona is a football (soccer) club from Spain.

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Fútbol Club Barcelona (, ), also known simply as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça (, ), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is best known for its Association football team, which was founded in 1899 by a group of Switzerland, England and Spain men led by Joan Gamper. FC Barcelona has become a Catalonia institution, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). The official Barça's anthem is El Cant del Barça by Josep Maria Espinàs.

FC Barcelona is one of three clubs that have never been relegated from La Liga and the Football records in Spain Most successful clubs overall (1902–present) in Football in Spain after Real Madrid, having won nineteen La Liga titles, a record twenty-five Copa del Rey, seven Supercopa de España and two Copa de la Liga. They are also one of the List of UEFA club competition winners in European football having won nine official major European trophies in total. They have won three UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups and two UEFA Super Cups. They also have a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups. In FC Barcelona season 2008–09, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. FC Barcelona is also the only European side to have played in Europe every season from 1955.

The club's stadium is the Camp Nou, the List of European stadia by capacity with a capacity of 98,772 seats. Barcelona enjoys a high rate of popularity; about 25.7% of Spanish population support the club, while according to a recent survey Barcelona is the most popular football club in Europe with around 44.2 million fans. With 156,366 socis (members) in June 2007, the Catalan club is also placed among the top football clubs in the world with the most registered members, and the number of penyes, the officially-registered supporter clubs, reached the number of 1,782 worldwide in June 2006. The Supporters of FC Barcelona are known as culés. FC Barcelona shares a great rivalry with Real Madrid C.F. and contest in one of the most famous football matches worldwide, known as El Clásico.

During the 2007–08 season, FC Barcelona was the Deloitte Football Money League with a revenue of Euro308.8 million. It was also one of the founding members of the now-defunct G-14 group of the leading European football clubs and its modern replacement, the European Club Association. FC Barcelona also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, while there was a youth team until 2007, FC Barcelona C.

History

Early years (1899–1908)

On 22 October, 1899, Joan Gamper placed an advert in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club. A positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on November 29. Eleven players attended, Walter Wild, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons and William Parsons. As a result Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born. Several other Spanish football clubs, most notably Real Madrid C.F. and Athletic Bilbao, also had British people founders, and as a result they initially adopted English-style names.

Legend says that Gamper was inspired to choose FC Barcelona colours, blaugrana, by FC Basel's crest. However, the other Swiss teams Gamper played for, his home canton of Zürich, and Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby, England have all been credited with or claimed to be the inspiration. FC Barcelona quickly emerged as one of the leading clubs in Spain, competing in the Catalan football championship and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, FC Barcelona won its first trophy, the Catalan football championship, and also played in the first Copa del Rey final, losing 2–1 to Athletic Club.

With Gamper's seal (1908–1923)

In 1908, Joan Gamper became club president for the first time. Gamper took over the presidency as FC Barcelona was on the verge of folding. FC Barcelona had not won anything since the Catalan football championship of 1905 and its finances suffered as a result. Gamper was subsequently club president on five separate occasions between 1908 and 1925 and spent 25 years at the helm. One of his main achievements was to help Barça acquire its own stadium.

On March 14, 1909, FC Barcelona moved into the Carrer Indústria, a stadium with a capacity of 8,000. Gamper also launched a campaign to recruit more club members and by 1922, FC Barcelona had over 10,000. This led to FC Barcelona moving again, this time to Camp de Les Corts, which inaugurated in the same year. This stadium had an initial capacity of 22,000, later expanded to an impressive 60,000.

Gamper also recruited Jack Greenwell as manager. This saw FC Barcelona's fortunes begin to improve on the field. During the Gamper era FC Barcelona won eleven Campeonato de Cataluña, six Copa del Rey and four FC Barcelona in Europe and enjoyed its first "golden age."

Rivera, Republic, Civil War (1923–1939)

On 14 June, 1925, the crowd at a game in homage to the Orfeó Català jeered the Royal March, a spontaneous reaction against Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. As a reprisal, the ground was closed, while Joan Gamper was forced to give up the presidency of the club. In 1928, the victory in the Spanish Cup was celebrated with a poem titled “Oda a Franz Platko”, which was written by the important member of the Generation of '27, Rafael Alberti, inspired by the heroic performance of the Barça keeper. On July 30, 1930, FC Barcelona's founder, after a period of depression brought on by personal and money problems committed suicide.

Although they continued to have players of the standing of Josep Escolà, FC Barcelona now entered a period of decline, in which political conflict overshadowed sport throughout society. Barça faced a crisis on three fronts: financial, social, with the number of members dropping constantly, and sporting, where although FC Barcelona won the Catalan football championship in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938, success at Spanish level (with the exception of the Mediterranean League) evaded them.

A month after the civil war began, Barça's left-wing president Josep Sunyol was murdered by Francisco Franco's soldiers near Guadarrama. In the summer of 1937, the squad was on tour in Mexico and the United States, in which it was received as an ambassador of the fighting Second Spanish Republic. That tour led to the financial saving of FC Barcelona and also resulted in half FC Barcelona seeking exile in Mexico and France. On 16 March, 1938, the fascists dropped a bomb on FC Barcelona's offices and caused significant destruction. A few months later, Barcelona was under fascist occupation and as a symbol of the 'undisciplined' Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, was facing a number of serious problems.

Club de Fútbol Barcelona (1939–1974)

After the Spanish Civil War, the Catalan language and Senyera were banned and football clubs were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures led to FC Barcelona having its name forcibly changed to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and the removal of the Catalan flag from FC Barcelona shield. During the Spain under Franco one of the few places that Catalan language could be spoken freely was within FC Barcelona's stadium.


In 1943, Barcelona faced rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Copa del Generalísimo. The first match at Camp de Les Corts was won by Barcelona 3–0. Before the second leg, Barcelona's players had a changing room visit from Franco's director of state security. He 'reminded' them that they were only playing due to the 'generosity of the Franco regime'. Under these conditions, Real Madrid dominated the match, thrashing Barça with a 11–1 win.

Despite the difficult political situation, CF Barcelona enjoyed considerable success during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, with Josep Samitier as coach and players like César Rodríguez Alvarez, Antoni Ramallets and Juan Zambudio Velasco, they won La Liga for the first time since 1929. They added two more titles in 1948 and 1949. In 1949, they also won the first Latin Cup.

In June 1950, Barcelona signed Ladislao Kubala. Kubala almost signed for Real Madrid but the decisive moment to change his mind was when he had married the daughter of Ferdinand Daučík, who was in contact with Josep Samitiers, then a scout for Barcelona. Obviously because of this relationship, Kubala chose finally to play for Barcelona.

On a rainy Sunday of 1951, the crowd left Les Corts stadium after a 2–1 win against Racing Santander by foot, refusing to catch any trams and surprising the Francoist authorities. The reason was simple: at the same time, a tram strike took place in Barcelona, receiving the support of blaugrana fans. Events like this have made FC Barcelona represent much more than just Catalonia and many progressive Spaniards see FC Barcelona as a staunch defender of rights and freedoms.

Coach Fernando Daucik and Ladislao Kubala, regarded by many as FC Barcelona's best ever player, inspired FC Barcelona to five different trophies including La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Copa Latina, the Supercopa de España and the Copa Martini Rossi in 1952. In 1953, they helped FC Barcelona win La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo again. FC Barcelona also won the Copa del Generalísimo in 1957 and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1958.

With Helenio Herrera as coach, a young Luis Suárez Miramontes, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungary recommended by Kubala, Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor, FC Barcelona won another national double in 1959 and a La Liga/Fairs Cup double in 1960. In 1961, they became the first club to beat Real Madrid C.F. in a European Cup 1960–61 eliminatory, thus ending their monopoly of the competition. To little avail, anyway, they lost 3–2 to Benfica in the final.

The 1960s were less successful for the club, with Real Madrid monopolising La Liga. The completion of the Camp Nou, finished in 1957, meant FC Barcelona had little money to spend on new players. However, the decade also saw the emergence of Josep Fusté and Carles Rexach and FC Barcelona winning the Copa del Generalísimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barça restored some pride by beating Real Madrid C.F. 1–0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalísimo final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in front of Franco, having as coach Salvador Artigas, a Second Spanish Republic pilot in the civil war. This match will always be mentioned for what was thrown and not for what was happening on the field. FC Barcelona changed its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona in 1974.

Cruyff's first pass (1974–1978)

The 1973–74 season saw the arrival, as player, of a new Barça legend, Johan Cruyff. Already an established player with Ajax Amsterdam, Cruyff quickly won over the Barça fans when he told the European press he chose Barça over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Francisco Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi Cruyff, for his son. Next to players of quality like Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach and the talented Hugo Sotil, he helped FC Barcelona win the La Liga 1973–74 for the first time since 1960, along the way defeating Real Madrid C.F. 5–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. He was also crowned European Footballer of the Year in his first year at the club.

Núñez and the stabilization years (1978–2000)

1992 European Cup Final starting lineup.

Josep Lluís Núñez was elected president of FC Barcelona in 1978. His main objective were to develop Barça into a world-class club by giving to it financial and sporting stability.

The date was May 16, 1979, when FC Barcelona won its first Cup Winners Cup by beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4–3 in Basel in a final that has never been forgotten watched by no fewer than 30,000 travelling blaugrana fans.

In June 1982, Diego Maradona was signed for a world record fee from Club Atlético Boca Juniors. In the following season, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona and Maradona won the Copa del Rey, beating Real Madrid. However, Diego's time with Barça was short-lived and he soon left for S.S.C. Napoli. At the start of the La Liga 1984–85 season, Terry Venables was hired as manager and he won La Liga with stellar displays by German midfielder Bernd Schuster. The next season, he took FC Barcelona to their second European Cup 1985–86 final, only to lose on penalties to Steaua Bucureşti during a dramatic evening in Seville.

After the 1986 FIFA World Cup, English top scorer Gary Lineker was signed along with goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, but FC Barcelona could not achieve success while Bernd Schuster was excluded from the team. Terry Venables was subsequently fired at the beginning of the 1987–88 season and replaced with Luis Aragonés. That season finished with a rebellion of the players against president Josep Lluís Núñez, known as the Motín del Hesperia and the 1–0 victory at the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad.

In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to FC Barcelona as manager and assembled the so-called Dream Team. He introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristáin, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, Gheorghe Hagi, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov.

Under Cruyff's guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They beat U.C. Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1988–89 final and the 1992 European Cup 1991–92 final at Wembley Stadium (1923) with a legendary free kick goal from Dutch international Ronald Koeman. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became FC Barcelona's most successful manager to date. He also became FC Barcelona's longest serving manager. However, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies (not to mention the disastrous 4–0 defeat in the UEFA Champions League 1994 final against AC Milan) and fell out with president Josep Lluís Núñez, resulting in Cruyff's departure.

Cruyff was briefly replaced by Bobby Robson, who took charge of FC Barcelona for a single season in 1996–97. He recruited Ronaldo from his previous club, PSV Eindhoven and delivered a cup treble winning the Copa del Rey, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1995–96 and the Supercopa de España. Despite his success, Robson was only ever seen as a short-term solution, while FC Barcelona waited for Louis van Gaal to become available.

Like Diego Maradona, Ronaldo only stayed a short time as he left for F.C. Internazionale Milano. However, new heroes such as Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, Luis Enrique Martínez García and Rivaldo emerged and FC Barcelona won a Copa del Rey and La Liga double in 1998. In 1999, FC Barcelona celebrated its 'centenari', winning the Primera División title and Rivaldo became the fourth Barça player to be awarded European Footballer of the Year. Despite this domestic success, the failure to emulate Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League led to Louis van Gaal and Josep Lluís Núñez resigning in 2000.

Gaspart's decline period (2000–2003)

The departures of Núñez and van Gaal were nothing compared to that of Luís Figo. As well as club vice-captain, Figo had become a cult hero and was considered by Catalans to be one of their own. However, Barça fans were distraught by Figo’s decision to join arch-rivals Real Madrid and during subsequent visits to the Camp Nou Figo was given an extremely hostile reception, including one occasion, when a piglet's head was thrown at him from the crowd. The next three years saw FC Barcelona in decline and managers came and went, including a short second spell by Louis van Gaal. President Joan Gaspart did not inspire confidence off the field either and in 2003, he and van Gaal resigned.

Enter new era via Laporta (2003–2009)

2006 UEFA Champions League Final starting lineup.

After the disappointment of the Gaspart era, the combination of a new young president Joan Laporta and a young new manager, former Netherlands national football team and A.C. Milan star Frank Rijkaard, saw FC Barcelona bounce back. On the field, an influx of international players, including Ronaldinho, Deco, Henrik Larsson, Ludovic Giuly, Samuel Eto'o, and Rafael Márquez, combined with a nucleus of home grown and Spanish players, such as Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Víctor Valdés led to FC Barcelona's return to success.

Barça won La Liga and the Supercopa de España in 2004–05, and stars Ronaldinho and Eto'o were voted first and third in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

In the 2005–06 season, Barcelona repeated their league and Supercup successes. The pinnacle of the league season arrived at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in a 3–0 victory over Real Madrid, Frank Rijkaard's second victory at the Bernabéu, making him the first Barça manager to win there twice. Ronaldinho's performance was so impressive that after his second, and Barça's third goal the Real Madrid fans felt compelled to applaud him. In the UEFA Champions League, Barça beat England club Arsenal F.C. 2–1 in the final. Trailing 1–0 to a 10-man Arsenal and with less than 15 minutes left they came back to win 2–1, with substitute Henrik Larsson, in his final appearance for the club, setting up goals for Samuel Eto'o and fellow substitute Juliano Belletti, for FC Barcelona's first European Cup victory in 14 years.

Despite being the favourites and starting strongly, Barcelona finished the 2006–07 season trophyless. A pre-season US tour was later blamed for a string of injuries to key players, including leading scorer Eto'o and rising star Lionel Messi. There was open feuding as Eto'o publicly criticized coach Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho also admitted that lack of fitness affected his form. In La Liga, Barça were in first place for much of the season, but inconsistency in the New Year saw Real Madrid overtake them to become champions. Barça advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, winning the first leg against Getafe CF 5–2, with a goal from Messi, bringing comparison to Diego Maradona, but then lost the second leg 4–0. They took part in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup, but were beaten by a late goal in the final against Brazilian sides Sport Club Internacional. In the UEFA Champions League 2006–07, Barça were knocked out of the competition in the last 16 by eventual runners-up Liverpool F.C. on away goals.

Barcelona finished FC Barcelona season 2007–08 third in La Liga and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2007–08 and Copa del Rey 2007–08, both times losing to the eventual champions: Manchester United F.C. and Valencia CF, respectively. A day after a 4–1 defeat by Real Madrid, Joan Laporta announced that FC Barcelona Atlètic coach Josep Guardiola would take over Frank Rijkaard's duties after June 30.

Treble winning season (2008–2009)

2009 UEFA Champions League Final starting lineup.

In the pre-season of La Liga 2008–09, a motion of no confidence was raised against club president Joan Laporta. The no-confidence motion received 60% support, just short of the 66% required to oust him, prompting eight of the directors to resign. In a bid to win back approval, Laporta, together with Director of Football Txiki Begiristain, decided to appoint the legendary former midfielder Josep Guardiola as FC Barcelona's new manager.

Laporta also made major changes to the playing staff, selling Gianluca Zambrotta, Deco, Edmílson Gomes and Ronaldinho. Nearly €90 million was spent rebuilding the squad, with Begiristain and Laporta purchasing Seydou Keita (footballer), Gerard Piqué, Martín Cáceres, Daniel Alves, and Aliaksandr Hleb. Despite this, FC Barcelona retained its home-grown nucleus of players, such as captain Carles Puyol, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Víctor Valdés and Andrés Iniesta.

On 17th January 2007, Barça set the record for the most points obtained in the first half of a La Liga season (50) after winning 16, drawing 2 and losing just 1 of their first 19 league games. FC Barcelona also reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time since 1998 after defeating RCD Mallorca in the semi-finals. Six days later, on 23 January, the International organisation IFFHS ranked Barça first in their list of the greatest football clubs of the last 18 years. The All-time Club World Ranking was determined by taking into account all the results of the national championships, the national cup competitions, FC Barcelona competitions of the six continental confederations and the FIFA.

For the second time of the season, Barça played Real Madrid C.F. in El Clásico, this time at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Barça won the historic match 2–6, which amounted to the most goals ever scored in El Clásico by Barcelona and the biggest margin of victory for Barça since the 1970s, when Johan Cruyff led Barça to win 0–5. On 6 May 2009, immediately after the historic victory over their biggest rivals, Barcelona played against Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Following a scoreless first leg, Chelsea led the game at Stamford Bridge 1–0 from the 8th minute, until injury time, when Andrés Iniesta scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute from the edge of the penalty area, sending Barcelona through to the final on away goals.

On 13 May, Barça beat Athletic Bilbao 4–1 at the Mestalla to win the Copa del Rey for a record 25th time. Just days later, as Real Madrid lost to Villarreal CF, the domestic double was confirmed for Barcelona and FC Barcelona was crowned La Liga champions for the 2008–09 season.

With a largely homegrown squad in which seven players of the starting 11 were products of their youth system (Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Sergi Busquets and Lionel Messi), inspired by Josep Guardiola's philosophy of attacking possession football, Barça defeated the defending champions Manchester United F.C. 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009, to earn their third UEFA Champions League title and achieve The Treble (association football), having already won the La Liga and Copa del Rey in the same season. This was the first time a Spanish team had won the three competitions in the same season. The following summer, FC Barcelona broke FC_Barcelona_statistics Highest_transfer_fees_paid by paying €43.5 million (+ Samuel Eto'o) for Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Rivalries

El Clásico

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in a national league, and this is particularly the case in La Liga, where the game between Barça and Real Madrid C.F. is known as El Clásico. From the start, the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile (historical region), as well as of the two cities themselves. The rivalry projects what many regard as the political and other tensions felt between Catalan people and the Castilians.

During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and (especially) of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), all regional cultures were openly suppressed (e.g., all the languages spoken in Spanish territory, except Spanish itself were officially banned). Symbolising Catalan people's desire for Freedom (philosophy), Barça became more than a club (Més que un Club) for it and one of its greatest ambassadors. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Catalans' best way of demonstrating their identity was by joining Barça. It was less risky than joining a clandestine anti-Franco movement and allowed them to express their dissidence.

On the contrary, Real Madrid was widely seen as the embodiment of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime at management level and beyond (Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, the former club president for whom the Real Madrid' stadium is named, fought with Spanish civil war). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.

During the 1950s, the rivalry was exacerbated significantly when the clubs disputed Alfredo di Stéfano Controversy surrounding transfer to Spain Alfredo di Stéfano, who finally played for Real Madrid and was key in the subsequent success achieved by the club. The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the UEFA stage when they met twice at the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Nowadays, the rivalry is renewed on an almost annual basis, with both teams often challenging each other for the league championship. The latest Clásico was played in the Santiago Bernabéu on 2 May 2009 and ended with an impressive 2–6 win for Barça, with two goals each from Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, as well as goals from Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué.

El Derbi Barceloní

Barça's "internal" rival has always been RCD Espanyol. RCD Espanyol, being one of the clubs granted royal patronage, were founded exclusively by Spanish football fans, unlike the multinational nature of Barça's primary board, being founded by the Swiss Joan Gamper and counting on its beginnings, with an squad composed mostly by English players. Their original ground was in the well-off district of Estadi de Sarrià.

Traditionally, especially during the Franco regime, Espanyol was seen by the vast majority of Barcelona's citizens as a club which cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority, in stark contrast to Barça's revolutionary spirit. Despite this background, the derbi has always been much more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives. In recent years, the rivalry has become less political, as Espanyol translated its official name and anthem from Spanish language to Catalan language.

Although it is the most played local derby in the history of La Liga, it is also the least balanced of them all, with Barcelona being overwhelmingly dominating. In the league table, Espanyol have only managed to end above Barça on three occasions in almost 70 years and even the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey Final in 1957 was won by Barça. Espanyol only has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6–0 in 1951. The latest Derbi Barceloní ended in a 2–1 win for Espanyol — incidentally this was the first time in the history of La Liga that a side bottom of the standings had beaten a team at the top of the league.

Sponsorship

Barça has an attitude to shirt sponsorship that is historically noteworthy. It has continuously refused to advertise corporate sponsors on the shirt since its founding. On 14 July 2006, FC Barcelona announced a five year agreement with UNICEF, which includes having the UNICEF logo on their shirts. The agreement will see Barça donating United States dollar1.9 million per year to UNICEF (0.7 per cent of its ordinary income, equal to the UN International Aid Target, cf Official development assistance) via the FC Barcelona Foundation, and rejecting significant money offers to be the first shirt sponsor of the football team.

FC Barcelona has done this in order to set up international cooperation programmes for development, supports the UN Millennium Development Goals and has made a commitment to UNICEF’s humanitarian aid programs through the donation of one and a half million euro for the next five years.

Companies that Barça currently has sponsorship deals with include:
- Nike, Inc.: Official sponsors
- Coca-Cola: Official sponsors
- TV3 (Catalonia): Official sponsors
- Audi: Official sponsors
- Estrella Damm: Official sponsors
- La Caixa: Official sponsors
- bwin: Official Betting Partner
- Acer Inc.: Official provider
- MediaPro: Official provider
- NH Hoteles: Official provider
- Vueling: Official provider
- Babybel: Official provider

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Stadium

- Name: Camp Nou
- City: Barcelona
- Capacity: 98,772

- Other Facilities:
- - Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper (FC Barcelona's training ground)
- - La Masia (Residence of young players)
- - Mini Estadi
- - Palau Blaugrana (FC Barcelona indoor sports arena)
- - Palau Blaugrana 2 (Secondary indoor arena of FC Barcelona)
- - Palau de Gel

Honours

Domestic competitions

La Liga

Copa del Rey (record)

Copa de la Liga (record)

Supercopa de España

Major international competitions

UEFA Champions League

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (record)

UEFA Super Cup

Other national or international trophies

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (the forerunner to the UEFA Cup) (record)
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off
Latin Cup (record)
Copa Eva Duarte (record)
Catalan football championship (record)

Mediterranean League

Copa Catalunya (record)
Joan Gamper Trophy (record)

Pequeña Copa del Mundo de Clubes

Statistics and records

Migueli presently holds both records for number of total and Liga appearances for Barcelona with a total of 548 games played in total, and 391 in La Liga. Most recently, Xavi, vice-captain of the club, reached 474 games for the club.

Barcelona's all time top goalscorer in official competitions is César Rodríguez Alvarez, a Spaniard, who has scored 235 goals. Ladislao Kubala is in second place with 196 goals for the club. The highest scoring present squad member is Lionel Messi who has scored 80 goals.

On 2 February 2009, Barcelona reached a total of 5000 La Liga goals. The goal was converted by Lionel Messi in the game against Racing de Santander, which Barça won 1–2.

Recent seasons

2009

Div. = Division; D1 = First Division; Pos. = Position; Pl = Match played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lost; GS = Goal Scored; GA = Goal Against; P = Points

UCL = UEFA Champions League; UC = UEFA Cup; ESC = UEFA Super Cup; SSC = Supercopa de España; CWC = FIFA Club World Cup; Cup = Copa del Rey

Colors: Gold = winner; Silver = runner-up; Cyan = ongoing

Players

Spanish teams are limited to three players without European Union citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country. Also, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Oceania that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas due to the Kolpak ruling.

Out on loan

Notable players

Personnel

Current Technical Staff

Current Board of Directors

{ took over at FC Barcelona in 1899, until the present day.

Name: Fútbol Club Barcelona

President: Joan Laporta

Manager: Josep Guardiola

Founded: 20-Nov-1899

Address: Avda. Arístides Maillol s/n, 08028 Barcelona

Telephone/Faxnumber: 93 496 36 00/93 496 36 87

Email: oab@club.fcbarcelona.com

Website: www.fcbarcelona.com

Country:   Spain

Confederation: UEFA

Stadium

Name: Camp Nou

Capacity: 98,600