Barcellona Footbal Club

In the late 1800's Hans Gamper and ten other enthusiasts were playing an unknown sport called 'foot-ball'. When Gamper went on to found Barcelona Football Club on 29 November 1899, he could hardly have imagined the momentous events that would follow!

Throughout some of Catalonia's most difficult years, the flag represented the people's hopes for freedom, and today that very flag is the symbolic link which continues to represent the ties between a very special club and its' supporters.

Over the course of 100 years, the club has lived through moments of glory and tragedy, through good times and bad, through epic victories and crushing defeats. Each one of these moments has contributed to shaping Barcelona into the absolutely unique club that it is today.

Barcelona's renown can be attributed, in part, to impressive statistics but another factor is certainly that Barcelona is one of the most highly decorated teams in the world. With the exception of the International Cup, the showcases of the Barcelona museum contain every trophy possible. Topping off the impressive collection is the European Cup, the crowning glory of a Wembley final that went into the history books.

Quite apart from winning the supreme continental prize, Barcelona is also in the extremely enviable position of being the only team in Europe to have participated in every European Cup since 1955 the first year the tournament began. Their massive European trophy collection also includes the Cup Winners' Cup, which the club has won no less than four times - making it undisputed king. Barcelona has also collected four UEFA Cups, two of these when the tournament was still known as the Industrial Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Of course, Barcelona reigns in Spain as well as in Europe and no other Spanish team can equal Barcelona's 24 championship titles in the Copa del Rey.

As for the Spanish championship league (historically one of the toughest competition grounds for the club), Barcelona celebrates the centenary birthday with 16 league titles to its name. Six of these were amassed over the last ten years alone.

The start of the Glory Years - El Camp dels Corts

The decade between 1919 and 1929 is considered a golden age for the club, when the team boasted players such as Samitier, Alcántara, Zamora, Sagi, Piera and Sancho, whose skill drew in the crowds and the club began to take on its identification with Catalan nationalism during a particular difficult period.
The 20th May 1922 saw the inauguration of the new Les Corts ground, which soon became known as 'the cathedral of football'. It was a magnificent stadium with a capacity of 30,000, later doubled to 60,000. On the celebration of the club's 25th anniversary in 1924, marked by the famous poster drawn by Valencian artist Josep Segrelles, FC Barcelona had a total of 12.207 members and the future looked bright for the club. Five years later, season 1928-29, Barca won the first of their many Spanish League titles, a fitting climax to a period that had seen them conquer the Catalan Championship in 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27 and 1927-28 and the Spanish Championship in 1924-25, 1925-26 and 1927-28. This last victory came after two replays with Real Sociedad and a heroic performance from Barca keeper Franz Platko, which was later celebrated in a poem by Rafael Alberti.

Difficult times

In the midst of the glorious 20s, Barca suffered a precursor of the non-sporting conflicts which were to mark the following decade. On 14th June 1925, during Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, the crowd at a game in homage to the Orfeo Catalan jeered the Spanish national anthem and as a reprisal the government closed the ground for six months, later reduced to three, and forced Gamper to give up the presidency of ten club. Five years later, on 30th July 1930, the club's founder died. Although they continued to have players of the standing of Ventolrà, Raich or Escolà, the club now entered a period of decline in a period when political conflict overshadowed sport throughout society. Barca faced a crisis on three fronts: financial, social, with the number of members dropping constantly, and sporting, where although the team won Catalan Championships in 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1934-34, 1935-36 and 1937-38, success at Spanish level evaded them.

The effects of the Civil War

A month after the civil war began, Barca president Josep Suñol was murdered by Franco's soldiers near to Guadalajara. Fortunately, the squad was on a tour of Mexico and USA, which although it proved the financial saving of the club, also resulted in half the team seeking exile in Mexico and France. On 16th March 1938 the fascists dropped a bomb on the club's social club and caused serious damage. A few months later, Barcelona was under fascist occupation and as a symbol of Catalan nationalism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, was facing a number of serious problems. In March 1940 a close collaborator with the Franco regime, Enric Piñeyro, marquès de la Mesa de Asta was appointed President. At the same time, the name of the club was changed from its anglicized original Futbol Club Barcelona, to the more Spanish Club de Fútbol Barcelona,(a change which was finally reversed in 1973), and the four red bars of the Catalan flag on the coat of arms were reduced to two, the original not being put back until 1949.

From near relegation to the Copa Latina (1949)

During the 40s, the club gradually recovered from a crisis which had seen them nearly relegated in 1942, although they did win the Spanish Cup in the same season. During the next season, the scandalous game against Madrid, saw the Barca players threatened by referee and police and Piñeyro, a fascist supporter, but honestly disgusted at the treatment his team had received, resigned from the presidency of the club. With the conquest of the Spanish Leagues of 1944-45, 1947-48 and 1948-49, as well as the Copa Llatina in 1949, the club finally seemed to have turned the corner and put the problems of the previous few years behind them. With figures as important as César, Basora, Velasco, Curta, the Gonzalvo brothers, Seguer, Biosca and Ramallets on the books, Barca celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1949 boosted by member numbers of 24,893 and boasting a total of 21 Catalan Championships, 9 cups and 4 Spanish League titles.

Kubala and the five cups

With the arrival of Ladislau Kubala in June 1950, it soon became clear that Barca were growing too big for their Les Corts ground. Between 1951 and 1953, Barca won every title on offer -the Spanish Leagues of 1951-52 and 1952-53, the Spanish Cup in 1951,52 and 53. During the 1951-52 season, the team won the five cups: Spanish League, Cup, Latin Cup Eva Duarte and Martin Rossi trophies, with their famous forward line of Basora, César, Kubala, Moreno and Manchón.

The Nou Camp

The unfortunate climax of the Di Stefano affair, which saw the Argentinean star finally sign for Real Madrid, led to the dismissal of Barca President Enric Martí Carreto. His successor, Francesc Miró-Sans put all his energies into the building of the Nou Camp Stadium, which was opened on 24th September 1957. The new stadium had a 90,000 capacity and was the perfect setting for a team who'd just won their latest Spanish Cup and now had 40,000 members. With boss Helenio Herrera in charge, the team, with such excellent players as Kocsis, Czibor, Evaristo, Kubala, Eulogio Martínez, Suárez, Villaverde, Olivella, Gensana, Segarra, Gràcia, Vergés and Tejada. won the Spanish League in 1958-59 and 1959-60 as well as the Fairs Cup in 1957-58 and 1959-60. Unfortunately the sixties didn't see a continuation of their success and the team won only three trophies during the decade: the Spanish Cup in 1963 and 1968 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Despite this, the club became more and more identified with the Catalan society of that time and began to be known as 'more than a club' because of its social importance. The club again became a focus for nationalist sentiments during a period of dictatorship which came down hard on any other popular manifestations of Catalan identity.

Johan Cruyff arrives

Barca won the Spanish Cup in 1971 and began work in October on the Palau Blaugrana and the ice skating rink. Two years later, in 1973, the signing of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff put the finishing touches to a wonderful forward line of Rexach, Asensi, Cruyff, Sotil and Marcial, who led the league winning side of 1973-74.Coinciding with the club's 75th anniversary, there were now 69,566 members, making it the most powerful sporting club in the World.

The current era

Having won the cup, on May 6, 1978, Josep Lluís Núñez took over as President of the club. From that moment the Blaugrana has enjoyed strong economic growth along with a large social expansion (there was a considerable increase in the number of members and fan clubs) and ground improvements with the opening of the Mini Estadi and two significant changes to the Camp Nou. On the sporting front, trophies started to flood in.

Among this great haul of silverware was the 1979 European Cup Winners' Cup victory in Basel with 30,000 Barca fans at the game; the 1984-85 League title that was won in impressive form under the guidance of English coach Terry Venables; and the Dream Team era (1990-94), with Johan Cruyff as trainer, when the club won four League titles and the European Cup at Wembley.

20 May 1992: An unforgettable day

But most outstanding of all was that glorious night of May 20, 1992 at the legendary Wembley Stadium in London, when Barcelona beat Sampdoria 1-0 to win the European Cup. Ronald Koemans goal in the 112th-minute of the game now forms part of the Blaugrana legend and the side that featured in that historic match has gone down in gold letters in the clubs proud history: Zubizarreta, Nando, Ferrer, Koeman, Juan Carlos, Bakero, Salinas (Goikoetxea), Stoichkov, Laudrup, Guardiola (Alexanko) and Eusebio.

The last few years

The Cup Winners Cup, Spanish Cup and Spanish Super Cup won by English manager Bobby Robson's Barca in 96-97, the League and Cup double in 1998, and the League in 1998-99 (the first of Van Gaal's two periods in charge at the club) were the last major titles to be won by the FC Barcelona first team.

Another highly emotional occasion was the Club Centenary in 1999 (Antoni Tàpies designed the official poster), which served as a link between a glorious past and hope for continued success in the future. In its historic centenary year, Barcelona won the football, basketball, handball, and roller hockey leagues.

On July 23, 2000, Joan Gaspart took over the presidency of the club, and on January 22, 2002, work began on the 'Joan Gamper' training grounds in Sant Joan Despí. Another of the Club's proudest moments came on May 11, 2003, when the basketball team won the Euroleague for the first time ever. The final was played in the Palau Sant Jordi against Benetton Treviso. The score that memorable day was Barca 76-Benetton 65.

Joan Laporta, teh new president

On June 15, 2003 Joan Laporta won the clubs presidential elections. A new period in the history of FC Barcelona had begun, with a forward-looking plan and such world famous players being signed as Ronaldinho, Giuly, Deco, Larsson and Eto'o. The number of club members has also started increasing thanks to the 'Big Challenge' campaign.

The club in the 21st century

As the social, cultural and sporting dimensions of the club grow and grow, FC Barcelona is considered to be most important multi-sport club in the world. The football team has won 16 Catalan Leagues, the Latin Cup twice, the Fairs Cup three times, the European Cup Winners' Cup four times, the European Cup once, the European Super Cup twice, the Spanish Cup 24 times, the Spanish League 16 times and the Spanish Super Cup on five occasions. Barca is the only club on the continent to have been ever-present in European competition since it began in 1955. The club is also the king of the European Cup Winners' Cup with four victories and has won the Spanish Cup the most times with 24 wins.

The other sections of the club (basketball, handball, roller hockey, athletics, field hockey, ice hockey, figure skating, futsal, rugby, baseball, volleyball, cycling and women's football) have all achieved success both at domestic and international level. In 2004, these sections of the club have won an amazing 829 titles between them. All these play with the full support of 125,000 club members and more than 1600 fan clubs around the world.

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