FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona

Full name	Fútbol Club Barcelona
Nickname(s)	Barça Culés (The Butt's) Blaugrana (Blue-Maroon)
Founded	29 November 1899 (as Foot-Ball Club Barcelona)
Ground	Camp Nou, Barcelona
Capacity	98,772
Chairman	Joan Laporta
Manager	Josep Guardiola
League	La Liga
2007-08	La Liga, 3rd
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Fútbol Club Barcelona (Catalan IPA: [fudˈbɔɫ ˌklup bəɾsəˈlonə], Spanish IPA: [ˈfutβol ˌkluβ baɾθeˈlona]), known familiarly as Barça (Spanish IPA: [ˈbaɾsa], Catalan IPA: [ˈbaɾsə]), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team, which was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club).

Barcelona is a turd. They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the top division. The club were also the first La Liga champions, winning a total of 18 La Liga, 24 Copa del Rey, 7 Supercopa de España, 2 UEFA Champions League, 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and 2 European Super Cup trophies.

The club's main stadium is the Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In Spain, about 25% of the population are said to be Barça supporters. In June 2007, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 156,366, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide.

The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, and four other professional sports teams, Regal FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona Futsal and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau that compete at basketball, handball, futsal and rink hockey respectively. Until 2007 there was also a youth team, FC Barcelona C.

There are also a number of prominent amateur sports teams that compete at rugby union, women's football and wheelchair basketball. These include FCB Rugby and FC Barcelona-Institut Guttman. Other amateur teams represent the club at ice hockey, athletics, baseball, cycling, field hockey, figure skating, and volleyball.

During the 2006-07 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €291.1 million.

History

Early years (1899-1908)

The ad in Los Deportes

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 and Athletic Bilbao, also had British founders, and as a result they initially adopted English-style names.

Legend has it that Gamper was inspired to choose the club colours, blaugrana, by FC Basel's crest. However, the other Swiss teams Gamper played for, his home canton of Zurich, 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 of both Catalonia and Spain, competing in both the Campeonato de Cataluña and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya, and also played in the first Copa del Rey final, losing 2-1 to Club Vizcaya.

With Gamper's seal (1908-1923)

In 1908 Joan Gamper became club president for the first time. Gamper took over the presidency as the club was on the verge of folding. The club had not won anything since the Campeonato de Cataluña 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, it 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 the club had over 10,000. This led to the club moving again, this time to Las Cortes, 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 Paulino Alcántara, the club's all time top-scorer with 356 goals, and in 1917 appointed Jack Greenwell as manager. This saw the club'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 Coupe de Pyrenées and enjoyed its first "golden age." As well as Alcántara the Barça team under Greenwall also included Sagi-Barba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko.

Rivera, Republic and Civil War (1923-1939)

In the middle of the glorious 1920s, Barça suffered from non-sporting conflicts which were to mark the following decade. 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 closed, while Gamper forced to give up the presidency of the club. In 1928, the victory in Spanish Cup against Real Sociedad was celebrated with a poem titled “Oda a 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, the club'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, the club 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 the team won the Campionat de Catalunya in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938, success at Spanish level (with the exception of the 1937 disputed title) evaded them.

A month after the civil war began, Barça's left-wing president Josep Sunyol was murdered by Francisco Franco's soldiers near to Guadalajara. In the summer of 1937, the squad was on a tour in Mexico and USA in which it was received as an ambassador of the fighting Second Spanish Republic. That travel proved the financial saving of the club and also resulted in half the team seeking exile in Mexico and France. On 16 March 1938, the fascists dropped a bomb on the club's social club and caused big damages. 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 flag were banned and football clubs were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures led to the club having its name forcibly changed to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and the removal of the Catalan flag from the club shield. During the Franco dictatorship one of the few places that Catalan could be spoken freely was within the club's stadium.

In 1943, at Les Corts, for the first leg of the semi-finals of the Copa del Generalísimo against Real Madrid, the result was a 3-0 win for Barça. 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 regime'. Madrid side won that game 11-1.

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, Ramallets and Velasco, they won La Liga for first time since 1929. They added two more titles in 1948 and 1949. In 1949 they also won the first Copa Latina.

In 1951, a tram strike which took place in Barcelona, received the support of blaugrana fans surprising the Francoist authorities who could not understand why, on that rainy Sunday, the crowd left Les Corts stadium after a 2-1 win against Santander by foot refusing to catch any trams. Moments like these show how FC Barcelona represents much more than just Catalonia for so many progressive Spaniards.

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 daughter of Ferdinand Dauchik, who was in contacts with Josep Samitiers then scaut of the club, so he chose Barcelona at the end. Coach Fernando Daucik and Ladislao Kubala, regarded by many as the club's best ever player, inspired the team to five different trophies including La Liga, the Copa del Generalísimo, the Copa Latina, the Copa Eva Duarte and the Copa Martini Rossi in 1952. In 1953 they helped the club win La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo again. The club also won the Copa del Generalísimo in 1957 and the Fairs Cup in 1958.

With Helenio Herrera as coach, a young Luis Suárez, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungarians recommended by Kubala, Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor, the team 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 in a European Cup 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 and Atlético Madrid monopolising La Liga. The completion of the Camp Nou, finished in 1957, meant the club had little money to spend on new players. However the decade also saw the emergence of Josep Fusté and Carles Rexach and the club winning the Copa del Generalísimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barça restored some pride by beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalísimo final at the Bernabéu. The club 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, 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 Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son. He helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960, along the way defeating Real Madrid 5-0 at the Bernabéu. He was also crowned European Footballer of the Year in his first year at the club.

The Núñez era (1978-2000)

Josep Lluís Núñez was elected president of FC Barcelona in 1978. His main objectives were to establish Barça as a world-class sports club and to give the club financial stability. Besides, in 1979 and 1982 the club won two of four European Cup Winners' Cups won in the Núñez era.

In June 1982 Diego Maradona was signed for a world record fee from Boca Juniors. In the following season, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona and Maradona in an unforgettable final won the Copa del Rey, beating Real Madrid. However Diego's time with Barça was short-lived and he soon left for Napoli. At the start of the 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 the team to their second European Cup final, only to lose on penalties to Steaua Bucureşti during a dramatic evening in Seville.

After the 1986 World Cup, English top scorer Gary Lineker was signed along with goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta but the team could not achieve success while 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 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 the club as manager and assembled the so-called Dream Team, named after the US basketball team that played at the 1992 Summer Olympics hosted by Barcelona. 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 Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley 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, Cruijff became the club's most successful manager to date. He also became the club'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 Núñez, resulting in Cruijff's departure.

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

Like Maradona, Ronaldo only stayed a short time and he left for Inter Milan. However, new heroes such as Luís Figo, Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Luis Enrique Martínez and Rivaldo emerged and the team won a Copa del Rey/La Liga double in 1998. In 1999 the club 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 van Gaal and 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. So the 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 the club in decline and managers came and went, including a short second spell by Louis van Gaal. President Gaspart did not inspire confidence off the field either and in 2003 he and Van Gaal resigned.

The Laporta era (2003-present)

Victorious Barça players collect their winners medals after beating Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League Final

After the disappointment of the Gaspart era, the combination of a new young president Joan Laporta and a young new manager, former Dutch and AC Milan star Frank Rijkaard, saw the club bounce back. On the field, an influx international players, including Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o, Rafael Márquez, Lionel Messi, combined with a nucleus of home grown and Spanish players such as Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Víctor Valdés led to the club'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 2005–06 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 Bernabeu, 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 Champions' League Barça beat English club Arsenal 2–1 in the final. Trailing 1-0 with less than 15 minutes left they came back to win 2-1 for the club'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 5-2, with a goal from Messi bringing comparison to Maradona, but then lost the second leg 4-0. They took part in the FIFA Club World Cup 2006, but were beaten in the final by a late goal against Internacional. In the Champions League Barça were knocked out of the competition in the last 16 by eventual runners-up Liverpool on away goals.

2007/08 season

In the 2007-08 season, Barcelona again struggled, and weren't even able to finish in the top two of the Primera División. The season was marred with injuries to key players such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Deco, Leo Messi, and Yaya Touré. Despite a lack of league form, the team fared well in the cup competitions. Benefitting from favourable draws in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona ousted less-fancied teams such as Rangers FC, Celtic FC and Schalke 04, before losing to eventual champions Manchester United 1-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals. Barcelona also managed to get to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, where they once again lost to the eventual champions (Valencia CF).

A day after a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of arch-rivals Real Madrid, Laporta announced that Barça B coach Josep Guardiola would take over Frank Rijkaard's duties after June 30. It marked the end of an era for the club, and high-profile departures of key players were expected in the summer.

2008/09 season - Enter Guardiola

The 2008/09 pre-season started with a boardroom crisis, as Joan Laporta fought to keep his presidency. Following two years without major trophies, some club members initiated a no confidence motion on Laporta. With the help of Club Director of Football Txiki Begiristain, Joan Laporta acted swiftly and effectively. Having installed crowd favourite and hometown boy Pep Guardiola as the coach, the club declared the start of the long-expected clear out and rebirth of the team for the 2008-09 season. Players such as Gianluca Zambrotta, Deco, Giovani dos Santos and Ronaldinho left the squad. In came Seydou Keita (Sevilla FC), Gerard Piqué (Manchester United), Martín Cáceres (Villarreal CF), Daniel Alves (Sevilla FC) and Aliaksandr Hleb (Arsenal FC). Samuel Eto'o was expected to leave after falling out of favour with the fans and the staff; but strong showings by him in pre-season reminded the coach and the board why he had the best goals to games ratio in La Liga the previous season, and sense prevailed as the decision was made to retain the Cameroonian, whilst Eto'o won the fans back, as they chanted his name at every home game. Laporta's choices for the new personnel seemed to be popular enough to abate the critics, and possibly ensure he retained his position as President of the Club. The No Confidence Motion did indeed narrowly fail, receiving 60% of the votes cast, just short of the 66% required. Laporta vowed to continue, although eight of his directors resigned.

On the sporting side, Guardiola's first months in charge saw the team string together an impressive set of friendly wins. The season kicked off with the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round against Wisła Kraków. Barcelona carried their pre-season form into the first leg at home, and comfortably won the match 4-0. And despite losing the return leg in Poland 0-1, the team had done enough to accomplish the first objective of the season: qualification to the Champions League Group Stage. Having lost and drawn their first two La Liga matches, Barcelona have hit back strongly with wins over Sporting Gijon by 6-1, and over Real Betis 3-2. Barcelona also won their opening Champions League pool game 3-1 over Sporting Lisbon. Barça were also able to come from behind to beat their hated city rivals, Espanyol, thanks to a goal by Thierry Henry and a very late penalty scored by Lionel Messi after Espanyol player Coro put the home side ahead, amongst lots of crowd trouble. In their second Champions League game, Barcelona came from a goal down for the second time in 3 days, to win thanks to 2 very late goals by Messi in a 2-1 comeback win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. Barcelona currently hold a strong and impressive 6 game winning streak after thrashing Atlético Madrid 6-1. Though, through all the ecstasy, there are still worries about the goalkeeper's position, as Barça's current first-choice goalkeeper, Víctor Valdés has only one clean sheet in a competitive game. But the Catalan club said they are sticking with Valdés, and are fully confident in him, despite some of the media in Spain and many of their world-wide fans calling for a new goalkeeper. Barça also set a new UEFA Champions League record with the largest win as an away team against FC Basel with again a thrashing 0-5 win.

Rivalries

El Clásico

Template:Details2 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 FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF is known as El Clásico. From the start the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival countries in Spain, Catalonia and Castile, as well as of the two cities themselves. The rivalry projects what many regard as the political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and the Castilians.

During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and (especially) of Francisco Franco (1939 - 1975), all regional identities were openly suppressed (e.g., the peripheral languages were officially banned). So FC Barcelona, symbolising the Catalan people's desire for freedom, became more than a club (més que un club) for them and one of their greatest ambassadors. On the contrary, Real Madrid was widely seen as the embodiment of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime. However, during the Spanish Civil War itself, 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 the signing of 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 European stage when they met twice at the knock-out stages of the European Cup.

As nowadays FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two biggest and most successful clubs in the league, 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 and ended with a 4-1 win for Real Madrid.

El Derbi Barceloní

Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol was founded exclusively by Spanish fans of the game, unlike the multinational nature of FC Barcelona's original board. The club's historical ground was in the well-off district of Sarrià.

Traditionally, especially during the Franco regime, Espanyol were seen by the majority of Barcelona's citizens as a club who cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority unlike FC Barcelona. Despite this background the derbi has always been much more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives.

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 FC Barcelona on three occasions in almost seventy years and even the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey Final in 1957 was won by FC Barcelona. Espanyol only has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6-0 in 1951.

Sponsorship

FC Barcelona have an attitude to shirt sponsorship that is historically noteworthy. Selectively without a commercial message on its shirts, in a similar fashion to Athletic Bilbao, on 14 July 2006 the club announced a five year agreement with UNICEF, which includes having the UNICEF logo on their shirts. The agreement will see FC Barcelona donating US$1.9 million per year to UNICEF (0.7 per cent of its ordinary income) to the FC Barcelona Foundation, and rejecting significant money offers to be the first shirt sponsor of the football team. Similarly, for the 2008/9 season and onwards, Aston Villa have a similar deal with Acorns Children's Hospice, involving charitable promotion.

The club 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 FC Barcelona currently has sponsorship deals with include :

• Nike - Official sponsors
• Coca-Cola - Official sponsors
• TV3 - Official sponsors
• Audi - Official sponsors
• Estrella Damm - Official sponsors
• La Caixa - Official sponsors
• bwin - Official Betting Partner
• Acer - Official provider
• MediaPro - Official provider
• NH Hoteles - Official provider
• Vueling - Official provider
• Babybel - Official provider

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1982–1992	Meyba	none
1992–1998	Kappa
1998-2006	Nike
2006-present		Unicef

Stadium Information

Camp Nou stadium

• Name - Camp Nou
• City - Barcelona
• Capacity - 98,772
• Inauguration - 1957
• Pitch size - 105 × 68 m
• Other Facilities:
  • Ciudad Deportiva 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

Main article: FC Barcelona in Europe

Domestic competitions

Barcelona fans celebrating the team's victory in the UEFA Champions League 2005-06

La Liga

• Winners (18): 1929, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1960, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006
• Runners-up (22): 1930, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007

Copa del Rey (record)

• Winners (24): 1910, 1912, 1913, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1942, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1997, 1998
• Runners-up (9): 1902, 1919, 1932, 1936, 1954, 1974, 1984, 1986, 1996

Supercopa de España

• Winners (7): 1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006
• Runners-up (7): 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999

Copa de la Liga (record)

• Winners (2): 1983–83, 1986–86

International competitions

UEFA Champions League

• Winners (2): 1992, 2006
• Runners-up (3): 1961, 1986, 1994

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (record)

• Winners (4): 1979, 1982, 1989, 1997
• Runners-up (2): 1969, 1991

European Super Cup

• Winners (2): 1992, 1997
• Runners-up (4): 1979, 1982, 1989, 2006

Other International Trophies

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (record)

• Winners (3): 1958, 1960, 1966
• Runners-up (1): 1962

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off

• Winners (1): 1971

Latin Cup (record)

• Winners (2): 1949, 1952

Small World Cup

• Winners (1): 1957

References:

Statistics and records

Main article: FC Barcelona statistics

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 Hernandez, vice-captain of the club reached 432 games for the club.

Barcelona's all time top goalscorer is a Spaniard, César Rodríguez who, has scored 235 goals in all official matches. Ladislao Kubala is in second place with 196 goals for the club. The highest scoring present squad member is Samuel Eto'o who has scored 106 goals.

Recent seasons

See also: FC Barcelona seasons

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Other Competitions				Manager
1998–99	D1	1	38	24	7	7	87	43	79	quarter-final	UCL	group stage	SSC				Louis van Gaal
1999–00	D1	2	38	19	7	12	70	46	64	semi-final	UCL	semi-final	SSC				Louis van Gaal
2000–01	D1	4	38	17	12	9	80	57	63	semi-final	UC1	semi-final					Llorenç Serra Ferrer
2001–02	D1	4	38	18	10	10	65	37	64	1st round	UCL	semi-final					Carles Rexach
2002–03	D1	6	38	15	11	12	63	47	56	1st round	UCL	quarter-final					Rexach, v. Gaal & R. Antić
2003–04	D1	2	38	21	9	8	63	39	72	quarter-final	UC	4th round					Frank Rijkaard
2004–05	D1	1	38	25	9	4	73	29	84	2nd round	UCL	last 16					Frank Rijkaard
2005–06	D1	1	38	25	7	6	80	35	82	quarter-final	UCL	winner	SSC				Frank Rijkaard
2006–07	D1	2	38	22	10	6	78	33	76	semi-final	UCL	last 16	SSC	ESC	CWC		Frank Rijkaard
2007–08	D1	3	38	19	10	9	76	43	67	semi-final	UCL	semi-final					Frank Rijkaard
2008–09	D1										UCL						Josep Guardiola

Last updated: 20 May 2008
¹ FC Barcelona started 2000-01 season in UCL but joined UC after group stage.
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; UCWC = UEFA Cup Winners' Cup; 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

As of 10 August 2008.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ESP	Víctor Valdés (2º vice-captain)
2	DF	URU	Martín Cáceres
3	DF	ESP	Gerard Piqué
4	DF	MEX	Rafael Márquez
5	DF	ESP	Carles Puyol (Captain)
6	MF	ESP	Xavi (1º vice-captain)
7	MF	ISL	Eiður Guðjohnsen
8	MF	ESP	Andrés Iniesta (3º vice-captain)
9	FW	CMR	Samuel Eto'o
10	FW	ARG	Lionel Messi
11	FW	ESP	Bojan Krkić
13	GK	ESP	José Manuel Pinto

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	FW	FRA	Thierry Henry
15	MF	MLI	Seydou Keita
16	DF	BRA	Sylvinho
18	DF	ARG	Gabriel Milito
20	DF	BRA	Daniel Alves
21	MF	BLR	Aliaksandr Hleb
22	DF	FRA	Éric Abidal
24	MF	CIV	Yaya Touré
25	GK	ESP	Albert Jorquera
27	FW	ESP	Pedro Rodríguez
28	MF	ESP	Sergio Busquets
29	MF	ESP	Víctor Sánchez

From the Youth system

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
26	GK	ESP	Oier Olazábal
30	FW	ESP	Víctor Vázquez
31	FW	ESP	Jeffrén Suárez
32	GK	ESP	Rubén Miño

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
33	DF	ESP	David Córcoles
34	MF	ESP	Xavi Torres
35	MF	ESP	Abraham González
36	FW	ESP	Nolito

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
––	DF	BRA	Henrique (at Bayer Leverkusen)

Personnel

Current Technical Staff

Position	Name
Manager	Josep Guardiola
Assistant Coach	Tito Vilanova
Goalkeeping Coach	Juan Carlos Unzué
Physical fitness coach	Lorenzo Buenaventura
Director of Football	Txiki Begiristain
Academy Director	José Ramón Alexanko
Head Coach Reserve Team	Luis Enrique

Current Board of Directors

Office	Name
President	Joan Laporta i Estruch
Vice-president, head of social area and spokesperson	Alfons Godall i Martínez
Vice president for marketing and media	Jaume Ferrer i Graupera
Vice president for finance and treasurer	Joan Boix i Sans
Vice president institutional and assets administration	Joan Franquesa i Cabanas
Vice president for sports	Rafael Yuste i Abel
Secretary	Josep Cubells i Ribé

Former personnel

Selected former presidents

Joan Laporta

see also Category:FC Barcelona presidents

Name	Years
Walter Wild	1899-1901
Bartomeu Terradas	1901-02
Paul Haas	1902-03
Arthur Witty	1903-05
Josep Soler	1905-06
Juli Marial	1906-08
Vicenç Reig	1908
Joan Gamper	1908-09, 1910-13, 1917-19, 1921-23, 1924-25
Otto Gmeling	1909-10
Àlvar Presta	1914
Joaquim Peris de Vargas	1914-15
Rafael Llopart	1915-16
Gaspar Rosés	1916-17, 1920-21, 1930-31
Ricard Graells	1919-20
Eric Cardona	1923-24
Arcadi Balaguer	1925-29
Tomás Rosés	1929-30
Antoni Oliver	1931
Joan Coma	1931-34
Esteve Sala	1934-35
Josep Sunyol	1935-36
Managing Commission	1936-39
Joan Soler	1939-40
Enrique Piñeyro	1940-42, 1942-43
Josep Vidal-Ribas	1942
Josep Antoni Albert	1943
Josep Vendrell	1943-46
Agustí Montal Galobart	1946-52
Agustí Montal Galobart	1946-52
Enric Martí Carreto	1952-53
Francesc Miró-Sans	1953-61
Enric Llaudet	1961-68
Narcís de Carreras	1968-69
Agustí Montal	1969-77
Josep Lluís Núñez	1978-2000
Joan Gaspart	2000-2003
Enric Reyna i Martínez	2003
Joan Trayter (Managing Commission)	2003
Joan Laporta	2003-2006
Xavier Sala-i-Martin (Managing Commission)	2006
Joan Laporta	2006-Present

Notable managers

see also Category:FC Barcelona managers

The following managers have all won at least one trophy when in charge or have been notable for Barça in the context of the League, for example Johan Cruijff who holds a League record.

Name	Nationality	Period		Honours
		From	To
Jack Greenwell	England	1917	1924	2 Spanish Cups
Jesza Poszony	Hungary	1924	1925	Spanish Cup
Ralph Kirby	England	1925	1926	Spanish Cup
Romà Forns	Spain	1927	1929	Spanish league
Joan Josep Nogués	Spain	July 1941	June 1944	Spanish Cup
Josep Samitier	Spain	July 1944	June 1947	Spanish league
Enrique Fernández	Uruguay	July 1947	June 1950	2 Spanish league, Latin Cup
Fernando Daucik	Slovakia	July 1950	June 1954	2 Spanish league, 3 Spanish Cups, Latin Cup
Domingo Balmanya	Spain	July 1956	April 1958	Spanish Cup, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Helenio Herrera	Argentina	April 1958	June 1960	2 Spanish league, Spanish Cup, 2 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Josep Gonzalvo	Spain	January 1963	June 1963	Spanish Cup
Roque Olsen	Argentina	July 1965	June 1967	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Salvador Artigas	Spain	July 1967	October 1969	Spanish Cup
Vic Buckingham	England	December 1969	June 1971	Spanish Cup
Rinus Michels	Netherlands	July 1971	June 1975	Spanish league, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off
Rinus Michels	Netherlands	July 1978	June 1979	Spanish Cup
Joaquim Rifé	Spain	April 1979	March 1980	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Helenio Herrera	Argentina	March 1980	June 1981	Spanish Cup
Udo Lattek	Germany	July 1981	February 1983	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, league Cup, Spanish Cup
César Luis Menotti	Argentina	March 1983	July 1984	Spanish Supercup
Terry Venables	England	July 1984	September 1987	Spanish league, league Cup
Luis Aragonés	Spain	September 1987	June 1988	Spanish Cup
Johan Cruijff	Netherlands	July 1988	May 1996	4 Spanish league, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup, Spanish Cup, 3 Spanish Supercups
Sir Bobby Robson	England	July 1996	June 1997	Spanish Cup, Spanish Supercup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Louis van Gaal	Netherlands	November 1997	February 2000	2 Spanish league , Spanish Cup, European Super Cup
Frank Rijkaard	Netherlands	July 2003	June 2008	UEFA Champions League, 2 Spanish league, 2 Spanish Supercups

Selected former players

1899 - 1940s Domènec Balmanya César Josep Escolà Romà Forns Gonzalvo II Gonzalvo III Herrerita Mariano Martín Juan José Nogués Sagi-Barba Félix Sesúmaga Josep Samitier Velasco Ramon Zabalo Ricardo Zamora Morera Soto Jack Greenwell Walter Wild Arthur Witty Franz Platko Horacio Casarín Paulino Alcántara Joan Gamper Héctor Scarone 1950s - 1960s Estanislao Basora Eladio Silvestre Josep Fusté Gallego Enric Gensana Sígfrid Gràcia Eduard Manchón Tomás Moreno Ferran Olivella Jesús María Pereda José Manuel Pesudo Antoni Ramallets Joan Segarra Luis Suárez Antoni Torres Evaristo de Macedo Lucien Müller

Zoltán Czibor Sándor Kocsis Ladislao Kubala Eulogio Martínez Cayetano Ré Juan Seminario Miguel Loayza Nicolae Simatoc Julio César Benítez 1970s Pedro Artola Juan Manuel Asensi Antonio de la Cruz Marcial Martí Filosia Antonio Olmo Miguel Reina Carles Rexach Joaquim Rifé Salvador Sadurní Juan Carlos Heredia Hans Krankl Johan Cruijff Johan Neeskens Hugo Sotil 1980s José Ramón Alexanko Calderé Carrasco Esteban Vigo Gerardo Miranda Juan Carlos Pérez Rojo Julio Alberto Marcos Alonso Migueli Josep Moratalla Paco Clos Perico Alonso Pitxi Alonso Quini Roberto Fernández Salvador García José Vicente Sánchez Juan Carlos Unzué Javier Urruticoechea Ernesto Valverde

Víctor Muñoz Diego Maradona Aloísio Allan Simonsen Gary Lineker Bernd Schuster Raúl Vicente Amarilla Romerito Steve Archibald Mark Hughes 1990s Abelardo Fernández Guillermo Amor Bakero Txiki Beguiristáin Iván de la Peña Eusebio Sacristán Albert Ferrer Goikoetxea Josep Guardiola Juan Carlos Rodríguez Julio Salinas Luis Enrique Miguel Ángel Nadal Fernando Muñoz Roger García Junyent Albert Celades Sergi Barjuán Ricardo Serna Miquel Soler Zubizarreta Pellegrino Juan Antonio Pizzi Meho Kodro Sonny Anderson Giovanni Rivaldo Romário Ronaldo Hristo Stoichkov Robert Prosinecki Michael Laudrup Jari Litmanen Laurent Blanc

Christophe Dugarry Frédéric Déhu Frank de Boer Ronald de Boer Ruud Hesp Ronald Koeman Richard Witschge Boudewijn Zenden Emmanuel Amuneke Fernando Couto Luís Figo Vítor Baía Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Popescu 2000s Dani García Gabri Gerard López Luis García Gaizka Mendieta Juan Román Riquelme Juliano Belletti Edmílson Ronaldinho Ludovic Giuly Emmanuel Petit Lilian Thuram Rüştü Reçber Robert Enke Francesco Coco Demetrio Albertini Gianluca Zambrotta Phillip Cocu Edgar Davids Patrick Kluivert Marc Overmars Michael Reiziger Mark van Bommel Giovanni van Bronckhorst Ricardo Quaresma Simão Deco Patrik Andersson Henrik Larsson

World Cup winners

Two players have won the FIFA World Cup whilst F.C. Barcelona players:

• Romário (USA 1994)
• Rivaldo (Korea-Japan 2002)

European Championship winners

Six players have won the European Championship whilst at F.C. Barcelona, all with Spain:

• Jesús María Pereda (1964)
• Josep Fusté (1964)
• Fernando Olivella (1964)
• Carles Puyol (2008)
• Xavi Hernández (2008)
• Andrés Iniesta (2008)

See also

• List of fan-owned sports teams
• Supporters of FC Barcelona
• Richest football clubs

Sources

• Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (2003), Phil Ball.
• Barça: A People’s Passion (1998), Jimmy Burns.

External links

• Camp Nou Stadium from Satellite
• Official club website Template:Ca icon/Template:Es icon/Template:En icon/Template:Ja icon/Template:Cn icon/Template:Ko icon/Template:Ar icon
• FC Barcelona fans forum
• Fútbol Club Barcelona at the Liga de Fútbol Profesional official website
• FC Barcelona at the UEFA official website
• Official Club US Store
• Russian-speaking site about Barcelona

News sites

• F.C. Barcelona news from Marca Template:Es
• F.C. Barcelona news from AS Template:Es