FC Barcelona (Spain)

Futbol Club Barcelona is one of the biggest football clubs in the world with a rich and successful history. They were formed on November 29th 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish football enthusiasts led by Joan Gamper in the Catalan city.

The team started out life competing in the regional Campionat de Catalunya; becoming champions in 1905, but by 1908 Barça were in danger of extinction. Gamper took over as President with the threat of bankruptcy hanging over the club.

Barcelona moved into their own home ground for the first time in 1909. The club held a competition to create a new club logo to celebrate the opening of Camp de la Indústria; with Carles Comamala coming up with the winning entry.

With Gamper overseeing the team, Barça lifted the Copa Del Rey for the first time in 1910 with victory against Español de Madrid. In 1912 Gimnástica were defeated before Real Sociedad were seen off the following year.

Gamper was also at the helm as the club collected the Campionat de Catalunya on seven occasions, before the Englishman, Jack Greenwell became the clubs first full time coach in 1917, at a time that Barça decided to use the Catalan language in preference to Castilian.

Greenwell’s side lifted the Copa Del Rey in 1920 against Athletic Bilbao, before winning the competition for a fifth time two years later after defeating Real Unión. The team also won a further four Campionat de Catalunya titles during his reign.

Meanwhile, Gamper had set about increasing the club membership. By 1922 he’d achieved his aims, which enabled the club to move to their new Camp de Les Corts stadium; which was inaugurated with a game against St Mirren on May 13th 1923.

Another Englishman; Alf Spouncer took over as manager as the team won another Campionat de Catalunya. Jesza Poszony was in charge as Barça collected another regional title and the 1924 Copa Del Rey with a win over Arenas.

Barcelona had Les Corts closed for six months after supporters had jeered the Spanish Royal March at a game in June 1925 in protest at the Spanish dictatorship at the time. Gamper was forced to leave the country and resign his presidency.

Ralph Kirby was in charge of the team that won another Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa Del Rey of 1926 following a win against Atlético Madrid. Jack Dumby took over from Kirby; winning another regional league before he was replaced by Romà Forns.

The new man spent three years as coach. Forns team won the Campionat de Catalunya, the Copa Del Rey against Real Sociedad in 1928, before Barça became the first ever national champions when they won the Primera División of 1929; as La Liga was titled at the time.

Gamper had returned to the city, where he committed suicide in 1930 after spells of depression and financial problems. The team went on to win another six Campionat de Catalunya titles in the decade.

Manager’s James Bellamy, a returning Greenwell and then Dumby, Franz Platko and Patrick O’Connell all had spells in charge of the side, before the club and country became involved in the Spanish Civil War.

Club president, Josep Sunyol was murdered by Franco’s troops in 1936, as attendances and membership levels dropped. The team embarked on a tour of Mexico in 1937; which saw several players claim political asylum.

On March 16th 1938, fascists dropped a bomb on the club's offices and caused significant destruction. A few months later, Barcelona became 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.

After the war the club were forcibly made to change their name to Club de Futbol Barcelona as non Spanish names were banned along with the Catalan flag; which was also removed from the club crest.

Josep Planas, Ramón Guzmán and Joan Josep Nogués were the next three team bosses. Nogués was in charge in 1943, as Barcelona faced bitter rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Copa Del Generalisimo; as the Copa Del Rey had been retitled.

Barça won 3-0 at Les Corts. 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'. Under these conditions, Real Madrid dominated the match, thrashing Barça with a 11–1 win.

The fans supported strikes and any stances against Franco throughout this difficult period, as the club became the symbol of Catalonia. Josep Samitier led Barcelona to their second La Liga title in 1944-45 as the club gradually recovered.

Two further league titles were won in 1947-48 and 1948-49 under Uruguayan coach Enrique Fernández, before he was succeeded by the Czech, Ferdinand Daučík. Barcelona won La Liga titles in 1951-52 and 1952-53 under him.

The Daučík reign also heralded more successes in the Copa Del Rey, with Barça lifting the trophy for three successive seasons starting in 1950-51 with wins over Real Sociedad, Valencia CF and Atlético Bilbao.

In 1953 Barcelona became involved in a transfer saga that would court controversy for many years going forward. It had appeared that the club had signed Alfredo di Stefano from Millonarios in Colombia until FIFA stepped in to settle the dispute.

FIFA ruled that he should play for each club for two years. Barcelona allowed him to go full time to Madrid. It is maintained in Barca that the decision was made following pressure from Franco's government who strongly backed Real.

Valencia defeated Barcelona in the 1954 final, to stop it from being four in a row. César, Ramallets, Velasco and Hungarian signing László Kubala were the stars of the show who attracted big crowds back to Les Courts.

The demands had led to the building of Camp Nou; less than a mile along the road from Les Corts. The new stadium opened in 1957 but the construction meant that money was scarce for new signings; despite the team defeating Español to lift the Copa Del Rey at Montjuïc under coach Domingo Balmanya.

Di Stefano and Ferenc Puscas were the stars at Real Madrid as they dominated Spanish and European football. Despite this, Barça completed the league and cup double in 1958-59; as Granada CF were beaten in the Copa Del Rey final as the Argentinian Helenio Herrera took charge of the team.

His team also lifted Barcelona’s first ever major European honour; the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, with an aggregate win against a London XI, with youngsters Luis Suárez Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor coming to the fore.

Josep Gonzalvo’s led the side to the 1962-63 Copa Del Rey with a win against Real Zaragoza, as youngsters Josep Maria Fusté and Carles Rexach developed.

Enric Rabassa, Ljubiša Broćić, Enrique Orizaola, Luis Miró and Ladislao Kubala all failed to deliver any trophies to Camp Nou; before the side led by Salvador Artigas won the Copa Del Rey in 1967-68 with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

The victory was especially sweet as Artigas had been a republican pilot during the Civil War, and Generalísimo Franco attended the game. The match was marred as missiles reigned down from the stands.

The team went on to lift a further Copa Del Rey in 1970-71 with a 4-1 win against Valencia CF. A couple of barren seasons followed as Dutchman Rinus Michels was appointed coach, before the club broke the world record transfer fee in the summer of 1973 with the signing of Johan Cruyff from Ajax.

Cruyff became an instant hero by stating that he could never sign for Real Madrid as they were associated with the Franco regime and named his son Jordi after the local Catalan Saint George. Barça won the 1973-74 league title; for the first time since 1960.

The highlight of the season was a 5-0 win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu; which can be viewed here. Cruyff was crowned European Footballer of the Year. The club reverted to Futbol Club Barcelona as Franco’s dictatorship came to an end a memorable year.

Hennes Weisweiler and Laureano Ruiz both had spells as head coach before Michels returned in 1976; with fellow Dutchman Johan Neeskens signing at the same time. The team won the 1977-78 Copa Del Rey as Las Palmas were defeated.

Lucien Muller replaced Michels, before Joaquim Rifé came in before the end of the 1978-79 campaign. Barça were on a run in the European Cup Winners Cup; where FC Shakhtar Donetsk, RSC Anderlecht, Ipswich Town and K.S.K. Beveren had been dispatched.

Barcelona won the final 4-3 after extra time against Fortuna Düsseldorf in Basel; with Tente Sánchez, Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach and Hans Krankl scoring the goals. The club had earlier appointed their first ever elected President; in the shape of Josep Lluís Núñez.

Núñez immediately invested in converting the La Masia training ground as dormitories for overseas youngsters to train at the club. Helenio Herrera was in his second brief spell in charge of the team when the 1980-81 Copa Del Rey was won with victory over Sporting Gijón.

Udo Lattek arrived at the club and led the side to a second Cup Winners Cup triumph, in 1981-82 as Standard Liège were defeated 2-1 at Camp Nou in front of 100,000 spectators. The goals came from Allan Simonsen and Quini.

Diego Maradona was signed in the summer of 1982, with fellow Argentinian César Luis Menotti coming in as coach. The team won the 1982-83 Copa Del Rey 2-1 against Real Madrid thanks to goals from Víctor Muñoz and Marcos.

Terry Venables arrived as coach in June 1984; taking Barça to the La Liga title in his first season at the helm. In 1985-86 Barcelona reached the European Cup final but were defeated on penalties to Steaua București in Seville.

The club signed Gary Lineker after the 1986 World Cup to link up with Steve Archibald, Bernd Schuster, Andoni Zubizarreta and Mark Hughes. Luis Aragonés came in as coach in September 1987 and took the team to the Copa Del Rey a few months later with a win against Real Sociedad.

The legendary Johan Cruyff returned to lead the team in May 1988 to oversee a golden era and a change in football philosophy. He would use a mix of Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero and Txiki Begiristain with overseas signings such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov.

Sampdoria were defeated 2-0 in the final of the 1988-89 Cup Winners Cup in Bern before the La Liga title was lifted in the 1990-91 season; as well as winning the Copa Del Rey against Real Madrid. The La Liga title was regained in 1991-92.

Finally, Barcelona won the competition they’d always dreamed of, as Sampdoria were defeated 1-0 at Wembley, as extra time free kick from Koeman sent the famous trophy to Catalonia.

The acclaimed “Dream Team” continued in similar vain as the La Liga championship was won in 1992-93 and 1993-94, to make it four in a row. However, the honours dried up, and Cruyff fell out with Núñez in his final two years. Bobby Robson was appointed as the new head coach in May 1996.

Robson signed Brazilian youngster Ronaldo from his former club PSV, as Barcelona won the 1996-97 Copa Del Rey against Real Betis. The 1996-97 season also saw Barça win the Cup Winners Cup on a fourth occasion, as they defeated Paris St Germain in Rotterdam, thanks to a solitary Ronaldo goal.

The Copa Del Rey was retained the following season, as Real Mallorca were defeated as Louis van Gaal took charge of the team, as well as lifting the La Liga crown for a fifteenth time. The team won the title once again in 1998-99.

News stars such as Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo played a large part in the triumphs, before Van Gaal departed in May 2000, before returning for a later short spell. The unpopular Núñez departed at the same time along with new arch villain Figo, who moved to Real Madrid.

The club went on to employ Llorenç Serra Ferrer and Radomir Antić as well as perennial caretaker Rexach during a barren spell, before deciding to return to the Cruyff style of play by appointing former star player Rijkaard in June 2003.

President Joan Gaspart had been replaced by the younger Joan Laporta, who oversaw the exciting signings of Ronaldinho, Deco, Henrik Larsson, Ludovic Giuly, Samuel Eto'o and Rafael Márquez. They mixed well with locals Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Víctor Valdés.

Rijkaard’s side collected the La Liga in 2004-05 before reaching greater glories in 2005-06. The league title was kept at Camp Nou before the Champions League was won with a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Stade de France with goals from Eto'o and Juliano Belletti.

Young star Lionel Messi made his way into the team and quickly made an impact. However, no further trophies were amassed, with Rijkaard being replaced by former protégée and Barcelona B coach Pep Guardiola in June 2008.

Gerard Piqué arrived to play at the back as Guardiola instilled a fast pressurised passing game. The team completed an amazing 6-2 victory away to Real Madrid in El Clásico; which can be viewed here.

The 2008-09 was possibly the greatest in the history of the club. The La Liga title was won, along with the Copa Del Rey after victory against Athletic Bilbao. The crowing glory came as Barcelona became champions of Europe for a third time as they won the Champions League final against Manchester United in Rome with goals from Messi and Eto'o.

Barça won further La Liga titles in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to complete three in a row. The team lifted another Champions League at Wembley Stadium in May 2011, when they demolished Manchester United 3-1.

Goals from Pedro, Messi and David Villa did the damage in a performance that old timers described as the best they'd ever seen. Messi, Iniesta and Xavi were simply amazing.

It looked like Barca would go on to retain their crown the following season, but they were stopped in their tracks in the semi final by Chelsea in dramatic fashion. The Spanish title was also given up as Real Madrid proved victorious. Consolation came as the team won the Copa Del Rey against Athletic Bilbao.

At the end of the season former player and head coach Pep Guardiola moved aside to be replaced by his right hand man Tito Vilanova. Tragedy hit the club as Vilanova contracted throat cancer forcing him to resign following the clubs twenty second title win. In July 2013 Gerarda 'Tata' Martino was named as the new head coach following the signing of Neymar.

FIFA installed strict transfer restrictions on the club the following April owing to a violation of signing players under eighteen years of age. Vilanova lost his brave fight for life a few weeks later, before the league title was lost in the final game to Atletico Madrid.

Barca's marquee signing in the summer of 2014 came in the shape of Luis Suarez, as Messi continued to vie with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the title of the world’s best player and both teams continued their intense rivalry.

Another former player, Luis Enrique became the new head coach; leading the club to La Liga glory in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. Both of those successes were matched with Copa Del Rey triumphs.

Barcelona also won the Champions League once again in May 2015 as they slowly tortured an excellent Juventus team in Berlin’s Olimpiastadion. The goals came from Ivan Rakitić, Suárez and Neymar.

Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla were the beaten finalists, before Deportivo Alavés were defeated in 2016-17 as Barcelona lifted the trophy for a twenty ninth time. Enrique was replaced by formed Athletic Bilbao boss Ernesto Valverde in May 2017.

In August 2017, Neymar was sold for an astonishing €222 million to Paris St Germain. Philippe Coutinho was signed from Liverpool in January 2018 as the team went on to lift their twenty fifth league title with Suárez and Messi leading the scoring in 2017-18.

Barca retained the La Liga title in 2018-19. However, they let go a 3-0 advantage to Liverpool in the semi-final of the Champions League. Valencia defeated the team in the final of the Copa del Rey.

Quique Setién took over as manager in January 2020 as Barca ended as league runners-up and were given a rude awakening with a 8-2 humiliation handed out by Bayern München in the Round of 16 in the Champions League.

Rumours of unrest were rife, with the club also declaring huge financial issues prior to the club Presidential election after Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned from the post a couple of months after Ronald Koeman was appointed as the new head coach.

Bartomeu along with several former directors were arrested on charges of financial irregularities in March 2021 after former president Joan Laporta had returned to the post.

FC Barcelona will play in La Liga in the 2020-21 season.

My visits

October 2000

Ever since I became interested in football and realised there were teams in other countries, I wanted to visit the Camp Nou in Barcelona. I would spend hours looking at maps and pictures of the city. 

It was an obvious destination when I decide to go on a Eurorail adventure in October 2000. I stayed in a hostel off Las Ramblas and was soon on the Metro to Colblanc station. I made the short walk to the stadium and my first impression was one of anti climax. 

The outside walls were grey and soulless and not as high as I imagined. I went to the shop and offices and purchased a ticket for the museum which also has access into the main stand for a view of the stadium.

Once inside my opinions were very different. The reason for the wall height is that the stands and pitch are sunk into the ground below street level. It looked superb. The museum was also well worth a look with all the memorabilia you'd expect from one of the giants of the game. 

My only disappointment was that the Mini Estadi over the road that hosted the Barca "B" and junior sides was shut and I couldn't see inside.

FC Barcelona 4 UD Las Palmas 1 (Sunday 1st April 2001) La Liga (att: 55,000)

In 2001 I stayed in the city of Barcelona for a week, such were my favourable impressions on my previous visit. I wasn’t let down in the slightest having arrived on the last Wednesday of March. As I arrived there were Republic of Ireland fans waiting to go home at the airport having seen their team play Andorra at Barca’s Mini Estadi the previous evening.

One of my first tasks was to get the Metro up to the Camp Nou and try and obtain some match tickets. I had no problems at all getting one for Sunday’s La Liga encounter, but I failed miserably in the quest for a ticket for the following Thursday for the clash in the UEFA Cup with Liverpool.

After an excellent few days I went to the game on Sunday evening against a Las Palmas side starring Vinny Samways after I'd had a fine day out in the warm including getting a panoramic view of Camp Nou from Tibidabo mountaintop. 

I'd bought a super seat on the second tier behind the goal. Barca really put on a top class show, although it was nice when Las Palmas scored and the cheers of their estimated following of around 200 fans echoed from the top tier by the Main Stand.

I found a stand selling spicy sausages in bread and coke but that's as good as it got. On all my visits I found the concourse facilities to be fairly basic. I did however manage to get a free newspaper which was the closest the club produced in way of a programme. 

They were left out in piles free of charge on a first come first served basis for Penas (club members). I noticed just how many Barca fans also sported shirts of Argentine clubs, particularly River Plate in the bars nearby the stadium before and after the match.

Antonio Guayre gave the visitors a shock lead on seven minutes to awake Barca. Gabri headed home a corner from Xavi before a cross shot from Overmars sent the hosts down the tunnel ahead at the interval.

Frank de Boer set up Rivaldo with twenty minutes remaining to rifle home before Overmars set up Dani García three minutes later to round off the scoring. 

Barcelona: Pepe Reina, Frank de Boer, Sergi Barjuán, Michael Reiziger, Phillip Cocu, Gabri, Xavi, Luis Enrique, Rivaldo, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert. Manager: Lorenzo Serra Ferrer

Las Palmas: Nacho González, Álvaro, Tomás Olías, Gabriel Schürrer, Edu Alonso, Ángel López, Josico, Jorge Larena, Vinny Samways, Antonio Guayre, Souleymane Oulare. Manager Sergije Kresic

Referee: José María García-Aranda

Despite not finding a ticket for the Liverpool later game; I witnessed a tremendous atmosphere around the city, particularly along Las Ramblas on matchday. There were rumours of tickets been available, but the touts wanted a ridiculous amount for them. 

Instead I watched the game in The Shamrock, an Irish bar run and used by Spaniards as it was close to the university with Pedro a lovely host. The following morning I had the consolation of bumping into the Liverpool team as well as Sven Goran Eriksson at the airport waiting to fly back home. 

Nicky Barmby even guessed where I was from when I spoke to him, leading to a pleasant brief chat about his Dad; who was a legend in his playing days at Scarborough.

FC Barcelona 0 Celtic 0 (Thursday 25th March 2004) UEFA Cup (att: 77,108)

I went to this game with my mate Colm during our week long Spanish holiday. This was great fun for him but not fantastic for someone of blue persuasion! We arrived by plane after a night in Bilbao and went up to the stadium the following morning.

The ticket office was not selling any tickets as the game was officially sold out. However, there were Barca fans hanging around looking to sell on their own tickets obtained through season tickets for people who couldn’t make it on the night. 

Colm bought a ticket, but I was in too minds as they seemed extremely expensive and well over face value. We were walking back top the Metro when I decided to go back and try to barter. I bumped into an “agent” who was a really nice bloke from Belgium called Xavier.

I agreed to meet him the next day in a city centre hotel as he was awaiting to collect his tickets. He had official paperwork on him, so I strongly suspected he was doing deals with someone at the club. I eventually paid him €90 which worked out at £60. It was far too much, but I was on holiday and I reasoned it was yet another “once in a lifetime opportunity”.

Later that morning we did the full tour of the stadium which I found interesting. I love the walk on such tours onto the pitch and the Camp Nou sprang a surprise as we walked past a small church on the way down the tunnel. I suppose it's the ideal way to fit in that last minute plead to the Gods. 

We got to lift one of the replica European Cups that clubs are given when they win the trophy. A nice moment was when an English lady showed her obvious knowledge of changing rooms when she said, "they're not very good are they". I'm sure park players from around the world would give their right arm for the Barca facilities.

We had a good meal at a pub near to Plaça de Catalunya before heading off to the game; and leaving each other for the match in a wet Camp Nou. That was the biggest drawback with the stadium, with it not having a roof.

Celtic put up a heroic display as nineteen year old keeper David Marshall had a great game making several great saves. Young defender, John Kennedy, currently caretaker manager, also had an inspired night.

Henrik Larsson had a couple of opportunities to counter on rare attacks, but he was lacking that extra yard of pace. It was one of those nights for Barca. It wouldn’t have mattered what they tried. The football Gods were smiling on Celtic.

The atmosphere around Plaça de Joaquim Xirau around Flaherty’s was amazing with fans mingling with locals who were selling cans of local beer to save us queuing inside. It was a long night and it still gets a good mention after a couple of pints back home.

The atmosphere around town throughout the week was superb. We met up with some lads from Willesden and generally had a ball every day. We sought out some recommended bars for food and drink as well as taking in the sights. There seemed to be half of Glasgow there and they created a great buzz.

Barcelona: Victor Valdes, Michael Reiziger (Marc Overmars 53), Carles Puyol (Rafael Marquez 34), Oleguer Presas, Xavi, Philip Cocu, Gerard López, Gabri, Luis Enrique (Sergio Santamaría 64), Ronaldinho, Luis Garcia.

Celtic: David Marshall, John Kennedy, Jackie McNamara (Liam Miller 52), Stanislav Varga, Didier Agathe, Neil Lennon, Stephen Pearson, Stiliyan Petrov, Steven Thompson, Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton (Mohammed Sylla 83)

Referee: Domenico Messina (Italy)

Monday 22nd January 2018

It was the final full day of a long weekend visit to the wonderful city of Barcelona. Once again the weather was beautiful as I set out to finish off my football explorations and to take in some sightseeing.

A trip to the city wouldn't have been complete without at least a cursory glance at Camp Nou. I took the Metro from Liceu to Sants and walked along Travessera de les Corts to find myself outside the imposing façade of the stadium.

How things had changed since my first visit. The whole area outside was fenced off, with any visitors being directed the long way around to find the entrance for tours, tickets and the club store on C. d'Aristides Maillol.

I didn’t really have the time or interest to shell out for an expensive tour, so I just took a few photos from distance before catching a bus at Riera Blanca to Plaça Espanya to kick off my sightseeing day.

A little later in the day I came across an official souvenir shop by Sagradia Familia, which also had a small museum showing famous posters from throughout the years. It had free admission which made it an even better twenty minutes!