Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔl ˈklub bəɾsəˈlonə] (listen)), commonly known as Barcelona, commonly known as Barcelona ([ˈbaɾsə]), is a professional football club located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The Liga is the top division of Spanish football.
Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism , hence the motto “Més que un club” (“Not just a club”). . Unlike many other football clubs, the fans own and run Barcelona. It is the fourth most valuable sports team in the world, worth $4.76 billion, and the fourth richest football club in the world by revenue, with annual revenues of €582.1 million. [2][3] The official national anthem of Barcelona is “Cant del Barça”, composed by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. [4] Barcelona traditionally play with dark blue and garnet stripes, hence the name Blaugrana.
Domestically, Barcelona have won a record 76 trophies: 26 La Liga titles, 31 Copa del Rey titles, 14 Spanish Super Cups, 3 Duarte Cups and 2 La Liga titles, with the last four record holder. In international club football, the club has won 22 European and world titles: five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four European Cup Winners’ Cup titles, a record five UEFA Super Cup titles, a record three international City Fairs Cup winner, 1 joint record 2 Latin Cups and 3 FIFA Club World Cups. [5] Barcelona ranked first in the FIFA Club World Rankings in 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and in the UEFA Club Rankings median since February 2023 Column seventh [6][7][8]. ] The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid and the games between the two teams are known as El Clásico.
Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world and the club has one of the largest social media fan bases in the world. [9][10] Barcelona players have won a record 12 Ballon d’Ors, including Johan Cruyff, and a record seven FIFA World Player of the Year awards, including Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. In 2010, three players who graduated from the club’s youth academy (Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi) were voted top players in the world at the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards ceremony. Three players, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football academy. In addition, players representing the club won a record eight European Golden Boots.
Barcelona is one of the three founding members of La Liga, the others being Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, which have never been relegated from the top flight since their formation in 1929. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the European Triple Crown consisting of La Liga, King’s Cup and Champions League. It also became the first Spanish football club to win six consecutive championships in six events in a single year, and won the championship at the same time. Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup[11] In 2011, the club became European champions again, winning five trophies. This Barcelona team won fourteen trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola and is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time. [12][13][14] In 2015, Barcelona won the Champions League trophy for the fifth time under the leadership of Luis Enrique, becoming the first European team in history to win the Champions League Triple Crown twice. soccer club
On October 22, 1899, Swiss Hans Gamper advertised in Los Deportes expressing his desire to start a football club. The positive response led to a meeting at Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players took part – Walter Wild (the club’s first director), Luis de Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons and William Parsons – Barcelona football club is born
FC Barcelona have made a successful start in regional and national cup competitions, taking part in the Catalan Championship and the Copa del Rey. In 1901 the club participated in the first ever football competition in the Iberian peninsula, the Macaya Cup, losing narrowly to Hispania AC, but the following year Barça won the competition, the club’s first silver medal.[ 18]. ] Then took part in the first Copa del Rey, losing 2-1 in the final to Bizcaya (combination of Athletic and FC Bilbao players). In 1908, Hans Gamper – now known as Joan Gamper – became club president, desperate to save Barcelona from sinking, and he found the club not only struggling on the pitch, And struggling financially and socially, the club has been buoyant since the Catalan Campionat didn’t win a single game in 1905. “Barcelona can’t die and can’t die,” he told a conference. “He was at his peak five times, from 1908 to 1925, for a total of 25 years.” One of his greatest achievements was getting Barcelona to buy their stadium And get a stable income. [twenty one]
On March 14, 1909, the team moved to the Camp de la Indústria, an 8,000-capacity stadium. To celebrate their new surroundings, the club held a flag competition the following year. Carles Comamala won the race and his proposal became the badge the club still wears today, with some minor modifications. [twenty two]
The stadium is credited with being a major factor in helping the club grow and become the dominant team in the 1910s[23], winning three consecutive Catalan titles between 1909 and 1911 and the King’s four times between 1910 and 1913 cup champion,Winner of the King’s Cup four times Hosted the Pyrenees Cup consecutively from 1910 to 1913, one of the first international club cups in Europe as it brought together players from the Languedoc, Midi and Aquitaine (South of France) , the best teams of the Basque Country and Catalonia; they are all former members of the Marca Hispanica region. This game was the most prestigious at the time. [24] Famous figures in Barcelona’s first big team included Carles Comamara, Alfredo Massana, Amechazulla, Paco Bleu and Jack Greenwell. [25] The latter became the club’s first full-time manager in 1917.
During the same period, the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan, which gradually became an important symbol of Catalan identity. For many fans, being part of a club has less to do with the game itself and more about being part of the club’s collective identity. [27] On 4 February 1917, the club held its first tribute match in honor of Ramón Torralba, who played between 1913 and 1928. The match was against local side Terrassa, which Barcelona won 6-2.
Gamper also launched a campaign to recruit more club members, and by 1922 the club had more than 20,000 people who helped fund a new stadium. The club then moved to the new Les Cortes, which was inaugurated that same year. Les Cortes had an initial capacity of 30,000 and expanded to 60,000 in the 1940s. [30]
In 1912, Gamper recruited the seventh top scorer in history, Paulino Alcántara, and in 1917, Gamper also recruited Jack Greenwell as Barcelona’s all-time top scorer. full-time head coach. After this attitude, the club’s fortunes on the field began to improve, and soon ushered in the first “golden age”. In addition to Alcantara, Greenville’s Barcelona squad also includes Sagui Barba, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Felix Sezumaga and Franz Platko. 31]. The team won nine of the ten Catalan championships between 1919 and 1928 and two Copa del Rey titles in 1920 and 1922. In Gamper’s era, Barcelona won a total of 11 Catalan Championships, 6 Copa del Rey titles and 4 Pyrenees Cups
On June 14, 1925, crowds in the stadium mocked the Royal March as a spontaneous reaction to Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship. In retaliation, the website was shut down for six months and Gamper was forced to resign as club president. [33] This coincided with the transition to professional football, and in 1926, for the first time, Barcelona’s directors made a public claim to run a professional football club.
On July 3, 1927, the club hosted Paulino Alcantara’s second monumental match against the Spanish national team. Local reporter and pilot Josep Canudas threw the ball onto the field from his plane as the game kicked off. [34] In 1928, the victory of the Spanish Cup was celebrated with a poem entitled “Oda a Platko”, written by Generation 27 member Rafael Alberti, inspired by Barcelona goalkeeper Franz • Bravery by Franz Platko. 35] On June 23, 1929, Barcelona won its first Spanish league title. A year after winning the championship, on July 30, 1930, Gamper committed suicide after a period of depression caused by personal and financial problems. [twenty one]
Although they continue to have players at the level of Josep Escolà, the club is now entering a period of decline, with political conflicts clouding the sport across society. Participation in the race fell as Barcelona citizens were busy discussing political issues. [36] Although the team won the Campionat de Catalunya in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938,[32] they were unsuccessful at the national level (except for the controversial 1937 ).
A month after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, several players from Barcelona joined with those from Athletic Bilbao to fight the military uprising. [37] On 6 August, near Guadarrama, Falangist soldiers assassinated the club’s president, Josep Sunyol, a representative of the pro-independence party. [38] Known as a martyr of Barcelonaism, his assassination marked a pivotal moment in the history of FC Barcelona and Catalan identity. [39] In the summer of 1937, the team visited Mexico and the United States, where they were received as ambassadors of the Second Spanish Republic. The tour led to financial security for the clubs but also resulted in half the squad seeking asylum in Mexico and France, making it harder for the remaining teams to compete for trophies.
On March 16, 1938, Barcelona was bombed from the air by the Italian Air Force, killing more than 3,000 people, with one of the bombs hitting the club’s offices. A few months later, Catalonia was occupied and, as a symbol of “loose” Catalanism, the club now has just 3,486 members and faces a series of restrictions. All signs of regional nationalism, including languages, flags and other signs of separatism, are banned in Spain. The Catalan flag was banned and clubs banned from using non-Spanish names. The measures forced the club to change its name to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and remove the Catalan flag from its crest
In 1943, Barcelona met their bitter rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Copa del General (now the Copa del Rey). Les Corts’ first match was won 3-0 by Barcelona. Real Madrid easily won the second leg, beating Barcelona 11-1. [45] According to football writer Sid Lowe, “The game has rarely been mentioned [since] It was not a result that Madrid particularly celebrated. In fact, 11-1 occupies a more prominent place in Barcelona’s history. It was a match that for the first time identified Madrid as the team of dictatorship, with Barcelona as its victim. “[46] Local journalist Paco Aguilar claimed that Barcelona’s players were threatened by the police in the dressing room, although nothing has been substantiated.
