The club was founded by Joan Gamper, a Swiss national, at the end of the 19th century. Often known by its fans as "Barça", FC Barcelona has enjoyed huge support, particularly in Catalonia, but one of the periods often looked back on with fierce pride is from the late 1980s when the club enjoyed a renaissance in Spain as well as Europe. This was the period known as the "Dream team" era after Johan Cruyff was taken on as manager and built his team on fundamentals he'd learnt in Holland.
Cruyff's squad was only gained the "Dream Team" monikor after the 1992 Olympics, which were hosted by Barcelona, after the US basketball squad. As well as Spanish players such as Pep Guadiola, Txiki Beguiristain, Jose Mari Bakero and Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, as wel as Romanian Gheorghe Hagi, Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov, Dutchman Ronald Koeman, Brazilian Romario, and Dane Michael Laudrup.
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The Dream team had a remarkable string of titles, winning the Spanish league four years straight between 1991 and 1994; they beat Sampdoria to take the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup in 1989; a Ronald Koeman free kick at Wembley Stadium gave Barça the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup, the forerunner the Champions League; the 1990 Copa del Rey (King's Cup); 1992's European Supercup; and they were three times winner of the Spanish Supercup, which is played between the winners of the Copa del Rey and the Spanish League.
The Dream Team's accomplishments are still open to speculation. The players were certainly a factor, but much of their success was to do with their manager; while none displayed the kinds of ego we are sometimes used to on footballers, that must be at least in part to Cruyff's strong management skills.
Barça fans loved Cruyff for severla reasons; certainly he was a world class player he stated that he could never have played for Real Madrid thanks to its support by General Franco, the Spanish dictator - he later refused to play in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina because of the military Junta.
Added to that he have his son a Catalan name, Jordi, which added to his popularity. And on the pitch Cruyff excelled, helping beat Real Madrid 5-0 at the Bernabeu stadium and going on to win their first Spanish League title in 14 years, and recieving the honour of European Footballer of the Year.
Perhaps the biggest reason for Cruyff's success - and indeed, his biggest contribution to the club - was in introducing "total football", which he had learnt while playing for Ajax. This style of play is extremely tactical and fluid; if a player is out of position any other player can move into his position making it a very dynamic style of play.
To this day supports still look back on the Dream Team with fondness. While some of the glory was recaptured under Frank Rijkarrd, he didn't quite live up to some expectations. However, Pep Guardiola, who replaced him, has easily met up to expectations although his relatively short time as coach has yet to claim as many titles.Most Barça supporters look back on the Dream Team era fondly and for a while they believed that they had a new Dream team under Frank Rijkaard. However, the hopes of the supporters were never met and despite some noteable successes, Rijkaard was eventually sacked to be replaced by one of the Dream team, Pep Guardiola who has had considerable success since taking over.
More than a club. It's difficult to imagine this motto fitting any other team in the world as well as it does FC Barcelona. A Catalan sports club (though we know it from its football team) founded by a Swiss footballer while on a vacation to visit his uncle in Barcelona, the team was an immediate success through its mix of Catalan, Swiss, and English personalities and influences. Within two years, Barça had won its first hardware and has been, along with Real Madrid, one half of one of the world's greatest sporting rivalries for over 100 years, though league play between the two has only been going on for approx 80 years.
However, despite the seemingly endless lists of honors (including 18 La Liga championships, 4 Cup Winners' Cups, and 24 Copa del Rey championships) and stars that have played for the team (including Ronaldo, Romario, Rivaldo, Maradona, Cruyff, Stoitchkov, Figo, and Hagi, among others), what makes Barça more than a club is its history and relationship with the people of Catalonia.
The northeast region of Spain is famous for many things, but the prime reason we even know that it exists is a result of its location. For hundreds of years, Catalan was a major power in Mediterranean (and for several hundred years that meant "world") trade; a combination of industry and trade brought the region wealth for its people and gave them a "global" perspective of life in general. The willingness to accept others, improve with diversification, and appreciate outside perspectives and ideas helped forge the identity and philosophy of the region.
FC Barcelona was not only created in this environment, but it prospered by directly embracing the attitudes of the people who followed the team. Joan Gamper,the Swiss founder of the club, fell in love with Barcelona and its heritage, moving to the city and learning the Catalan language. In fact, Joan (a name familiar to Spanish citizens as a masculine name compared to the Joan Melissa Hart usage in America) is the name HANS Kamper took after moving to Spain, so devoted was he to his new culture.
Celebrating Catalan nationalism, however, wasn't acceptable to the powers in Madrid, and the team's success both on the field and off (fans have been extremely pleased and supportive of the team since its origins) was attacked by Castilian leaders from the time of the kingdom (with General de Rivera seizing power of the city, banning the flag and language from the region) to Franco's regime (with Franco's men-at-arms arresting and executing FC Barcelona's president, Josep Sunyol). Franco also had Barca's trophies destroyed, installed one of his men as president of the club, removed the Catalan flag from the team's crest, and changed the club's name from FC Barcelona to "Club de Football Barcelona" (that is, they took their identity and gave the club a Castilian Spanish name).
In 1943, after a threat from the director of state security, Barcelona lost to Franco's favorite team (he was obsessed with them), Real Madrid by a score of 11-1. For decades, the seat of Spanish power was intertwined with Real Madrid – how many games and championships do you think Real "won" thanks to threats and bribes over the last century?
In 1953, the greatest player of the 50s, Alfredo Di Stefano, signed a deal with Barça to transfer over from River Plate. The Franco regime would not stand for this and the government stepped in, preventing the transfer. In the meantime, Santiago Bernabéu (yes, that one) who was president of Real Madrid at the time, worked out a deal with Di Stefano that was more "government friendly" and signed the Argentinean great to play for Real instead. There was some wrangling back and forth over this travesty, with the government eventually giving in and saying Di Stefano could play 2 years for Real and 2 for Barca (with the implication being that after the 4 year contract was up, he'd stay with Real Madrid). However, behind-the-scenes pressure from the government made even this ridiculous compromise unavailable to Barcelona. Di Stefano went on to score 219 goals for Real Madrid, while the team won five champions leagues and eight La Ligas during his tenure with the club.
While all of this sounds like a long whine about the Castilian's actions against Barcelona, the real importance of the team's history is how well it has supported, and been supported by, its fans. Unlike the Basques, Catalans protested peacefully, both at the stadium and in their private lives. Instead of shutting down and shutting out the rest of the world, the Catalan region welcomed immigrants, expanded industry, and grew financially. Tourism exploded, the culture of arts and expression continued to expand, and the city's love for its team grew more with each challenge.
When listening to debate over the influence of ‘foreigners' in football – whether it involves Russian and American billionaires buying English teams, or non-Americans playing in MLS – keep in mind that Barcelona's phenomenon of winning with Dutch managers, Brazilian stars, French and Cameroon international players is nothing new. The club has reflected its city's spirit of greatness through diversity, of playing a beautiful game in a style befitting its fans. It is one reason why both players and fans either "get it" and become Barça fans for life, or don't (and normally leave the city relatively quickly).
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Despite every other major club in Europe carrying a sponsor's logo on their shirts, Barça displayed nothing but the team colors and crest for over 100 years. Just recently, one word has been introduced to the team's shirts: Unicef. This is a fitting way to summarize the history of FC Barcelona.
History of the Club
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.
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.
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.
After the Spanish Civil War, the Catalan flag was 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.
In 1943, Barcelona faced rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Copa del Generalísimo.
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 Francisco Franco.
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.
In the pre-season of 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 the club's new manager.
Rivalries
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, 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.
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, with an outstanding participation of Xavi Hernández who distributed the balls and participating in four goals.
On 27th of May FC Barcelona accomplished a long dreamed goal of winning a treble for the first time in their history.
Road to winning the Spanish league was not an easy one. Barca`s fierce rivals from Madrid kept pressing until the big "El Clasico" match at Santiago Bernabeu where Pep Guardiola`s men came truimphant in a 6-2 win.
Only few days later FC Barcelona faced Chelsea in Champions league semi-final return leg at Stamford Bridge. After an early opener from Chelsea, Barca struggled to find their groove and it took a late goal from Andres Iniesta to secure a ticket for the final where FC Barcelona defeated Manchester United with a dominating performance.
Less than a month since those great achievements, FC Barcelona officials are looking to strengthen their squad in order to keep the team hungry for more titles.
Russian international and Arsenal`s left forward Andrei Arshavin is the latest name that made the list of potential Barca signings. The Russian was linked with a move to Barcelona over a year ago when he impressed the World with his magnificent performances in Euro2008. What happened next was a rare incident in European football. Andrei Arshavin, then member of Zenit Petersburg took a picture of himself with FC Barcelona shirt and made it public that he wishes to move to Barcelona. From that point, the Catalans seemed certain to sign the Russian but eventually dropped out of the race. Six months, Arshavin was signed by Arsenal for a fee of 15 million euros.
On 27th of May FC Barcelona accomplished a long dreamed goal of winning a treble for the first time in their history.
Road to winning the Spanish league was not an easy one. Barca`s fierce rivals from Madrid kept pressing until the big "El Clasico" match at Santiago Bernabeu where Pep Guardiola`s men came truimphant in a 6-2 win.
Only few days later FC Barcelona faced Chelsea in Champions league semi-final return leg at Stamford Bridge. After an early opener from Chelsea, Barca struggled to find their groove and it took a late goal from Andres Iniesta to secure a ticket for the final where FC Barcelona defeated Manchester United with a dominating performance.
Less than a month since those great achievements, FC Barcelona officials are looking to strengthen their squad in order to keep the team hungry for more titles.
Russian international and Arsenal`s left forward Andrei Arshavin is the latest name that made the list of potential Barca signings. The Russian was linked with a move to Barcelona over a year ago when he impressed the World with his magnificent performances in Euro2008. What happened next was a rare incident in European football. Andrei Arshavin, then member of Zenit Petersburg took a picture of himself with FC Barcelona shirt and made it public that he wishes to move to Barcelona. From that point, the Catalans seemed certain to sign the Russian but eventually dropped out of the race. Six months, Arshavin was signed by Arsenal for a fee of 15 million euros.
FC Barcelona and Barca is also known as the Futbol Club Barcelona. This is a recognized football team and has its base in Catalonia, region of Spain. This team has become a symbol of Catalan nationalism, due its great success and of course the popularity rather its craze among the people. The team has an uplifting motto "Mes que un club" that just means "more than a club". This successful football team was started by Joan Gamper on November 29, 1899. Joan Gamper was a football fan from Switzerland and he himself didn't realize that his dream team would become so popular among the masses and would have such a big fan following. There is a Catalan word called cules which means 'asses' is used for the fans of the club. This funny name arose in the mid twenties by the Barca followers when they sat in the top line of the football ground with their ass was visible to the passersby. Under Franco's dictatorship, the team's name was forcibly changed to Club de Futbol Barcelona in 1939 and the Catalan symbols and language was banned too . Even the flag of Catalan was removed from the club's shield. The stadium was the ultimate place to be during fanco's reign and the language of Catalan could be spoken freely and even the flag was displayed. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two most thriving and popular Spanish teams but as well they are ferocious challengers on and off the field. The real Madrid became the symbol of nationalism and favored the regime of Franco whereas Barca opposed Franco and that was when the rivalry started. This rivalry started back in the past but still leaves its symbol. The Barcas beat Real Madrid in 1968 by a score of 1- under the coaching of Salvador Artigas. The ground of Barca, constructed in 1957 was known as the Camp Nou. It has a capacity of 98,000 and comes up to be Europe's largest stadium and world's third largest stadium. It was a great accomplishment for Barca and few memorable matches were played at the ground. The club got its old name back to Futbol Cub Barcelona in 1974. Right from the start the club has stayed with its principal of not advertising on the uniform for the corporate sponsors in contrast to other teams. It was only in 14 July, 2006 that the team agreed to advertise on its uniform as it had a noble cause to it. The club announced a contract with the UNICEF that is a major international group to help youngsters. EUR1.5 million per year is donated by the team to the organization. It's mandatory for all the team members to learn the Catalan language according to the president of the club Mr. Joan Laporta who is a proclaimed nationalist himself. From the ticket sale between the matches of FC Barcelona and real Madrid, a portion is donated to Federacio Llull. It is an institution that promotes the Catalan language.
