FC Barcelona

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FC Barcelona
Full name	Futbol Club Barcelona
Nickname(s)	Barça Blaugrana Culés
Founded	1899
Ground	Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
Capacity	98,787
Chairman	Joan Laporta
Head Coach	Frank Rijkaard
League	La Liga
2005-06	La Liga, 1st
Home colours 　 Away colours

Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça (IPA: baɾsa), is a Catalan sports club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is best known for its football team. It was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Catalan men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto Més que un club (More than a club). They were founding members of La Liga in 1928, and, together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from the Primera División. The club were also the first La Liga champions and were the 2005-2006 winners of the Champion's League.

The club's main stadium is the Camp Nou and the fans of FC Barcelona are known as culers or culés. In September 2006, the number of socis (club members/owners) reached 151,127, while in June 2006 the number of penyes (officially-registered supporter clubs) reached 1782 worldwide.

The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona B, a youth team FC Barcelona C and four other professional sports teams, Winterthur FCB (From 2007/8 AXA-Winterthur FCB), FC Barcelona-Cifec, FC Barcelona Futsal and FC Barcelona Sorli Discau that compete at basketball, handball, futsal and rink hockey respectively. There are also a number of prominent amateur sports teams that compete at rugby union, women's basketball, women's football and wheelchair basketball. These include FCB Rugby, UB-Barça 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 2005-06 season, FC Barcelona was the second richest club in the world with an estimated revenue of €259.1 million.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years (1899-1908) 1.2 The Gamper years (1908-1925) 1.3 CF Barcelona (1940-1973) 1.3.1 Development of the rivalry with Real Madrid 1.4 The arrival of Cruijff 1.5 The Núñez years 1.5.1 1978-1988 1.5.2 The Dream Team 1.5.3 1996-2000 1.6 Gaspart years (2000-2003) 1.7 The current era (2003-present) 2 Honours [2] [3] 3 Recent seasons 4 Current squad 2006/07 5 Personnel 5.1 Current technical staff 6 Former Personnel 6.1 Selected former presidents 6.2 Selected former managers 6.3 Selected former players 7 Sources 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early years (1899-1908)

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 Sole on November 29. Eleven players attended: Gualteri Wild, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, 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.

FC Barcelona quickly emerged as one of the leading clubs both Catalonia and Spain as they competed in both the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey. In 1901 they won their first trophy when they won the Copa Macaya and in 1902 they also played in the first Copa del Rey final, losing 2-1 to Club Vizcaya.

[edit] The Gamper years (1908-1925)

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 Campionat de Catalunya 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 Industria, a stadium with a capacity of 6,000. 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 Les Corts. This stadium had an initial capacity of 20,000, 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 Campionat de Catalunya, 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 Sagibarbá, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko.

[edit] CF Barcelona (1940-1973)

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 era one of the few places that Catalan could be spoken freely was within the club's stadium. 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. 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 Generalisimo, the Copa Latina and the Copa Eva Duarte in 1952. In 1953 they helped the club win La Liga and the Copa del Generalisimo again. The club also won the Copa del Generalisimo 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 game, thus ending their monopoly of the competition.

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 Generalisimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barça restored some pride by beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalisimo final at the Bernabéu. The club changed its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona in 1974.[1]

[edit] Development of the rivalry with Real Madrid

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in a national league and this is particularly the case in La Liga, between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, this game is also know as El Clasico. From the start the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions 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 Castilleans.

Both the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and especially of Francisco Franco, openly suppressed all regional identities (e.g. the peripheral languages were officially banned). Real Madrid, as the best representative of the sovereign conservatism, called rightfully the "regime team" (el equipo del gobierno). On the other hand, FC Barcelona was, and still is more than a club (mes que un club) for the Catalonia because it is one of its greatest ambassadors. A Barca win against Real Madrid meant for years a victory of democracy against the tyranny of a politically centralised and culturally uniform Spain so, since then, FC Barcelona is more than a club too, for many people living elsewhere in Spain, who see the club as a staunch defender of freedom.

However, during the Spanish Civil War itself, members of both clubs suffered at the hands of Franco supporters. In 1936 FC Barcelona president Josep Sunyol, a Republican, was murdered by Franco's forces. Rafael Sánchez Guerra, another prominent Republican and Real Madrid president at that time, was imprisoned and tortured. They also arrested and murdered a Real vice-president and club treasurer and an acting president disappeared.

During the 1950s the rivalry was exacerbated significantly when the clubs disputed the signing of Alfredo Di Stefano, 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 semi-final stage of the European Cup.

As nowadays FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two biggest and most successful clubs in Spain, the rivalry is renewed on an almost annual basis with both teams often challenging each other for the league championship.

See also El Clasico, Major football rivalries

[edit] The arrival of Cruijff

The 1973/74 season saw the arrival of a new Barça legend – Johan Cruijff. Already an established player with Ajax, Cruijff 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 twice in a row while at club.

• Real Madrid vs. Barcelona 0-5, 1974

[edit] The Núñez years

[edit] 1978-1988

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.

In 1979 and 1982 the club won two of four European Cup Winners' Cups won in the Núñez era. In 1982 Diego Maradona was signed for a world record fee from Boca Juniors. However his time with Barça was short-lived and unsuccessful 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. 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 Aragones. That season finished with a rebellion of the players against president Núñez known as the Motin del Hesperia and the 1-0 victory at the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad.

[edit] The Dream Team

In 1988 Johan Cruijff returned to the club as manager, assembling 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, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruijff has been the club's most successful manager to date. He is also the club's longest serving manager. However, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies and fell out with president Núñez, resulting in Cruijff's departure.

[edit] 1996-2000

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 Internazionale. 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 they retained the La Liga 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.

[edit] Gaspart years (2000-2003)

The departures of Nuñez 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 pig'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. Gaspart did not inspire confidence off the field either and in 2003 he and Van Gaal resigned.

[edit] The current era (2003-present)

After the disappointment of the Gaspart era, a combination of a new young president Joan Laporta and a relatively young new manager Frank Rijkaard saw the club bounce back. It was during this time, that Barça had gotten a tagline. It read Blaugrana Al Vent, which in Catalan, the official language of Barcelona, means The Red-Blue, Flowing In The Wind. But aside from that, on the field, an influx of talented players, such as Ronaldinho, Deco, Ludovic Giuly, and Samuel Eto'o, and experienced professionals, such as Rafael Márquez and Giovanni van Bronckhorst combined with a nucleus of home grown players, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Lionel Messi and Víctor Valdés saw the club return to success. Barça won La Liga/Supercopa de España doubles in both 2005 and 2006. In 2006 they also won the UEFA Champions League. Trailing 1-0 to Arsenal with less than 15 minutes left, they won 2-1 after the substitute Henrik Larsson set-up two late goals, one for Samuel Eto'o and the other for Juliano Belletti.

For the 2006/07 season, FC Barcelona has been reinforced with the arrival of Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, and the return of Javier Saviola ^[1].

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, and rejecting significant commercial offers to be the first shirt sponsor of the football team.

They took part in the FIFA Club World Cup 2006, making it to the final, only to be beaten by a late goal against Internacional.

[edit] Honours ^{[2] [3]}

Main article: FC Barcelona in Europe

• La Liga Champions: 18
  • 1929, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1960, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006

• Copa del Rey: 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

• Supercopa de España: 7
  • 1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006

• UEFA Champions League: 2
  • 1992, 2006

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 4
  • 1979, 1982, 1989, 1997

• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 3
  • 1958, 1960, 1966

• Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off: 1
  • 1971

• European Super Cup: 2
  • 1992, 1997

• Copa Latina: 2
  • 1949, 1952

• Copa de Oro Argentina/Copa Eva Duarte
  • 1945, 1949, 1952, 1953

• Copa Macaya/Catalan Champions: 22
  • 1902, 1905, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1938

• Copa Martini Rossi: 2
  • 1952, 1953

• Coupe de Pyrenées: 4
  • 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913

• Mediterranean League: 1
  • 1937

• Copa de la Liga: 2
  • 1982, 1986

• Copa Barcelona: 1
  • 1903

• Lliga Catalana: 1
  • 1937-38

• Copa Catalunya: 5
  • 1991, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2005

• Little World Cup: 1
  • 1957

[edit] Recent seasons

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Notes	Manager
1996/1997	1D	2	42	28	6	8	102	48	90		ECL	Group stage		Bobby Robson
1997/1998	1D	1	38	23	5	10	78	56	74	winner	ECL	qualifying round		Louis van Gaal
1998/1999	1D	1	38	24	7	7	87	43	79		ECL	group stage		Louis van Gaal
1999/2000	1D	2	38	19	7	12	70	46	64		ECL	semi-final		Louis van Gaal
2000/2001	1D	4	38	17	12	9	80	57	63		UC	semi-final	elim. group stage ECL	Llorenç Serra Ferrer
2001/2002	1D	4	38	18	10	10	65	37	64		ECL	semi-final		Carles Rexach
2002/2003	1D	6	38	15	11	12	63	47	56		ECL	quarter-final		Carles Rexach/Louis van Gaal/Radomir Antić
2003/2004	1D	2	38	21	9	8	63	39	72		UC	4th round		Frank Rijkaard
2004/2005	1D	1	38	25	9	4	73	29	84	2nd round	ECL	last 16		Frank Rijkaard
2005/2006	1D	1	38	25	7	6	80	35	82	quarter-final	ECL	winner		Frank Rijkaard
2006/2007	1D	1	28	16	8	4	59	26	56		ECL	last 16	'	Frank Rijkaard

[edit] Current squad 2006/07

The numbers are established according to the official website: www.fcbarcelona.com.As of 4 April 2007.

No. Position Player 1 GK Victor Valdes 2 DF Juliano Belletti 3 MF Thiago Motta 4 DF Rafael Márquez 5 DF Carles Puyol (captain) 6 MF Xavi (vice-captain) 7 FW Eidur Gudjohnsen 8 FW Ludovic Giuly 9 FW Samuel Eto'o 10 FW Ronaldinho (vice-captain) 11 DF Gianluca Zambrotta 12 DF Giovanni van Bronckhorst

No. Position Player 15 MF Edmílson 16 DF Sylvinho 18 FW Santiago Ezquerro 19 FW Lionel Messi 20 MF Deco 21 DF Lilian Thuram 22 FW Javier Saviola 23 DF Oleguer Presas 24 MF Andrés Iniesta 25 GK Albert Jorquera 26 DF Jesús Olmo 31 MF Giovanni dos Santos

V. VALDES ZAMBROTTA PUYOL GIO MARQUEZ XAVI INIESTA DECO MESSI RONALDINHO ETO'O

FC Barcelona starting line-up in the 2006 - 2007 season

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Current technical staff

Director of Football	Txiki Beguiristáin
Head Coach	Frank Rijkaard
Assistant Coach	Johan Neeskens
2nd assistant Coach	Eusebio Sacristán
Goalkeeping coach	Juan Carlos Unzué
Academy director	José Ramón Alexanko

[edit] Former Personnel

[edit] Selected former presidents

see also Cat:FC Barcelona presidents

• Arthur Witty (1902-05)
• Joan Gamper (1908-09, 1910–13,1917-19,1921-23,1924-25)
• Josep Sunyol (1935-36)
• Enrique Piñeyro (1940-43)
• Josep Lluís Nuñez (1978–2000)
• Joan Gaspart (2000-03)

[edit] Selected former managers

see also Cat:FC Barcelona managers

Jack Greenwell, 1917-24, 1931-33 Ralph Kirby, 1925-26 Romà Forns, 1927-29 Franz Platko, 1934-35, 1955-56 Patrick O'Connell, 1935-37 Joan Josep Nogués, 1941-44 Josep Samitier, 1944-47 Enrique Fernández, 1947-50 Fernando Daucik, 1950-54 Domènec Balmanya, 1956-58 Helenio Herrera, 1958-60, 1980, 1980-1981 Ladislao Kubala, 1962, 1980 Josep Gonzalvo, 1963 César Rodríguez, 1963-64

Vic Buckingham, 1969-71 Rinus Michels, 1971-1975, 1976-1978 Hennes Weisweiler, 1975-1976 Udo Lattek, 1981-1983 César Luis Menotti, 1983-1984 Terry Venables, 1984-87 Luis Aragonés, 1987-88 Johan Cruijff, 1988-96 Bobby Robson, 1996-97 Louis van Gaal, 1997-2000, 2002-2003 Llorenç Serra Ferrer, 2000-2001 Carles Rexach, 2001-2002 Radomir Antić, 2003

[edit] Selected former players

Abelardo Fernández Alexanko José Mari Bakero César Txiki Beguiristain Iván de la Peña Josep Escolà Albert Ferrer Goikoetxea Josep Guardiola Luis Enrique Migueli Miguel Ángel Nadal Quini Ramallets Carles Rexach Julio Salinas Josep Samitier Sergi Barjuán Luis Suárez Urruti Velasco Ricardo Zamora Andoni Zubizarreta

Hans Krankl Diego Maradona Juan Román Riquelme Evaristo Giovanni Silva De Oliveira Rivaldo Romário Ronaldo Hristo Stoitchkov Robert Prosinečki Michael Laudrup Allan Simonsen Gary Lineker Jari Litmanen Laurent Blanc Emmanuel Petit Bernd Schuster Zoltán Czibor Sandor Kocsis Ladislao Kubala Franz Platko Horacio Casarín Frank de Boer Ronald de Boer

Phillip Cocu Johan Cruijff Edgar Davids Ruud Hesp Patrick Kluivert Ronald Koeman Johan Neeskens Marc Overmars Michael Reiziger Boudewijn Zenden Cayetano Re Hugo Sotil Paulino Alcántara Vitor Baia Fernando Couto Luís Figo Ricardo Quaresma Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Popescu Steve Archibald Patrik Andersson Henrik Larsson Rüştü Reçber Héctor Scarone

see also Cat:FC Barcelona footballers

[edit] Sources

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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

see also Supporters of FC Barcelona for more links

• FCBarcelona.com - Official website (Catalan) / (Spanish) / (English) / (Japanese)
• Official FC Barcelona channel in Youtube (Catalan) / (English)
• Official website for arab fans (Catalan) / (Spanish) / (English) / (Japanese)

UEFA Champions League 2006-07 v • d • e
Quarter-final AC Milan | Bayern Munich | Chelsea | Liverpool | Manchester United | PSV Eindhoven | Roma | Valencia Eliminated in First Knockout Round Arsenal | Celtic | Internazionale | Lille | Lyon | FC Barcelona | FC Porto | Real Madrid Eliminated in Group Stage AEK Athens | Anderlecht | SL Benfica | Copenhagen | CSKA Moscow | Dynamo Kyiv | Galatasaray | Girondins de Bordeaux | Hamburg | Levski Sofia | Olympiacos | Shakhtar Donetsk | Spartak Moscow | Sporting CP | Steaua Bucharest | Werder Bremen
La Liga • 2006/07 clubs v • d • e
Athletic Bilbao | Atlético Madrid | FC Barcelona | Real Betis | Celta de Vigo | Deportivo RCD Espanyol | Getafe | Gimnàstic | Levante | Real Madrid | RCD Mallorca | Osasuna Racing | Sevilla FC | Real Sociedad | Recreativo | Valencia | Villarreal | Real Zaragoza
La Liga seasons
1991/92 | 1992/93 | 1993/94 | 1994/95 | 1995/96 | 1996/97 | 1997/98 | 1998/99 1999/00 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07
Members of G-14 v • d • e
Ajax | Arsenal | FC Barcelona | Bayer Leverkusen | Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund | PSV Eindhoven | Internazionale | Juventus Liverpool | Manchester United | AC Milan | Lyon | Marseille Paris Saint-Germain | FC Porto | Real Madrid | Valencia
Sport in the Catalan-speaking world v • d • e
National: Andorran Football Federation| Andorra national football team | Andorra national rugby team Catalonia Football Federation | Catalonia national football team Club: FC Barcelona | RCD Espanyol | CE Sabadell | Gimnàstic de Tarragona | València CF | RCD Mallorca | Levante UD | Vila-real CF | Winterthur FCB | DKV Joventut | Akasvayu Girona | Ricoh Manresa | Pamesa València | Etosa Alacant | ViveMenorca | USA Perpinyà | Les Catalans