Futbol Club Barcelona also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the second most valuable sports team in the world, worth $3.16 billion, and the world's second richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €560.8 million. The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.
Domestically, Barcelona has won 23 La Liga, 27 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Ligatrophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona has won five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a shared record five UEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a record three FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Barcelona was ranked first in the IFFHS Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and currently occupies the second position on the UEFA club rankings. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.
Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, and has the largest social media following in the world among sports teams. Barcelona's players have won a record number of Ballon d'Or awards (11), as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards (7). In 2010, the club made history when three players who came through its youth academy (Messi, Iniestaand Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world in the FIFA Ballon d'Or awards, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football school.
Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, along withAthletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga,Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, completing the sextuple in also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In 2011, the club became European champions again and won five trophies. This Barcelona team, which reached a record six consecutive Champions League semi-finals and won 14 trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time. In June 2015, Barcelona became the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twice.
The nickname culé for a Barcelona supporter is derived from the Catalan cul (English: arse), as the spectators at the first stadium, Camp de la Indústria, sat with their culs over the stand. In Spain, about 25% of the population is said to be Barça sympathisers, second behind Real Madrid, supported by 32% of the population. Throughout Europe, Barcelona is the favourite second-choice club. The club's membership figures have seen a significant increase from 100,000 in the 2003–04 season to 170,000 in September 2009, the sharp rise being attributed to the influence of Ronaldinho and then-president Joan Laporta's media strategy that focused on Spanish and English online media.
In addition to membership, as of 2015 there are 1,267 officially registered fan clubs, called penyes, around the world. The fan clubs promote Barcelona in their locality and receive beneficial offers when visiting Barcelona. Among the best supported teams globally, Barcelona has the highest social media following in the world among sports teams, with over 90 million Facebook fans as of February 2016. The club has had many prominent people among its supporters, including Pope John Paul II, who was an honorary member, and former prime minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. FC Barcelona has the second highest average attendance of European football clubs only behind Borussia Dortmund.
Barcelona initially played in the Camp de la Indústria. The capacity was about 6,000, and club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club with growing membership.[202]
In 1922, the number of supporters had surpassed 20,000 and by lending money to the club, Barça was able to build the larger Camp de Les Corts, which had an initial capacity of 20,000 spectators. After the Spanish Civil War the club started attracting more members and a larger number of spectators at matches. This led to several expansion projects: the grandstand in 1944, the southern stand in 1946, and finally the northern stand in 1950. After the last expansion, Les Corts could hold 60,000 spectators.
After the construction was complete there was no further room for expansion at Les Corts. Back-to-back La Liga titles in 1948 and 1949 and the signing of László Kubala in June 1950, who would later go on to score 196 goals in 256 matches, drew larger crowds to the games. The club began to make plans for a new stadium. The building of Camp Nou commenced on 28 March 1954, before a crowd of 60,000 Barça fans. The first stone of the future stadium was laid in place under the auspices of Governor Felipe Acedo Colunga and with the blessing of Archbishop of Barcelona Gregorio Modrego. Construction took three years and ended on 24 September 1957 with a final cost of 288 million pesetas, 336% over budget.
In 1980, when the stadium was in need of redesign to meet UEFA criteria, the club raised money by offering supporters the opportunity to inscribe their name on the bricks for a small fee. The idea was popular with supporters, and thousands of people paid the fee. Later this became the centre of controversy when media in Madrid picked up reports that one of the stones was inscribed with the name of long-time Real Madrid chairman and Francosupporter Santiago Bernabéu. In preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics two tiers of seating were installed above the previous roofline. It has a current capacity of 99,354 making it the largest stadium in Europe.
There are also other facilities, which include:
- Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper (FC Barcelona's training ground)
- Masia-Centre de Formació Oriol Tort (Residence of young players)
- Mini Estadi (Home of the reserve team)
- Palau Blaugrana (FC Barcelona indoor sports arena)
- Palau Blaugrana 2 (Secondary indoor arena of FC Barcelona)
- Pista de Gel (FC Barcelona ice rink)
As of December 2015, Barcelona has won 23 La Liga, 27 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, three Copa Eva Duarte and two Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. They have also won five UEFA Champions League, a record fourUEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a shared record five UEFA Super Cup and a record three FIFA Club World Cup trophies. They also won a record threeInter-Cities Fairs Cup trophies, considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup-Europa League.
Barcelona is the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955, and one of three clubs to have never been relegated from La Liga, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year, thus completing the sextuple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.In the 2014–15 season, Barcelona won another historic treble, making them the first club in European football to win the treble twice.
Domestic competitions
- La Liga
- Winners (23): 1928–29, 1944–45, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1973–74, 1984–85, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15
- Copa del Rey
- Winners (27) – record: 1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1927–28, 1941–42, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2014–15
- Supercopa de España
- Winners (11) – record: 1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
- Copa Eva Duarte
- Winners (3) – record: 1948, 1952, 1953
- Copa de la Liga
- Winners (2) – record: 1982–83, 1985–86
European competitions
- European Cup / UEFA Champions League
- Winners (5): 1991–92, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2014–15
- European Super Cup / UEFA Super Cup
- Winners (5) – shared record: 1992, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2015
- European Cup Winners' Cup / UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
- Winners (4) – record: 1978–79, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1996–97
- Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
- Winners (3) – record: 1955–58, 1958–60, 1965–66
Worldwide competitions
- FIFA Club World Cup
- Winners (3) – record: 2009, 2011, 2015
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