History of FCB

“More than 100 years of history”

FC Barcelona is one of the most well known soccer or “football” teams in the world. There is a long history that corresponds with how the club got where it is today. Before FCB became known as one of the best soccer teams in the world, they experienced a lot of ups and downs, struggles, and mishaps. Today their slogan “more than a club” has turned into a reality.

A few important past times:

Futbol Club Barcelona began in 1899 by a man named Joan Gamper and 11 other Catalan and foreign men interested in the game of “foot-ball”, a game that was very unknown in Europe at this time.

Gamper chose the infamous Barca colors blue and “claret” or a redish purple because of his Swiss heritage. In 1908, the club began to struggle due to a number of men wanting to disaffiliate from the team. However, Gamper remained determined to keep the club alive and later became president of the organization. As president, Gamper strengthened the organization through a variety of acts including founding its own football grounds for the first time at Les Corts.

After this, the sport became known as a professional sport and the club grew increasingly larger from 201 members to 2,973 in less than 10 years. In 1928, FCB co-founded La Liga which was the top-tier in Spanish football.

The club began to struggle in the 30’s with the civil war on their backs and the political instability and crisis that was occurring. Gamper died during these years and the club was left behind with uncertainty. In March of 1938, Barcelona was taken over by the Italian Air Force and Catalonia was forced to deal with a number of restrictions. The club was effected through its inability to symbolize anything Catalan, and had to change their name to Club de Fútbol Barcelona and remove the Catalan flag from their crest. These years were extremely difficult for all those involved in the club, however they persrevered and were determined to stay together.

The team’s continued formation in years after and games at Les Corts stadium showed freedom and victories. By the late 1950’s, they realized that they needed a larger stadium, therefore Camp Nou was built and finished in 1957.

The 1960s were much less successful for the club because Real Madrid, their rival, was taking over La Liga. In 1969, Agustí Montal Costa became president of the Club.  In 1973, he was re-elected and his slogan was “Barça is more than a club”, which shows todays “Mes Que Un Club” origins.

When Franco’s reign was over in 1974, FCB was able to change its name back to Futbol Club Barcelona and changed the crest back to its original one with the Catalan flag with its original letters.

After not being able to sign players because of the heavy expenses that cost FCB to build Camp Nou, the teams  were able to sign foreign players again after an outbreak of corruption was discovered about falsified foreign players called oriondos.

The victory for FCB in Basel in 1979 where they won the European Winner’s Cup for the first time, helped them become recognized as one of the worlds greatest clubs. The 1980’s were seen as a decade full of the arrival of great football players including Alberto and Marcos. The organization began to grow larger during this decade and FCB continued to receive more recognition.

Cruyff became the manager in 1988 and from there on, the club had extreme success as a club. Under Cruyff, FCB managed to win four Spanish League championships in a row between 1990 and 1994. The club also won the European Cup in 1992 which was a huge milestone for the club. With Cruyff as manager, his creation of the “Dream Team” with players such as Koeman, Nadal and Bakero, Barcelona finally became known as one of the best and most notable clubs worldwide.

In 1998-1999, FCB celebrated their 100 year anniversary as a club, something that not every club accomplishes.

In 2003, Joan Laporta was elected as the new president, and his goal was to bring directors that would change the club’s image. Laporta brought with him many years of excellence and great success. Laporta signed Frank Rijkaard as the new manager and star player Ronaldinho helped them with the 2004-2005 League title.

In 2006, extreme economic progress put FCB among the world’s most elite with a focus on charity products which helped Barca collaborate with Unicef. This helped bring Barca an image about caring for the world and helped globalize their slogan as “more than a club”.

2008-2011 are known as Barca’s best years in history, including their third European Cup title in 2009 as well as the winning of six cups that year, and their fourth European Cup win in 2011.

Today, Barca is nationally recognized as one of the best football clubs in the world, particularly due to their famous players including the best player in the world, Leo Messi.