FC Barcelona

Lore & Background

Barcelona are one of the world's most decorated clubs. Domestically, Barcelona has won a record 82 trophies: 29 La Liga, 32 Copa del Rey, 2 Copa de la Liga, 16 Supercopa de España and 3 Copa Eva Duarte titles, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barça has won 22 European and worldwide titles: five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, five UEFA Super Cups, a joint record two Latin Cups and three FIFA Club World Cups. Barcelona was ranked first in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015, and occupies the ninth position on the UEFA club rankings. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid, and matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico. Barcelona is one of the most widely supported teams in the world, and the club has one of the largest social media followings in the world among sports teams. Barcelona players have won a joint record twelve Ballon d'Or awards, with recipients including Johan Cruyff, as well as a record six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, with winners including Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi. In 2010, three players who came through the club's youth academy—Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi—were chosen as the three best players in the world in the Ballon d'Or ranking, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football academy. Additionally, players representing the club have won a record eight European Golden Shoe awards. Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, and UEFA Champions League titles, and also became the first European football club to win six competitions in a single year. In 2011, the club became European champions again, winning five trophies. This Barcelona team, which won fourteen trophies in just four years under manager Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest of all time. By winning their fifth Champions League trophy in 2015 under Luis Enrique, Barcelona became the first Eur

In Their Own Story

Benfica struck first through Vangelis Pavlidis in the second minute. Robert Lewandowski equalized from the penalty spot in the 13th, but Pavlidis scored twice more to put Benfica ahead 3–1. Lewandowski scored another penalty in the 78th, and Eric García equalized in the 86th. The match concluded with Raphinha scoring in the 96th minute for a 5–4 Barcelona win.

Reader's Guide

The club was founded on 22 October 1899 when Swiss Hans Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended – Walter Wild (the first president of the club), Luis de Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons, and William Parsons – and formed Foot-Ball Club Barcelona. Barcelona had a successful start in regional and national cups, competing in the Campionat de Catalunya and the. In 1901, the club participated in the first football competition played on the Iberian Peninsula, the Copa Macaya, narrowly losing to Hispania AC, but in the following year, Barça won the tournament, the club's first-ever piece of silverware, and then participated in the first Copa del Rey, losing 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final. In 1908, Hans Gamper – now known as Joan Gamper – became club president, attempting to prevent Barcelona from shutting down. On 14 March 1909, the team moved into the Camp de la Indústria, a stadium with a capacity of 8,000. To celebrate their new surroundings, the club conducted a logo contest the following year. Carles Comamala won the contest, and his suggestion became the crest that the club still wears – with some minor changes – as of the present day. The stadium is regarded as the main element that helped the club grow in the 1910s and become a dominant team, winning three successive Campionats de Catalunya between 1909 and 1911, three Copa del del Rey in four years between 1910 and 1913, and four successive Pyrenees Cup between the inaugural year in 1910 and 1913. During the same period, the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan and gradually evolved into an important symbol of Catalan identity. On 4 February 1917, the club held its first tribute match to honour Ramón Torralba. Gamper simultaneously launched a campaign to recruit more club members, and by 1922, the club had more than 20,000, who helped finance a new stadium. The club then moved to the new Les Corts, which they inaugurated the same year. In 1912, Gamper recruited Paulino Alcántara, the club's seventh all-time top-scorer. In 1917, Gamper also recruited Jack Greenwell as Barcelona's first full-time manager. This team won nine out of ten Campionats de Catalun

Did You Know?

• Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.
• In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, and UEFA Champions League titles, and also became the first European football club to win six competitions in a single
• By winning their fifth Champions League trophy in 2015 under Luis Enrique, Barcelona became the first European football club in history to achieve the continental treble twice.
• In 2010, three players who came through the club's youth academy—Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi—were chosen as the three best players in the world in the Ballon d'Or ranking, an unprecedented feat for players from