Catalan Championship

Lore & Background

Founded on 24 August 1926, the club entered its first competition in 1927, playing in the Campionat de Catalunya de Basquetbol (Catalan Basketball Championship). During these early years, basketball in Catalonia was dominated by clubs such as CE Europa, Laietà BC and Société Patrie (later CB Atlètic Gràcia). The team won six Copas del Generalísimo de Baloncesto in the 1940s. In 1956 they were founding members of the Liga Española de Baloncesto. In 1959 they won Spanish basketball's first-ever league and cup double. The 1960s and 1970s saw the team in decline. In 1961 the club president Enric Llaudet dissolved the team, but it was reformed in 1962 after a fan campaign. In 1964 the club was relegated to the Segunda División but returned to the top division in 1965. In the 1980s, under president Josep Lluís Núñez and coach Aíto García Reneses, the club won six Spanish championships, five Spanish cups, two European Cup Winners' Cups, the Korać Cup and the World Championship. In the 1987–88 season Barça won the Copa Príncipe, Liga ACB, Copa del Rey and the Supercopa completing a quadruple. In 2003, inspired by Dejan Bodiroga, Gregor Fučka, Šarūnas Jasikevičius and Juan Carlos Navarro, they won the EuroLeague, beating Benetton Treviso 76–65. They repeated the feat in 2010, defeating Olympiacos 86–68 in Paris. In 2021 the Spanish Championship was won for the 19th time. On June 21, 2023, Barça defeated Real Madrid 82–93 to win their 20th Spanish Championship.

In Their Own Story

Rain lashed against the splintered wooden stands of Les Corts, turning the pitch into a churning bog where boots slipped and tackles echoed like gunshots. The scoreboard read 3-2, but to the thousands huddled in wool coats, this wasn't just a match; it was a war won on home soil. Paulino Alcántara wiped river mud from his brow, his eyes locked not on the referee, but on the small, battered silver cup waiting at center circle. As the final whistle cut through the storm, the players didn't march to a national anthem; they surged toward the terraces, hoisting the Catalan Championship high above their heads. In that moment, amidst the mud and the roar, the trophy was more than silver—it was a defiant beacon of identity held aloft in a fractured world.

Reader's Guide

The team competes in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. Their home arena is the Palau Blaugrana, which was opened on 23 October 1971. They share the facilities with the roller hockey, futsal and handball teams of the club. FC Barcelona also has a reserve team, called FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, that plays in the Liga U.

Did You Know?

• FC Barcelona Bàsquet is the oldest club in the Liga ACB, founded on 24 August 1926.
• The team completed a triple crown in 2003 by winning the season's league, cup and EuroLeague.
• In 2010, FC Barcelona beat the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers 92–88 as part of the NBA Europe Live Tour.
• The club's most recent name sponsor was Turkish tyre manufacturer Lassa Tyres, between 2015 and 2019.