Saturday, January 30, 2010

Cruyff's first pass

The 1973–74 season saw the arrival, as player, of a new Barça legend, Johan Cruyff. Already an established player with Ajax, Cruyff 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 Francisco Franco.

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He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son. Next to players of quality like Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach and the talented Hugo Sotil, he helped the club win the 1973–74 season 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 in his first year at the club.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

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 Solé on November 29. Eleven players attended, Walter Wild, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, 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.

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Legend says that Gamper was inspired to choose the club colours, blaugrana, by FC Basel's crest. However, the Swiss team Gamper played for, the FC Excelsior in his home canton of Zürich, and Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby, Merseyside, England have also been credited with or claimed to be the inspiration. FC Barcelona quickly emerged as one of the leading clubs in Spain, competing in the Campeonato de Cataluña and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya, and also played in the first Copa del Rey final, losing 2–1 to Bizcaya.

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Saturday, January 23, 2010

With Gamper's seal (1908–1923)

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 Campeonato de Cataluña 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, the team moved into the Carrer Indústria, a stadium with a capacity of 8,000. 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 Las Cortes, which inaugurated in the same year. This stadium had an initial capacity of 22,000, later expanded to an impressive 60,000.

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Gamper also recruited Jack Greenwell as manager. This saw the club's fortunes begin to improve on the field. During the Gamper era FC Barcelona won eleven Campeonato de Cataluña, six Copa del Rey and four Coupe de Pyrenées and enjoyed its first "golden age".

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Rivera, Republic, Civil War (1923–1939)

On 14 June 1925, the crowd at a game in homage to the Orfeó Català jeered the Royal March, a spontaneous reaction against Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. As a reprisal, the ground was closed, while Gamper was forced to give up the presidency of the club. In 1928, the victory in the Spanish Cup was celebrated with a poem titled "Oda a Platko", which was written by the important member of the Generation of '27, Rafael Alberti, inspired by the heroic performance of the Barcelona keeper. On July 30, 1930, the club's founder, after a period of depression brought on by personal and money problems committed suicide.

Although they continued to have players of the standing of Josep Escolà, the club now entered a period of decline, in which political conflict overshadowed sport throughout society. Barça faced a crisis on three fronts: financial, social, with the number of members dropping constantly, and sporting, where although the team won the Campionat de Catalunya in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1938, success at Spanish level (with the exception of the 1937 disputed title) evaded them.

A month after the civil war began, Josep Sunyol was murdered by revolting soldiers near Guadarrama. In the summer of 1937, the squad was on tour in Mexico and the United States, in which it was received as an ambassador of the fighting Second Spanish Republic. That tour led to the financial saving of the club and also resulted in half the team seeking exile in Mexico and France. On 16 March 1938, the fascists dropped a bomb on the club's offices and caused significant destruction. A few months later, Barcelona was under fascist occupation and as a symbol of the 'undisciplined' Catalanism, the club, now down to just 3,486 members, was facing a number of serious problems.

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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Club de Fútbol Barcelona (1939–1974)

After the Spanish Civil War, the Catalan flag was 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.

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 the first time since 1929. They added two more titles in 1948 and 1949. In 1949, they also won the first Copa Latina. In June 1950, Barcelona signed Ladislao Kubala, who was to be an influential figure at the club.

On a rainy Sunday of 1951, the crowd left Les Corts stadium after a 2–1 win against Santander by foot, refusing to catch any trams and surprising the Francoist authorities. The reason was simple: at the same time, a tram strike took place in Barcelona, receiving the support of blaugrana fans. Events like this made FC Barcelona represent much more than just Catalonia and many progressive Spaniards see the club as a staunch defender of rights and freedoms.

The 1960s were less successful for the club, with Real 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 Generalísimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barça restored some pride by beating Real Madrid 1–0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalísimo final at the Bernabéu in front of Franco, having as coach Salvador Artigas, a republican pilot in the civil war. This match will always be mentioned for what was thrown and not for what was happening on the field. The club changed its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona in 1974.



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Friday, January 15, 2010

Núñez and the stabilization years (1978–2000)

Josep Lluís Núñez was elected president of FC Barcelona in 1978. His main objective were to develop Barça into a world-class club by giving to it financial and sporting stability.

The date was May 16, 1979, when the club won its first Cup Winners Cup by beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4–3 in Basel in a final that has never been forgotten watched by no fewer than 30,000 travelling blaugrana fans.

In June 1982, Diego Maradona was signed for a world record fee from Boca Juniors. In the following season, under coach César Luis Menotti, Barcelona and Maradona won the Copa del Rey, beating Real Madrid. However, Diego's time with Barça was short-lived and he soon left for Napoli.

Cruyff was briefly replaced by Bobby Robson, who took charge of the club for a single season in 1996–97. He recruited Ronaldo from his previous club, PSV 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 as he left for Internazionale. However, new heroes such as Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo emerged and the team won a Copa del Rey and La Liga double in 1998. In 1999, the club celebrated its 'centenari', winning the Primera División 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.


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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Gaspart's decline period (2000–2003)

The departures of Núñez 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. However, 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 piglet'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. President Gaspart did not inspire confidence off the field either and in 2003, he and van Gaal resigned.

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Enter new era via Laporta (2003–2009)

After the disappointment of the Gaspart era, the combination of a new young president Joan Laporta and a young new manager, former Dutch and Milan star Frank Rijkaard, saw the club bounce back. On the field, an influx of international players, including Ronaldinho, Deco, Henrik Larsson, Ludovic Giuly, Samuel Eto'o, and Rafael Márquez, combined with home grown Spanish players, such as Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Víctor Valdés, led to the club's return to success.

Barça won La Liga and the Supercopa de España in 2004–05, and stars Ronaldinho and Eto'o were voted first and third in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

In the 2005–06 season, Barcelona repeated their league and Supercup successes. The pinnacle of the league season arrived at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in a 3–0 win over Real Madrid, Frank Rijkaard's second victory at the Bernabéu, making him the first Barça manager to win there twice. Ronaldinho's performance was so impressive that after his second, and Barça's third goal the Real Madrid fans felt compelled to applaud him. In the Champions' League, Barça beat English club Arsenal 2–1 in the final. Trailing 1–0 to a 10-man Arsenal and with less than 15 minutes left they came back to win 2–1, with substitute Henrik Larsson, in his final appearance for the club, setting up goals for Samuel Eto'o and fellow substitute Juliano Belletti, for the club's first European Cup victory in 14 years.

Barcelona finished 2007–08 season third in La Liga and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey, both times losing to the eventual champions: Manchester United and Valencia, respectively. A day after a 4–1 defeat by Real Madrid, Joan Laporta announced that Barça B coach Josep Guardiola would take over Frank Rijkaard's duties after June 30.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

During the 2007–08 season

During the 2007–08 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €308.8 million. It was also one of the founding members of the now-defunct G-14 group of the leading European football clubs and its modern replacement, the European Club Association. The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, while there was a youth team until 2007, FC Barcelona C.

As of July 1, 2009, FC Barcelona was ranked first in UEFA team ranking. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Barça has been the most consistently successful club in the world since the organisation began collecting statistics, in the period 1991–2008.

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Monday, January 4, 2010

Sextuple winning season (2008–2009)

On 17 January 2009, Barça set the record for the most points obtained in the first half of a La Liga season (50) after winning 16, drawing two and losing just one of their first 19 league games. The club also reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time since 1998 after defeating Mallorca in the semi-finals. Six days later, on 23 January, the International organisation IFFHS ranked Barça first in their list of the greatest football clubs of the last 18 years. The All-time Club World Ranking was determined by taking into account all the results of the national championships, the national cup competitions, the club competitions of the six continental confederations and the FIFA.

With a largely homegrown squad in which seven players of the starting 11 were products of their youth system, Barça defeated the defending champions Manchester United 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009, to earn their third UEFA Champions League title and achieve The Treble, having already won the La Liga and Copa del Rey in the same season. This was the first time a Spanish team had won the three competitions in the same season.

Barça went on to win the 2009 Supercopa de España against Athletic Bilbao (5–1 on aggregate)and the 2009 UEFA Super Cup against FC Shakhtar Donetsk (1–0), becoming the first European club to win both domestic and European Super Cups following a treble. In December 2009, Barça won the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, thus become the first team ever to accomplish the 'Sextuple'.

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Friday, January 1, 2010

2009–2010 season

During the preseason of 2009–10, FC Barcelona completed another American tour, playing games versus the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, and C.D. Guadalajara of the Primera Division de Mexico. The club also broke their transfer record by paying €46 million (+ Samuel Eto'o) for Zlatan Ibrahimović.

On August 19, 2009, Barcelona played their annual friendly match for the Joan Gamper Trophy against Manchester City of the Premier League. The club began the new league campaign by equalling their best start ever of six consecutive wins. Record new signing Zlatan Ibrahimović scored in his first five league games which was also a new record, beating the previous record held by Hristo Stoichkov.

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