Futbol Club Barcelona, or FC Barcelona, also known as Barça, are a Spanish football team located in Catalonia. It has historically been one of Europe's absolute top teams and remain so today.
The club was founded by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan men in 1899, and were one of the founding teams of La Liga in 1928. Along with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, they have never been relegated from La Liga.
The club motto is més que un club, which means more than a club, and if any of Europe's top team deserves that motto, it is FC Barcelona.
In more than 100 years of existence, FC Barcelona has had 12 different versions of his logo. All of them feature the Catalan flag, the English flag, and the Blaugrana (Red and Blue) stripes. The changes only affected the design and shape of the crest. One can note that during the rule of Franco, from 1939 up until 1974, the initials FCB, catalan for Futbol Club Barcelona, were changed to CFB, Spanish for Club de Futbol Barcelona.
The official anthem was commissioned in 1974 to celebrate the club's 75th anniversary. It is known as the "Cant del Barça" and was written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.
Tot el camp És un clam
More on the FC Barcelona anthem : translation
FC Barcelona is the first Spanish team to win the treble : Spanish League, Champions League and Spanish Cup during the 2008-2009 season with their new coach Pep Guardiola, former FC Barcelona captain in the 90's. That very same year, Barça became the first football club to complete the sextuple by winning 6 out of 6 competitions in a single year, comprising the aforementioned treble as well as the Spanish Super Cup (Matchup against La Liga Champion an Spanish Cup Winner), UEFA Super Cup (Matchup against Champions League winner and Europa League winner) and the FIFA Club World Cup (Mini-tournament between the 4 continental champions), in which they beat Estudiantes La Plata (Argentina).
Guardiola left the club after 4 glorious seasons as head coach. He was replaced by former assistant coach Tito Vilanova for the 2012/13 season, in which they clinched their 22nd domestic title and fell in the Champions League semi final against Bayern Munich, who subsequently went on to win the trophy against fellow German team Borussia Dortmund.
Luis Enrique arrived at the Club at the start of the 2014/15 season and the club won a treble that very same year (Liga, Champions League and Spanish Cup).
FC Barcelona won a 'doblete' (Liga + Spanish Cup) for Ernesto Valverde's first season as Barça's head coach (2017-2018 season). This performance was clearly overshadowed by the eliminations against AS Roma in the Champions League.
Valverde was replaced in January 2020 by Quique Setien for probably the worst possible outcome for the Blaugrana. no title and a humiliation against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Setien was replaced by former FC Barcelona player Roenald Koeman in August 2020, following the 2-8 debacle against Bayern Munich.
Former club's legend Xavi Hernandez has been promoted FC Barcelona's head coach on 6 of November 2021, replacing the dutch coach.
Since the 1998-1999 season, FC Barcelona's kit and other official merchandise are manufactured by Nike.
Unlike all other major football teams, FC Barcelona did not use to have a commercial sponsorship on their shirts. For the 2006/2007 season, they reached a five year agreement with UNICEF under which they donate almost €1.5 million per year via the FC Barcelona Foundation, and thereby rejecting substantial amounts of money from potential sponsors. FC Barcelona ended their refusal of corporate sponsorship at the start of the 2011–12 season, with Sandro Rosell, FC Barcelona president, signing a 5-year deal with Qatar Sports Investments (€30m/year), to have Qatar foundation has the main sponsor on the shirt, relegating the Unicef at the back of the shirt, below the Jersey number. From the 2013/14 season onwards, Qatar foundation was replaced by Qatar Airways as the main shirt sponsors.
Since the start of the 2016/17 season, The club is now sporting the logo of Japanese retail giant Rakuten. The club has other sponsorship agreements with companies like Beko, Coca-Cola, TV3, Audi, Estrella Damm and Telefonica.
If you want to buy the 2024-2025 FC Barcelona kit, have a look at our FC Barcelona merchandise page.
The Camp Nou, also known as the Nou Camp, was built between 1954 and 1957. It is the largest football stadium in Europe (ahead of Wembley stadium) with a current capacity of nearly 99,000 seats. (The Camp Nou has a maximum capacity of 121,749 seats during the 1982 World cup in Spain). Some may argue that it lacks atmosphere when Barca plays less well known clubs... But when it is full, the atmosphere is absolutely electric, and you are guaranteed an incredible football evening.
Camp Nou
Address: Av. Arístides Maillol, s/n
08028 Barcelona, Spain
Métro:
Bus: lines 7, 15, 43, 67, 68, 74, 75, L12, L50, L60 and L62
It can be very difficult to get good tickets to see FC Barcelona. At footballticketsbrcelona.com, we list all of FC Barcelona home and away matches with direct links for you to buy your FC Barcelona tickets online via secondary ticket platforms with secure payment gateways.
Thank you so much for the tickets, they were just as described with great views of the game and what an atmosphere! I have been to many grounds around the world, including the Maracana in Rio and I must say that the Camp Nou rates up there with the best in the world.
Mark Windeatt - 2009/09/19