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Comprehensive History of the Barcelona Football Club

Djordje Todorovic

Quietly and proudly, Barcelona sits between the mountains and the sea. It is a city where nature and man-made structures blend together in glorious harmony, leaving its visitors breathless and its citizens, the strong-willed and passionate Catalans, with a strong sense of national pride.

Among one of its main attractions and an iconic landmarks is the world-renowned football club that bears the same name as the city, and will in fact pop up higher than the city itself in search engine results pages.

The Swiss, English and Spanish footballers’ group leader, Joan Gamper, founded the Barcelona Football Club on the 22nd day of October, 1899. He did this after he had cited a public notice in a local newspaper, Los Desportes (The Game) reporting his desire to establish a football club.

After one month, with some good feedback, on November 29, 1899, a meeting was held at the office of Gimnasio Sole. This meeting was attended by eleven players. The Football Club Barcelona was conceived after the meeting. The motto of FC Barcelona is “Mes que un club”; more than a club in Spanish. After the successful Catalan legacy was born, there have been multiple ups and downs and enough controversies to challenge the fame of the club.

A major crisis was the dictatorship under both Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco, but in spite of all these setbacks, the fans of Barcelona never left their club in disdain. Undeniably, Barcelona is the most successful club in Spain, despite their strong rivalry with Real Madrid. The club has won many trophies that will be discussed later. Believe it or not, Barcelona has one of the largest fan bases of all the other Spanish clubs.

Club Presidents/Directors/Founders/Coaches

Barcelona FC Overview – Major Events That Have Taken Place from the Club’s Inception to the Present Day

Year after year, new developments occurred, which eventually led to this present Barcelona FC that we all know and love. In this section, I will take you through the major changes or developments that took place in this great club. We shall begin from its very beginnings to the present day:

Outstanding Identities of Barcelona FC – the Crest and Jerseys and Stadium

The FC Barcelona Crest

FC Barcelona has its own unique crest that most people around the world are now familiar with. The crest was largely inspired by historical motifs related to Catalonia. Since the formation of FC Barcelona, from 1899-1910, the club has maintained and used the same basic crest. Although the crest has undergone a few changes, its basic form and meaning remains almost the same.

Barcelona FC’s innovative crest in 1899 had a central placed rhombus shape with a crown sitting at the upper tip, with a bat on top of it. This is the Crown of Aragon and King James’ bat. To both sides of the middle shape were two different branches. One of these was the branch of a palm and the other of a laurel tree. They both cross over each other at the lower end.

Alterations were made to the crest after 1899 and, from 1910, the changes took effect with the ST. George Cross found in the upper-left corner. Immediately to the right is the Catalan flag.

The middle zone had the shorthand writing F.C.B, which only had some minor background changes over the years. The club’s colors are found at the bottom middle, with a football right in the center of it, representing the very soul of the team. The entire crest is finely contoured.

The FC Barcelona Kit

On the field, Barcelona stands out in its unique team colors arranged in vertical stripes. Right from 1899-1910 through to 2015 and the present day, the team has used the same kits with only a few minor changes. In 1899-1910, the club had used a long sleeve jersey with light caramel shorts, which have seen some color changes from 1910 to 1998.

In the early 2000, the club had multiple sponsorship proposals, and all required them to place an additional logo on their jerseys. The club had refused several of them, but eventually agreed to be sponsored by UNICEF.

The UNICEF logo started appearing on the jersey of the club, and on July 14 2006, the club officially signed a five year agreement with UNICEF with their logo on their jerseys. As part of the sponsorship, Barcelona spent €1.5 million per annum on UNICEF donations.

After the five year agreement with UNICEF, in the early 2011 season, they opted for a new sponsorship with QATAR Sports Investment for another 5 years for €150 million. Most recently, the QATAR Foundation logo on their jersey has been replaced by QATAR Airways. Presently, this logo is being used by the club.

History of the FC Barcelona Grand Sports Stadium – the Camp Nou Stadium

After its inception in 1899, the Barcelona FC didn’t have its own stadium to play on, until moving to the Camp de la Indústria in 1909. The stadium had a modest capacity of around 6000-8000 spectators, but the club would eventually get a new stadium to call its home a little over a decade later.

Les Corts Stadium

Les Corts Stadium, otherwise known as “the Cathedral of Football” was opened on May 20, 1922. The stadium initially had an a total seat capacity of around 20,000 and later grew in capacity to 60,000, as the number of supporters and eager spectators quickly grew. By 1924, the club had amassed roughly 20,000 members through smart campaigning and marketing efforts, and the numbers just kept growing over the years. A need for an even bigger and more glamorous stadium emerged.

Camp Nou Stadium

Camp Nou Stadium (New Stadium), the first stadium of FC Barcelona, was built in 1957. Currently it has a total seat capacity of 98,000 and has been declared the 3rd largest Sports Stadium in the world. Currently the world’s largest stadium, with a total seat capacity of 120,000 is the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The Camp Nou stadium is in a rapid race with the Maracana Stadium to provide the highest capacity of any football stadium in the world, and have scheduled a renovation, which is estimated to increase seat capacity to 103,000. Not only would the drastic change affect the capacity, but there will also be a glass roof that will concentrate the appropriate amount of sunlight onto the playing field. It will also be well-equipped with all manner of gadgets modern technology has to offer. This project, as reported by architect Norman Foster, would require an investment of €300 million.

The Club’s Reputations List