BARCELONA TO ATH!

Fútbol Club Barcelona , ​​( Spanish pronunciation: [fubˈbɔlclub bəɾsəˈlonə ] ) also known as Barcelona or Barça , is a professional football club based in Barcelona , ​​Catalonia , Spain , which takes part in the highest competition of Spanish football, La Liga . Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss , English , German and Catalan players led by Joan Gamper , the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, whose motto is " Més que un club " (More than a club). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the second richest football club in the world in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €560.8 million and the second most valuable, worth $3.56 billion. [2] [3] Barcelona's official national anthem is "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinas. [4] Traditionally, Barcelona wears red and blue, giving the club the nickname Blaugrana . This club has been a member of the Primera Division (First Division) since 1928, and together with Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, it is a team that has never been relegated to the Segunda Division (Second Division) . This club was also the club that won the Spanish league for the first time. With 27 Spanish League titles , 31 Copa del Rey titles , 14 Spanish Super Cup titles , 5 European Champions League titles , 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup titles , 4 European Super Cup titles , FC Barcelona is one of the most successful teams in Spain , Europe and world. The most obvious evidence was when in 2009 FC Barcelona succeeded in becoming the first Spanish club to win a treble title (championship of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League). This was followed by winning the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup to complete his title as Sextuples. Barcelona is the first football club in the world to achieve this. Barca fans are also often called Culés . Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, and has the largest social media presence of any sports team. [5] [6] [7] Barça players have won a record number of Ballon d'Or awards (12), as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards (7). In 2010, the club made history when three players who came through its academy ( Messi , Iniesta & the same ball. History Early period (1899–1922) Walter Wild had the honor of being the first president of FC Barcelona (1899–1901). Joan Gamper was determined to revive the club from the crisis by volunteering to become president in 1908. In 1898, Hans Gamper, later known as Joan Gamper, arrived in Barcelona for professional reasons. He played football with his teammates on the pitch at Bonanova, then Barcelona's first headquarters, in his spare time. On October 22, 1899, Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes magazine seeking players interested in forming a football team. As a result, on November 29, Gamper and eleven other players (Otto Kunzle and Walter Wild from Switzerland; John Parsons and William Parsons from England; Otto Maier from Germany; Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol and Catalan Josep Llobet) gathered at Solé Gymnasium to found Futbol Club Barcelona . [8] Walter Wild was later appointed as the club's first president. [9] FC Barcelona had a successful start in both regional and national competitions, participating in the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey . In 1902, Barcelona won its first trophy by winning the Copa Macaya and also participated in the first Copa del Rey, but then lost 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final. [10] In 1908, Joan Gamper became club president because he was moved to save Barcelona from the crisis that the club was experiencing at that time since failing to win any competition after winning the Campionat de Catalunya in 1905. Gamper rebuilt the club, so that in the 1908–1909 season Barcelona was again champion of the Campionat de Catalunya with a record without defeat throughout the competition. [11] On March 14, 1909, the Camp de la Indústria was inaugurated as Barcelona's first stadium . Then in 1910, the club held a symbol-making contest in which club members participated. The contest was won by Carles Comamala, and his design became the crest the club uses to this day, with some minor changes. [12] In 1916, the first two-tiered grandstand in Spain was built at the Camp de la Indústria, increasing the stadium's capacity to 6,000 spectators. [13] Barcelona won the Copa del Rey three times in four seasons between 1909 and 1913. In the same period, Barcelona also won the Pyrenees Club four times, which was the first international competition the club participated in. The Pyrenees Club participants consisted of teams from Catalan, Basque and Southern France . [14] In the 1911–1912 season, Paulino Alcántara , a footballer born in the Philippines , made his debut at the age of 15. He is considered Barcelona's first star player and was their top scorer before the arrival of Lionel Messi . Alcántara scored 369 goals in 357 matches throughout his career at Barcelona. Since then, Barcelona has continued to have players who have become fan idols, such as Samitier, Zamora , Sagi, Piera and Sancho. [13] On 7 July 1917, Jack Greenwell became Barcelona's first official coach. Previously, he had been a player since 1912 after moving from Crook Town. As a coach, he won 2 Copa del Rey and 5 Campionat de Catalunya. [15] On May 20 1922, Barcelona moved its headquarters to Les Corts which was designed by Santiago Mestres and Josep Alemany with a capacity of 22,000. The stadium was built at a cost of 991,984.05 pesetas . [16] Struggle against history (1923–1957) On June 14, 1925, the crowd in the stadium booed the Spanish national anthem before a match against Júpiter which was a tribute match to the Orfeó Català choir. As a result, on July 10, Primo de Rivera forced Gamper to resign as president and the club's activities were closed for six months. [11] FC Barcelona celebrated its 25th anniversary on 7 and 8 December 1924 by holding two matches against Real Unión de Irun at the Les Corts stadium. At that time, Barcelona had 12,207 members. [16] In 1928, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey title after beating Real Sociedad with a score of 3–1 in the final which was held in Santander . Plattkó, who was the goalkeeper in that match, suffered a serious injury after showing heroic performance throughout the match. A Spanish writer, Rafael Alberti, later remembered Plattkó in a poem entitled "Oda a Platko". [16] [17] Barcelona became champions of the first Spanish league which was held on February 12 1929 for four and a half months, with 25 points. Manuel Parera became the first top scorer in the Spanish league. However, supporters did not really celebrate this title because it was not considered an important competition. Joan Gamper committed suicide on 30 July 1930, allegedly as a result of business setbacks he experienced and forced resignation from the club. [11] [18] Supporter The nickname cules for Barcelona supporters comes from the Catalan cul (English: ass), as spectators at the first stadium, Camp de la Industria, sat with their culs up standing. In Spain, around 25% of the population are said to be Barca sympathizers, second only to Real Madrid, supported by 32% of the population. Throughout Europe, Barcelona is the favorite second choice club. The club's membership numbers have seen a significant increase from 100,000 in the 2003–04 season to 170,000 in September 2009, a sharp rise caused by Ronaldinho's influence and then president Joan Laporta's media strategy of focusing on Spanish and English online media. In addition to membership, as of June 2010 there were 1,335 officially registered fan clubs, called penyes, worldwide. Fan clubs promote Barcelona in their region and receive useful offers when visiting Barcelona. The club has counted many prominent people among its supporters, including Pope John Paul II, who is an honorary member, and former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. FC Barcelona has the second highest average attendance of a European football club only behind Borussia Dortmund . Club rivalry El Clasico Main article: El Clásico Barcelona supporters display a mosaic of Catalan flags during the 2012 El Clásico at Camp Nou. In a country's national league, there is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams, and this is especially true in La Liga, where the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona is known as the "Classic Meeting" (El Clásico). Since the start of the national competition, the two clubs have often been seen as reflections/representatives of two different regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castilla, as well as two cities. This rivalry reflected a variety of things, including the political and cultural tensions between Catalonia and Castilla that were a common feature of the Spanish Civil War . During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and especially Francisco Franco (1939—1975), all regional cultures were suppressed. All regional languages ​​spoken in Spain, except Spanish (Castillan), are officially prohibited. The symbolism of the Catalan people's desire for freedom made Barcelona "more than just a football club" (més que un club) for the Catalan people. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way for Catalans to show their identity is to join Barcelona. This was less risky than joining the anti-Franco movement, and allowed them to express their dissatisfaction. On the other hand, Real Madrid is widely seen as the embodiment of sovereign centralism and a fascist regime at management level and below. Santiago Bernabeu, who is the club president, is a fighter for los Nacionales. However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs such as Josep Sunyol (Barcelona) and Rafael Sánchez Guerra (Real Madrid) surrendered at the hands of Franco's supporters. During the 1950s, the rivalry worsened when there was controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo Di Stéfano , who would eventually play for Real Madrid and was key to their subsequent success. In the 1960s, the two clubs then met in the Champions Cup more than twice and in 2002, a meeting between the European clubs was dubbed the "Match of the Century" by the Spanish media, and was watched by more than 500 million people worldwide. The Barcelona derby Espanyol has always been a local rival for Barça. Blanc-i-blaus , being one of the clubs granted royal patronage, was founded exclusively by Spanish football fans, unlike the multinational nature of Barca's main board. The message of the club's founders was clearly anti-Barcelona, ​​and they always saw FC Barcelona as a foreign team. The rivalry was strengthened because Catalans saw Espanyol as a provocative representative of Madrid. Their first stadium was in the affluent district of Sarrià . Traditionally, especially during the Franco regime, Espanyol was seen by most Barcelona citizens as a club that cultivated a kind of obedience to central authority, in contrast to Barca's revolutionary spirit. In 1918 Espanyol started a counter - petition against autonomy, which by then had become a pertinent issue. Later, a group of Espanyol supporters would join the Phalangists in the Spanish civil war, siding with the fascists. Despite differences in ideology, DerbERBI has always been more relevant to Espanyol fans than Barcelona due to the difference in goals. In recent years the rivalry has become less political, with Espanyol being translated as the official name and song from Spanish to Catalan. Although it was the most played local derby in La Liga history, it was also the most unequal, with Barcelona particularly dominant. In the league table, Espanyol have only managed to finish above Barca three times in nearly 70 years and only the all-Catalan Copa del Rey final was won by Barca in 1957. Espanyol had the consolation of achieving the biggest winning margin with 6-0 in 1951. Espanyol achieved a 2–1 win against Barca during the 2008–09 season, becoming the first team to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou in their treble - winning season. Finance November 1 2023 - Barcelona will open an ash house service at the Camp Nou Stadium , which is currently being renovated. This service is named the FC Barcelona Memorial. The columbarium at Camp Nou can hold up to 26,600 ashes. It costs from 250 euros to 6,000 euros and can be ordered. Barcelona itself considers this project unique and comprehensive. [19] Performance Barcelona celebrates their FIFA Club World Cup victory against Santos FC . As of June 2023, Barcelona has won 27 La Ligas , 31 Spanish King's Cups , 14 Spanish Super Cups , 3 Copa Eva Duarte , 2 Copa de la Liga and 2 Latin Cups and is the record holder for the last four competitions. They have also won 5 UEFA Champions Leagues , 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cups , 5 UEFA Super Cups and 3 FIFA Club World Cups . They also won a record 3 Fairs Cups , considered a precursor to the UEFA Cup/European League . Barcelona is the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955, and one of three clubs never relegated from La Liga, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid . In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win a treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. That same year, also becoming the first football club to win six out of six competitions in one year, Malthus completed the sextuple, comprising the treble and the Spanish Super Cup , UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club