Barcelona

Barcelona

Founded In:29 November 1899

Nick Name: Blaugrana; Barça

Slogan: Força Barça

Moto: Més Que un club

Ground: Camp Nou(Capacity- 99,354)

Opened on: 24 September 1957

President: Joan Laporta

Barcelona was founded in 1899 by a group of Spanish, Swiss, English and Catalan players led by Joan Gamper. Barcelona is one of the founding members of the Primera Division and one of the 3 clubs that never got relegated. Barcelona competes in La Liga against other Spanish Clubs.

Barca had a successful start in the league. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya, and participated in the first Copa del Rey but lost to Bizcaya in the final.

In 1988, Johan Cruyff, a former Barcelona player and legend, returned to the club as manager, and he assembled the “Dream Team ” of that era. The team won their first UCL in 1992. Barcelona won four straight La Liga titles between 1991 and 1994 under Cruyff’s leadership.

Pep Guardiola returned to the club as manager in 2008 and led them to a treble and a sextuple, winning all of the club’s competitions. Under Luis Enrique’s leadership, Barcelona secured the treble for the second time in 2015, making them one of only two clubs in history to do so.

Since its foundation, Barcelona has been a star-filled club with an end number of Legends playing in a Blaugrana shirt. Barcelona players have received a record 12 Ballon d’Or awards, including Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, as well as a record seven FIFA World Player of the Year awards, including Ronaldo, Romário, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo.

World-class midfielders like Xavi, Iniesta, Guardiola, Busquets have also played for Barcelona. In 2010 for the first time, Top 3 rankers for Ballon D’or were from the same club when – Messi, Iniesta and Xavi were chosen.

Lionel Messi is the all-time top scorer and the player with the most appearances for the club with 663 goals in 769 games and counting. Victor Valdes won the trophy of best goalkeeper 5 times, while Claudio Bravo has the record for the longest time as an unbeaten start(743 min).

El Clasico, also known as The Classic, is regarded as the most important match in club football history. Since their inception, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been bitter rivals. Their rivalry dates back to the Spanish Civil War at the city level.

Both the teams have dominated world football for a fair share of time, and their star players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been part of the World’s Greatest Footballer debate. Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two teams with the world’s biggest fan base, and this sparks the game to a new level. Real Madrid won the last fixture 3-1.

Trophies and Honours

The current team consists of 26 men squad with Ronald Koeman as team Manager.

GoalKeepers:

Midfield:

Forwards:

Johan Cruyff joined the club when it was a disaster but ended up winning the club’s first UCL. Pep Guardiola went down as the most successful manager with 2UCL and 3 la Liga in name and a 72% win ratio.

Since the departure of Luis Enrique, the club has struggled to find the form. Ernesto Valverde managed the club for 3 years before getting sacked. Former Barca player Ronald Koeman is the current manager.