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Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho de Assis Moreira was born on 21st March, 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
He helped Brazil win the World under-17 Championship in Egypt. During the competition he was scouted by local club Gremio and signed his first professional contract.
In 1999, after hitting 15 goals in 14 games for Gremio, Ronaldinho won his first senior cap for Brazil against Latvia. After shining in that match he made Brazil's Copa America squad and scored an incredible goal against Venezuela as Brazil won the trophy.

Ronaldinho scored his first hat-trick for Brazil against Saudi Arabia in the Confederations Cup semi-finals later that year.
In 2001 he left Gremio for Paris St. Germain (PSG) but was unable to make his debut because of contract rows, until 3 months later when FIFA stepped in.
In 2002 Ronaldinho was voted France's player of the month for January after hitting 6 goals in 7 games for PSG.
In June of that year he scored the famous free-kick against David Seaman in Brazil's World Cup Quarter Finals match against England (but was it a cross?), however later in that match he got a red card. After being suspended in the semis Ronaldinho won the World Cup with Brazil, playing in the final against Germany.
In the 2003 summer transfer market he rejected Manchester United to join Spanish side Barcelona for £21m.
After playing well for Barca Ronaldinho was named as one of the 11 greatest living footballers, announced by FIFA and chosen by Brazil legend Pele.
Then, Ronaldinho scored 15 league goals to inspire an improved Barcelona to 2nd place in La Liga. Soon after he suffered the first major injury of his career and missed Brazil's Copa America campaign.
Ronaldinho pleased Barcelona fans by turning down Chelsea and agreeing a new contract. In December he was named best player in the world for 2004 by FIFA beating Shevchenko and Henry to first place.
Six months later Ronaldinho helped Barcelona to win La Liga 2005 easily outdoing rivals Real Madrid.
In September 2005 Ronaldinho added to his bulging trophy cabinet when he won the FIFPro's World Player of the Year in a poll of 38,000 professional football players in 40 countries. Wayne Rooney won the young player award.
In November 2005 Ronaldinho was named 2005 European Footballer of the Year - the award known as the Ballon D'Or is voted for by European football journalists selected by French magazine France Football.
The 2005/2006 season ended in excellent fashion for Barca and Ronaldinho after they won both La Liga and the Champions League.
Ronaldinho played in the Brazilian World Cup 2006 squad, however Brazil did not shine and went out in the quarter-finals.
In July 2008, AC Milan and Barcelona reached an agreement over the transfer of Ronaldinho.
On 11 May 2010, Ronaldinho was left out of Brazil's World Cup squad of 23.

Juventus Football Club also known as Juventus Turin (or Juventus Torino), Juventus, or simply Juve, is a football club from Turin, Italy.

The club is currently playing in the Italian Serie B , for its first time after having spent its whole history in the top Italian league Serie A. Juventus is the most successful team in the history of Italian football. Overall, Juventus has won 51 official trophies, more than any other Italian team; 40 in its country (also a record), and 11 in European and the world competitions (see Honours). Juventus is the third club from Europe and fifth in the world with the most international titles recognized by the Union of European Football Associations and the International Federation of Association Football.

In 1985, Juventus became the first club in the history of the European football to have won all three Major European trophies and also, the only team in the world to have won all international cups and championships (which includes all official European tournaments and the Intercontinental Champions Clubs' Cup ). Juventus is also one of the G-14â€™s founding members, a group that represents eighteen of the largest and most prestigious European football clubs.

History

The club was founded on November 1, 1897 by a group of youngsters from the grammar school of Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum in Turin. The people who decided to form the club were all between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, they came up with the idea of forming a club while sitting on a bench in Corso Re Umberto park.

Very little early documentation exists of the foundation, as during this early period in Italian football newspapers did not devote much space to the sport. One of the founding members; Enrico Canfari later wrote a document (in 1914) describing the birth of the club. The young founders heatedly discussed what to name the club; after a round of voting, the name was narrowed down to three choices, SocietÃ Via Fori, SocietÃ Sportiva Massimo D' Azeglio and Sport Club Juventus, they chose the latter. The men who were involved in the founding of Juventus were: -Gioacchino Armano
-Alfredo Armano
-Enrico Canfari
-Eugenio Canfari
-Francesco DaprÃ
-Domenico Donna
-Carlo Ferrero
-Luigi Forlano
-Luigi Gibezzi
-Umberto Malvano
-Enrico Piero Molinatti
-Umberto Savoia
-Vittorio Varetti

The first ever president was Eugenio Canfari (brother of Enrico), they played very early on at Piazza D'Armi in Crocetta, Turin. Juventus changed their name to Football Club Juventus in 1899 the first ever colours of the club were pink and black, known in Italy as rosanero.

Juventus enter the Italian Championship
Juventus eventually made their debut in the Italian Football Championship during the 1900 season, wearing their original pink shirts. The first ever game competed by the club in the championship, was on 11 May 1900 where they lost to F.C. Torinese 1-0 at Piazza D'Armi. In their second ever season, Juventus fared better when they reached the semi-finals of the league by beating locals Ginnastica Torino 5-0, before losing to Milan Cricket 2-3.

The club decided to find a new kit in 1903, they asked an English player at the club; John Savage if he could help, Savage had a friend in Nottingham who supported Notts County and sent to Turin the world famous black and white striped shirts which they have used ever since[12]. Around this period they also moved playing field to Velodromo Umberto I. For two seasons in a row, Juventus narrowly ended as runners-up to Genoa Cricket & Football Club, before beating them out for their first ever championship title victory in 1905.

Juventus had built up a strong squad, but soon after securing their first championship, president Alfredo Dick left the club after a large argument, taking with him several prominent players. Some of the staff at Juventus were considering moving the club out of Turin,[13] so Dick left to form Foot-Ball Club Torino, also taking with him the lease for Velodromo Umberto I. The first ever Turin derby between the two clubs was played the next season on 13 January 1907 and has been an intense rivalry ever since.

From this period until the First World War, Italian football was dominated largely by other clubs, such as fellow Piedmont clubs Pro Vercelli and Casale. The Juventus squad was steadily re-built after the war under the presidency of Corradino Corradini, and several players were called up to the Italian national team for the first time. Around this period goalkeeper Giampiero Combi debuted, he would go on to become a club hero.

The Agnelli era begins
Edoardo Agnelli of the Agnelli family, owners of the Fiat company gained control of the club in 1923. They had a private stadium in Villar Perosa (south-west of Turin) built and a complete set of facilities and services. This proved a good move for the club, as Juventus won their second Italian Championship during the 1925-26 season; they beat Alba Roma in the final with an aggregate score of 12-1, Antonio Vojak's goals were essential that season.

From the 1930-31 through the 1934-35 season, Juventus collected a record of five consecutive Italian league championships under coach Carlo Carcano; the squad included the likes of Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Luis Monti amongst others. Notably, the club reached the semi-finals of the Mitropa Cup before going out to Russian side Slavia Prague.

During 1933, Juventus moved to what is considered their first major home; Stadio Mussolini, it was built in 1933 for the 1934 FIFA World Cup, holding a capacity of 65,000. It was originally named after Benito Mussolini who was Prime Minister of Italy at the time. Edoardo Agnelli died on 14 July 1935, this affected the club's league performance in a large manner as some of the most prominent players left soon after his death.

Although the club were unable to re-capture their form for the rest of the 1930s, they did finish as runners-up to Ambrosiana-Inter in the 1937-38 season. After-World War II the club's ground was re-named, Stadio Comunale and Edoardo's son Gianni Agnelli was put in place as honorary president; the club added two more scudetto championship's to their name in the 1949-50 and 1951-52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. This kind of form would be a sign of things to come in the future.

After a dry spell, Juventus signed Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sivori in 1957 to play alongside Giampiero Boniperti (who had been with the club since 1946). This system was very successful for Juventus and they won Serie A in 1957-58 and 1959-60 with Fiorentina finishing second on both ocassions, the latter of which was Juventus' first ever double, as they also won the Coppa Italia that season. This record breaking squad became the first Italian clubs to win ten championships in 1961, in recognition of this the club were awarded a little golden star to wear on their shirt. Notably, Omar Sivori became the first Juventus player to win the European Footballer of the Year that year too.

When Boniperti retired in 1961, he retired as the all-time top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions; a club record which would last for 45 years. The last Juventus championship victory came with Heriberto Herrera as coach in 1966-67, a notable players of this time was the reliable defender Sandro Salvadore.

European success
Juventus further solidified themselves as a tower of strength in Italian football during the 1970s by winning the scudetto in 1971-72, 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1976-77. Coached in the early part of the decade by ČestmÃr VycpÃ¡lek, a Czech who had once played with Juventus (and Palermo), the Old Lady built up a strong squad of players to push them forward, with Roberto Bettega, Fabio Capello, and Brazilian JosÃ© Altafini who would become the joint-third highest scorer in Serie A history.

Franco Causio also became a very popular player at the club during the 1970s, in fact he was so popular that the club allowed him to wear his hair long, prior to Causio this was against the rules. The club also provided the team with official formal wear (made by famous tailors) and forced them to complete their educational studies. Most of its players remained with Juventus until the end of their careers; many were given jobs with the club or for Fiat (and related companies) after playing retirement.

Although Juventus were successful in Italy, European success eluded them until they won the UEFA Cup 1976-77, this was achieved against Spanish oposition in the form of Athletic Bilbao with goals from Marco Tardelli and Bettega. The UEFA Cup was won under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni, who continued on with Juventus through the 1980s, breaking club longevity records.

Under Trapattoni, Juventus dominated the early part of the 1980s in Serie A, the club won the league in 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1983-84. The second title of which allowed the club to add another golden star above their crest (the only club to achieve this), marking 20 scudetto titles. The club's players were also achiving a lot of notability in the wider scheme of football, Paolo Rossi who had led Italy to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup was awarded the European Footballer of the Year in 1982. Juve's French midfielder, Michel Platini was awarded the same title for three years in a row; 1983, 1984 and 1985, a record. Juventus is the only club to have players from their club winning the award in four consecutive years.

The height of European success was not reached until the mid-80s, when Juventus won the 1985 European Cup by beating Liverpool 1-0, with a penalty scored by Platini. However, what should have been the greatest day in the club's history was marred by a tragedy which would change European football; the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people (mostly Juventus fans) were killed by the stadium collapsing, it has been named "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions.".

With the exception of winning the closely contested Italian Championship of 1985-86 over Roma and Napoli, the rest of the 1980s were not very successful for the club. As well as having to content with Diego Maradona's Napoli, both of the Milanese clubs Milan and Inter were picking up Italian championships. In 1990, Juventus moved into their new home; Stadio delle Alpi, this was built for the 1990 World Cup and also because Juventus' old ground which they shared with Torino, Stadio Comunale was been reduced in size.

The Lippi era
Marcello Lippi took over as Juventus manager in 1994. During his first season, Juventus recorded their first Serie A championship since the mid-1980s. Around this time the squad featured the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and a young Alessandro Del Piero, who would become heir to Baggio's throne.

Juventus followed up their home success by winning the Champions League for the second time in their history in 1996, the game went down to a penalty shootout against reigning champions Ajax Amsterdam; Vladimir Jugović scored the deciding penalty kick. During the following years a second wave of what are considered Lippi-era legends joined; Zinedine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi, Edgar Davids and briefly Thierry Henry. Since the Champions League victory, they won their home league twice more and the European Super Cup. Between 1996 and 1998, they appeared in all three Champions League finals, losing to Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Real Madrid in 1998.

During 1998, former A.S. Roma manager Zdeněk Zeman accused Juventus physicians of doping their players from the 1993-94 to 1997-98 seasons. After several years of official inquiries and 2 trials by UEFA and FIGC, Juventus were cleared of all charges by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Neither the pharmaceutical substances that were in question were banned nor did any Juventus players have positive test results for any illegal doping substances.[15] The substances in question were principally creatine - which is considered a legal athletic supplement and has never been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency - and Erythropoietin, legal in sports medicine and used frequently among cyclists, but prohibited by WADA at the start of the 2000-01 season).

Lippi left Juventus for rivals Internazionale Milano F.C. briefly. He returned to Juve after one season, and signed the third and final wave of Lippi-era players; Gianluigi Buffon, David TrÃ©zÃ©guet, Marcelo Salas, Pavel Nedvěd and Lilian Thuram amongst others. He led the team to two more Serie A titles in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. Juventus appeared in an all Italian Champions League final, against rivals A.C. Milan; the game ended in a goalless draw, 0-0, and so again had to be decided in a penalty shootout, but this time Juventus lost. Lippi left the following year as he was appointed by the Italian national team as head coach, he would go on to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup with them two years later.

The "Calciopoli" scandal
Since 2004, Fabio Capello had taken over the club, and lead them to two more Serie A titles. But during May 2006, Juventus were one of four clubs (along with AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio) linked to a Serie A match fixing scandal. At the center of the acusations was Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, who was acused of influencing referees and even the false imprisonment of one; no players were accused of any wrong-doing. Moggi along with two other members of the board resigned on May 13. The clubs involved were ordered to stand trial, around this time Gianluca Pessotto almost lost his life when he fell from a 4th story window, the media suggested that it could have been a suicide attempt because of the stress of trial.

Manager Capello, left for Real Madrid before the verdict had been handed out. IFF prosecutor, Stefano Palazzi, called the four clubs to be thrown out of Serie A and that Juventus have their last two title's stripped. The sentences saw Juventus stripped of two titles, and relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history. The club was also docked points for the 2006-2007 season, which was eventually reduced after an appeal. Numerous players left the club, including European Footballer of the Year and 2006 World Cup winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, two players were also sold to rivals Inter for â‚¬34.3 million. However, some highly rated players remained loyal; Gianluigi Buffon, captain Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedvěd, Mauro Camoranesi and David TrÃ©zÃ©guet.

Alessandro Del Piero

source: wikipedia.org
GNU Free Documentation License

AC Milan

AC Milan Information

Address: via Filippo Turati 3, 20121 MILANO
Telephone: 02/62.281
Fax: 02/65.98.876
Founded: 18-Dec-1899
Stadium: Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro)
Noticias del AC Milan

AC Milan History

AC Milan is an Italian football club. Based in Milan, they play in red-and-black stripes and black shorts, giving them the nickname rossoneri ("red-blacks"). The second most successful club in Italian soccer history, they won the Serie A 17 times and Coppa Italia five times.

The club was founded in 1899 as the Milan Cricket and Football Club by Alfred Edwards, a British expatriate. In honour of its origins, the club has retained the English spelling of its city's name, instead of changing it to the Italian Milano; it should be noted that the current Italian pronounciation is actually MEE-lahn.

The team's current stadium is the 85,700 seater Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro. The stadium is shared with Internazionale (also known as "Inter"), the other major football club in Milan. AC Milan supporters use "San Siro" to refer to the stadium because Meazza was a star player for Inter.

Historically, AC Milan (usually referred to as "Mìlan" in Italy) was supported by the city's working classes and trade unionists, while Inter was mainly supported by the more prosperous. However, in recent years, the clubs have seen a significant reversal in supporter bases. Milan is now owned by conservative media magnate and current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while Inter is now owned by a centre-left businessman.

Famous players have included: Renzo De Vecchi, Cesare Maldini, Karl Heinz Schnellinger, Kurt Hamrin, Sandro Salvadore, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Jose Altafini, Gunnar Gren, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Gunnar Nordahl, Nils Liedholm, Gianni Rivera, Luther Blissett, Franco Baresi, Giovanni Trapattoni, Angelo Sormani, Roberto Donadoni, George Weah, Demetrio Albertini, Paolo Di Canio, Roberto Baggio, Zvonimir Boban, Gianluigi Lentini, Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Cafu, Andriy Shevchenko, Hernán Crespo, Filippo Inzaghi, Jean-Pierre Papin, Dejan Savicevic, Ray Wilkins, Jimmy Greaves, Jaap Stam, Alessandro Nesta, Kaká.

AC Milan Honours, Trophies & Awards

Italian League (Serie A): 17
1901, 1906, 1907, 1950-51, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1961-62, 1967-68, 1978-79, 1987-88, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04
European Cups: 6
1962-63, 1968-69, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1993-94, 2002-03
Italian Cups: 5
1966-67, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1976-77, 2002-03
Italian Super Cups: 5
1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004
Intercontinental Cups: 3
1969, 1989, 1990
European Super Cups: 3
1989, 1990, 1994
Cup Winners' Cups: 2
1967-68, 1972-73
Latin Cup (It was the most important cup for club teams in Europe during the 40's and the 50's. It was played from 1949 to 1957 between the champions of France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. After the introduction of the European Cups, it disappeared.)
1951, 1956
Mitropa Cup
1981/82
Finals

European Cup/Champions League
1957/58, 1992/93, 1994/95
Cup Winners' Cup
1973/74
Intercontinental Cup
1963, 1993, 1994, 2003
European Super Cup
1973, 1993,
Latin Cup
1953
Italian Cups
1941/42, 1967/68, 1970/71, 1974/75, 1984/85, 1989/90, 1997/98
-123football.com-

Birth of FC Barcelona (1899–1922)

Sports Notice: Our friend and companion Hans Gamper... former Swiss [football] champion, being keen on organising some football games in the city asks anyone who feels enthusiastic enough about the sport to present themselves at the office of this newspaper any Tuesday or Friday evening between the hours of 9 and 11pm.

Gamper's advertisement in Los Deportes^[2]

On 22 October 1899, Joan Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended—Walter Wild(the first director of the club), Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons, and William Parsons—and Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born.^[2]

FC Barcelona had a successful start in regional and national cups, competing in the Campionat de Catalunya and theCopa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya, and participated in the first Copa del Rey, losing 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final.^[3] Gamper became club president in 1908, the club in financial difficulty after not winning a competition since the Campionat de Catalunya in 1905. Club president on five separate occasions between 1908 and 1925, he spent 25 years in total at the helm. One of his main achievements was ensuring Barça acquire its own stadium and thus generate a stable income.^[4]

On 14 March 1909, the team moved into the Camp de la Indústria, a larger stadium with a seating capacity of 8,000 people. From 1910 to 1914 Barcelona participated in the Pyrenees Cup, which consisted of the best teams of Languedoc, Midi, Aquitaine (Southern France), the Basque Country, and Catalonia. At that time it was considered the finest competition open for participation.^[5]^[6] During the same period, the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan and gradually evolved into an important symbol of Catalan identity. For many fans, supporting the club had less to do with the game itself and more with being a part of the club's collective identity.^[7]

Gamper launched a campaign to recruit more club members, and by 1922 the club had over 20,000 members and was able to finance a new stadium. The club to moved to the new Les Corts, inaugurated the same year.^[8] Les Corts had an initial capacity of 22,000, which was later expanded to 60,000.^[9] Jack Greenwell was recruited as the first full-time manager, and the club's fortunes began to improve on the field. During the Gamper era, FC Barcelona won eleven Campionat de Catalunya, six Copas del Rey, and four Pyrenees Cups, its first "golden age".^[3]^[4]

Rivera, Republic and Civil War (1923–1957)

Black and white photo of the city from high above. Smoke from a bomb can be seen

The aerial bombardment of Barcelona in 1938

On 14 June 1925, the crowd in the stadium jeered the national anthem in a spontaneous protest against Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. The ground was closed for six months as a reprisal, and Gamper was forced to relinquish the club presidency.^[10] This coincided with the club's transition to professionalism; in 1926 the directors of Barcelona publicly declared Barcelona a professional side for the first time.^[8] The club's 1928 victory in the Spanish Cup was celebrated with a poem titled "Oda a Platko", written by a member of the Generation of '27, poet Rafael Alberti, who was inspired by the "heroic performance" of the Barcelona keeper.^[11] On 30 July 1930, Gamper committed suicide after a period of depression brought on by personal and financial problems.^[4]

Although they continued to have players of the standing of Josep Escolà, the club entered a period of decline in which political conflict overshadowed sport throughout society.^[12] Although the team won the Campionat de Catalunya in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938,^[3] success at a national level (with the exception of a disputed title in 1937) evaded them. A month after the Spanish Civil Warbegan in 1936, several players from Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao enlisted in the ranks of those who fought against the military uprising.^[13] On 6 August, Josep Sunyol, the club president and representative of a pro-independence political party, was murdered byFalangist soldiers near Guadarrama.^[14] Dubbed the martyrdom of barcelonisme, the murder was a defining moment in the history of FC Barcelona.^[15] In the summer of 1937, the squad went on tour in Mexico and the United States, where it was received as an ambassador of the Second Spanish Republic. That tour secured the club financially, but also resulted in half the team seeking asylum in Mexico and France. On 16 March 1938, Barcelona came under aerial bombardment, resulting in over 3,000 deaths; one of the bombs hit the club's offices.^[16]Catalonia came under occupation a few months later. As a symbol of 'undisciplined' Catalanism, the club, down to just 3,486 members, faced a number of restrictions.^[17] After the Civil War, the Catalan flag was banned and football clubs were prohibited from using non-Spanish names. These measures forced the club to change its name to Club de Fútbol Barcelonaand to remove the Catalan flag from its club shield.^[9]

In 1943, Barcelona faced rivals Real Madrid in the semi-finals of Copa del Generalísimo. Their first match at Les Corts was won by Barcelona 3–0. Before the second leg, Barcelona's players had a changing room visit from Franco's director of state security. He "reminded" them that they were only playing due to the "generosity of the regime". Real Madrid dominated the match, winning 11–1.^[18] Despite the difficult political situation, CF Barcelona enjoyed considerable success during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1945, with Josep Samitier as managers and players like César, Ramallets, and Velasco, they won La Liga for the first time since 1929. They added to this total in 1948 and again in 1949. They also won the first Copa Latinathat year. In June 1950, Barcelona signed Ladislao Kubala, who was to be an influential figure at the club.

On a rainy Sunday in 1951, the crowd left Les Corts stadium after a 2–1 win against Santander on foot, refusing to catch any trams and surprising the Francoist authorities. A tram strike was taking place in Barcelona, which received the support of blaugrana fans. Events such as this made the club represent much more than just Catalonia; many progressive Spaniards saw the club as a staunch defender of rights and freedoms.^[19]^[20]

Managers Ferdinand Daučík and László Kubala led the team to five different trophies including La Liga, the Copa del Generalísimo (now the Copa del Rey), the Copa Latina, the Copa Eva Duarte, and the Copa Martini Rossi in 1952. In 1953, the club won La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo again.^[9]

Club de Fútbol Barcelona (1957–1978)

Barcelona stadium seen from above. It is a large and asymmetrically shaped dome.

The club's stadium, Camp Nou, was constructed with financial backing from the club's supporters in 1957.^[21]

With Helenio Herrera as manager, a young Luis Suárez, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungariansrecommended by Kubala, Sándor Kocsis and Zoltán Czibor, the team won another national double in 1959 and a La Liga and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup double in 1960. In 1961 they became the first club to beat Real Madrid in European Cup competition, but lost 3–2 to Benfica in the final.^[22]^[23]^[24]

The 1960s were less successful for the club, with Real Madrid monopolising La Liga. The building of the Camp Nou, completed in 1957, meant the club had little money to spend on new players.^[24] On the positive side, the decade saw the emergence of Josep Fusté and Carles Rexach, and the club won the Copa del Generalísimo in 1963 and the Fairs Cup in 1966. Barça restored some of its former pride by beating Real Madrid 1–0 in the 1968 Copa del Generalísimo final at the Bernabéu, in front of Franco, with former republican pilot Salvador Artigas as manager. The end of Franco's dictatorship in 1974 saw the club changing its official name back to Futbol Club Barcelona and reverting the crest to its original design, again including the original letters.^[25]

The 1973–74 season saw the arrival of Johan Cruyff, who was bought for a world record £920,000 from Ajax.^[26] Already an established player in Holland, 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 Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose the Catalan name Jordi, after the local saint, for his son.^[27]Next to players of quality like Juan Manuel Asensi, Carles Rexach, and Hugo Sotil, he helped the club win the La Liga title in 1973–74 for the first time since 1960,^[3] defeating Real Madrid 5–0 at the Bernabéu along the way.^[28] He was crowned European Footballer of the Year in 1973 during his first season with Barcelona (his second Ballon d'Or win; he won his first while playing for Ajax in 1971). Cruyff received this prestigious award a third time (the first player ever to do so) in 1974 while he was still with Barcelona.^[29]

Núñez and the stabilisation years (1978–2000)

The Champions League trophy, which Barcelona won in 1992.

Beginning with Josep Lluís Núñez in 1978, the president of FC Barcelona has been elected by the club members. This decision was closely tied to Spain's transition to democracy in 1974 and the end of Franco's dictatorship. Núñez's main objective was to develop Barça into a world-class club by giving it stability both on and off the pitch. On recommendation from Cruyff, Núñez inaugurated La Masia as Barcelona's youth academy on 20 October 1979.^[30] His presidency was to last for 22 years and it deeply affected the image of Barcelona, as Núñez held to a strict policy regarding wages and discipline, letting players such as Diego Maradona, Romário and Ronaldo go rather than meeting their demands.^[31]^[32]

On 16 May 1979, the club won its first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup by beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4–3 in Basel in a final that was watched by more than 30,000 travelling blaugrana fans. In June 1982 Maradona was signed for a then-world record fee of £5 million from Boca Juniors.^[33] In the following season, under manager Menotti, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, beating Real Madrid. Maradona's time with Barça was short-lived; he soon left for Napoli. At the start of the 1984–85 season Terry Venables was hired as manager, and he won La Liga with notable displays by German midfielder Bernd Schuster. The next season Venables took the team to their second European Cup final, only to lose on penalties toSteaua Bucureşti during a dramatic evening in Seville.^[31]

After the 1986 FIFA World Cup, English top scorer Gary Lineker was signed along with goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, but the team could not achieve success as Schuster was excluded from the team. Venables was fired at the beginning of the 1987–88 season and replaced with Luis Aragonés. The players rebelled against president Núñez in an event that became known as the Hesperia mutiny, and a 1–0 victory at the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad finished out the season.^[31]

Johan Cruyff won La Liga four consecutive times as manager of Barcelona.

In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager and he assembled the so-called Dream Team. He used a mix of Spanish players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, and Txiki Begiristain while signing international stars such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário, and Hristo Stoichkov.^[34] Under his guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992, and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruyff became the club's most successful manager to date. He also became the club's longest consecutive serving manager, serving 8 years.^[35] Cruyff's fortune changed in his final two seasons, when he failed to win any trophies and fell out with president Núñez, resulting in his departure.^[31]

Cruyff was briefly replaced by Bobby Robson, who took charge of the club for a single season in 1996–97. He recruited Ronaldo from PSV and delivered a cup treble, winning the Copa del Rey, 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.^[36] Like Maradona, Ronaldo only stayed a short time as he left forInternazionale. 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. Rivaldo became the fourth Barça player to be awardedEuropean Footballer of the Year. Despite this domestic success, the failure to emulate Real Madrid in the Champions League led to van Gaal and Núñez resigning in 2000.^[36]

Exit Núñez, enter Laporta (2000–2010)

The marketing department of the club redefined their strategy around the popular Ronaldinho.^[37]

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. Barça fans were distraught by Figo's decision to join arch-rivals Real Madrid, and during subsequent visits to the Camp Nou, he was given an extremely hostile reception. Upon his first return a piglet's head and a full bottle of whiskey were thrown at him from the crowd.^[38] President Núñez was replaced by Joan Gaspart in 2000, and the three years he was in charge, saw the club decline and managers came and went; van Gaal served a second term. Gaspart did not inspire confidence off the field either and in 2003, he and van Gaal resigned.^[39]

After the disappointment of the Gaspart era, the club bounced back with the combination of a new young president, Joan Laporta, and a young new manager, former Dutch player Frank Rijkaard. On the field, an influx of international players combined with home-grown Spanish players led to the club's return to success. Barça won La Liga and the Supercopa de España in 2004–05, and the team's midfielder, Ronaldinho, won the FIFA World Player of the Year award.^[40]

The sextuple, which Barcelona won in 2009.

In the 2005–06 season, Barcelona repeated their league and Supercup successes.^[41] 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 for the club's first European Cup victory in 14 years.^[42] They took part in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup, but were beaten by a late goal in the final against Brazilian sideInternacional.^[43] Despite being the favourites and starting strongly, Barcelona finished the 2006–07 season without trophies. A pre-season U.S. tour and open feud between the player Samuel Eto'o and Rijkaard was later blamed for the lack of trophies.^[44]^[45] In La Liga, Barça were in first place for much of the season, but their inconsistency in the new year allowed Real Madrid to overtake them to become champions. The 2007–08 season was unsuccessful, and as Barça failed to emulate the success of previous years Barça B youth manager Josep Guardiola took over Rijkaard's duties at the conclusion of the season.^[46]

Barça beat Athletic Bilbao 4–1 in the 2009 Copa del Rey Final, winning the competition for a record-breaking 25th time. A defeat by Real Madrid three days later ensured that Barcelona were La Liga champions for the 2008–09 season. Barça finished the season by beating last year's Champions League winners Manchester United 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to win their third Champions League title and complete the first ever treble won by a Spanish side.^[47]^[48]^[49] The team went on to win the 2009 Supercopa de España against Athletic Bilbao^[50] and the 2009 UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk,^[51] becoming the first European club to win both domestic and European Super Cups following a treble. In December 2009, Barcelona won the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup,^[52] and became the first team ever to accomplish the sextuple.^[53] Barcelona recorded two new records in Spanish football in 2010 as they retained the La Liga trophy with 99 points and winning the Spanish Super Cup trophy for a ninth time.^[54]^[55]

Support

Main article: Supporters of FC Barcelona

The nickname culé for a Barcelona supporter is derived from the Catalan cul (English: arse), as the spectators at the first stadium, Camp de la Indústria, sat with their culs over the stand. In Spain, about 25% of the population are said to be Barça sympathisers, second behind Real Madrid, supported by 32% of the population. Valencia is third, with 5%.^[56] Throughout Europe, Barcelona is the favourite second-choice club.^[57] The club's membership figures have seen a significant increase from 100,000 in the 2003–04 season to 170,000 in September 2009,^[58] the sharp rise being attributed to the influence of Ronaldinho and then-president Joan Laporta's media strategy that focused on Spanish and English online media.^[59]^[60]

In addition to membership, as of June 2010 there are 1,335 officially registered fan clubs, called penyes, around the world. The fan clubs promote Barcelona in their locality and receive beneficial offers when visiting Barcelona.^[61] The club has had many prominent persons among its supporters, including Pope John Paul II, who was an honorary member, and current prime minister of Spain José Zapatero.^[62]^[63]

El Clásico

Main article: El Clásico

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in a national league, and this is particularly the case in La Liga, where the game between Barça and Real Madrid is known as El Clásico. From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile, as well as of the two cities. The rivalry reflects what many regard as the political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and the Castilians, seen by one author as a re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War.^[64]

During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and especially of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), all regional cultures were suppressed. All of the languages spoken in Spanish territory, except Spanish (Castilian) itself, were officially banned.^[65]^[66] Symbolising the Catalan people's desire for freedom, Barça became 'More than a club' (Més que un club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way for the Catalans to demonstrate their identity was by joining Barça. It was less risky than joining a clandestine anti-Franco movement, and allowed them to express their dissidence.^[67]

On the other hand, Real Madrid was widely seen as the embodiment of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime at management level and beyond (Santiago Bernabeu, the former club president for whom the Merengues stadium is named, fought with los nacionales).^[68]^[69] However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs such as Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters.

During the 1950s the rivalry was exacerbated further when there was a controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo di Stéfano, who finally played for Real Madrid and was key to their subsequent success.^[70] The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the European stage when they met twice at the knock-out rounds of the European Cup.^[3] The latest European encounter between the clubs, in 2002, was dubbed the "Match of The Century" by Spanish media, and was watched by more than 500 million people.^[71]

El Derbi Barceloní

Main article: El derbi barceloní

Barça's local rival has always been Espanyol. Blanc-i-blaus, being one of the clubs granted royal patronage, was founded exclusively by Spanish football fans, unlike the multinational nature of Barça's primary board. The founding message of the club was clearly anti-Barcelona, and they disapprovingly saw FC Barcelona as a team of foreigners.^[72] The rivalry was strengthened by what Catalonians saw as a provocative representative of Madrid.^[73] Their original ground was in the affluent district of Sarrià.^[74]^[75]

Traditionally, especially during the Franco regime, Espanyol was seen by the vast majority of Barcelona's citizens as a club which cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority, in stark contrast to Barça's revolutionary spirit.^[76] In 1918 Espanyol started a counter-petition against autonomy, which at that time had become a pertinent issue.^[72] Later on, an Espanyol supporter group would join the Falangists in the Spanish civil war, siding with the fascists. Despite these differences in ideology, the derbi has always been more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives. In recent years the rivalry has become less political, as Espanyol translated its official name and anthem from Spanish to Catalan.^[72]

Though it is the most played local derby in the history of La Liga, it is also the most unbalanced, with Barcelona overwhelmingly dominant. In the league table, Espanyol have only managed to end above Barça on three occasions in almost 70 years and the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey final was won by Barça in 1957. Espanyol has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6–0 in 1951. Espanyol achieved a 2–1 win against Barça during the 2008–09 season, becoming the first team to defeat Barcelona at Camp Nou in their treble-winning season.^[77]

Finances and ownership

In 2010, Forbes evaluated Barcelona's worth to be around €752 million (USD $1,000 million), ranking them fourth after Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Arsenal, based on figures from the 2008–09 season.^[78]^[79] According to Deloitte, Barcelona had a recorded revenue of €366 million in the same period, ranking second to Real Madrid, who generated €401 million in revenue.^[80]

Along with Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Barcelona is organised as a registered association. Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership.^[81] The members of Barcelona, called socis, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club.^[82] As of 2010 the club has 170,000socis.^[58]

An audit by Deloitte in July 2010 showed that Barcelona had a net debt of €442 million, currently 58% of net worth as evaluated by Forbes. The new management of Barcelona, which had ordered the audit, cited "structural problems" as the cause of the debt.^[83] News had emerged that the club had recorded a loss of €79 million over the course of the year, despite having defended their La Liga title.^[84]

Records

For more details on this topic, see List of FC Barcelona records and statistics.

Migueli presently holds the team records for number of total games played (548) and La Liga appearances (391). Xavi, the player with the most international caps, as of 9 May 2010 has played 352 league games and 527 games in all competitions.^[85]

FC Barcelona's all-time highest goalscorer in all competitions (including friendlies) is Paulino Alcántara with 357 goals.^[85] The record league scorer is Cesár Rodriguez, who scored 195 goals in La Liga between 1942 and 1955, a record not likely to be broken soon, as the current leading league scorer Lionel Messi has scored 88 goals.^[86] Only four people have managed to score over 100 league goals at Barcelona: Cesár Rodriguez (195), Ladislao Kubala (131), Samuel Eto'o (108) and Lionel Messi (101).

On 2 February 2009, Barcelona reached a total of 5,000 La Liga goals. The goal was converted by Messi in a game against Racing Santander, which Barça won 2–1.^[87] On 18 December 2009 Barcelona beat Estudiantes 2–1 to win their sixth title in a year and became the first ever football team to complete the sextuple.^[88] Barcelona holds the record for most Copa del Rey titles (25) and a joint record with Real Madrid for the most Spanish Supercups with 8 titles.

Barcelona's highest home attendance was 120,000, for a European Cup quarter-final against Juventus on 3 March 1986.^[89] The modernisation of Camp Nou during the 1990s and the introduction of all-seater stands means the record will not be broken for the foreseeable future as the current legal capacity of the stadium is 98,772.^[90]

Crest and shirt

diamond shaped crest surrounded by laurels and topped with a crown and a bat

The first crest worn by Barcelona

The club crest is derived from the St George's Cross, the Catalan flag, and the colours of Barcelona.^[91] Since its foundation the club has played with a crest. The first was a quartered diamond-shaped crest topped by the Crown of Aragon and the bat of King James, and surrounded by two branches, one of a laurel tree and the other a palm.^[92] In 1910 the club held a competition among its members to design a new crest. The winner was Carles Comamala, who at the time played for the club. Comamala's suggestion became the crest that the club wears today, with some minor variations. The crest consists of the St George Cross in the upper-left corner with the Catalan flag beside it, and the colours of Barcelona at the bottom.^[92]

The blue and red colours of the shirt were first worn in a match against Hispania in 1900.^[93] Several competing theories have been put forth for the blue and red design of the Barcelona shirt. The son of the first president, Arthur Witty, claimed it was the idea of his father as the colours were the same as the Merchant Taylor's school team. Another explanation, according to author Toni Strubell, is that the colours are from Robespierre'sFirst Republic. In Catalonia the common perception is that the colours were chosen by Joan Gamper and are those of his home team, FC Basel.^[94]

Since its founding, Barcelona has never worn corporate advertisements on their shirt. On 14 July 2006, the club announced a five year agreement with UNICEF, which includes having the UNICEF logo on their shirts. The agreement has the club donate €1.5 million per year to UNICEF (0.7 percent of its ordinary income, equal to the UN International Aid Target, cf. ODA) via the FC Barcelona Foundation.^[95] The FC Barcelona Foundation is an entity set up in 1994 on the suggestion of then-chairman of the Economical-Statutory Committee, Jaime Gil-Aluja. The idea was to set up a foundation that could attract financial sponsorships to support a non-profit sport company.^[96] In 2004, a company could become one of 25 "Honorary members" by contributing between £40,000–60,000 (£45,800–68,700)^[97] per year. There are also 48 associate memberships available for an annual fee of £14,000 (£16,000)^[97] and an unlimited number of "patronages" for the cost of £4,000 per year (£4,600).^[97] It is unclear whether the honorary members have any formal say in club policy, but according to the author Anthony King, it is "unlikely that Honorary Membership would not involve at least some informal influence over the club".^[98]

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt partner
1982–1992	Meyba	None
1992–1998	Kappa
1998–2006	Nike
2006–present	Nike	UNICEF

Stadia

Main articles: Camp de la Indústria, Camp de Les Corts, and Camp Nou

an elevated view of the stadium at night

An elevated view of a full Camp Nou

Barcelona initially played in the Camp de la Indústria. The capacity was about 10,000, and club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club with growing membership.^[99]

In 1922, the number of supporters had surpassed 20,000 and by lending money to the club, Barça was able to build the larger Camp de Les Corts, which had an initial capacity of 20,000 spectators. After the Spanish Civil War the club started attracting more members and a larger number of spectators at matches. This led to several expansion projects: the grandstand in 1944, the southern stand in 1946, and finally the northern stand in 1950. After the last expansion, Les Corts could hold 60,000 spectators.^[100]

One of the stands displaying Barcelona's motto, "Més que un club", meaning 'More than a club'

After the construction was complete there was no further room for expansion at Les Corts. Back-to-back La Liga titles in 1948 and 1949 and the signing of in June 1950 of László Kubala, who would later go on to score 196 goals in 256 matches, drew larger crowds to the games.^[100]^[101]^[102] The club began to make plans for a new stadium.^[100] The building of Camp Nou commenced on 28 March 1954, before a crowd of 60,000 Barça fans. The first stone of the future stadium was laid in place under the auspices of Governor Felipe Acedo Colunga and with the blessing of Archbishop of Barcelona Gregorio Modrego. Construction took three years and ended on 24 September 1957 with a final cost of 288 million pesetas, 336% over budget.^[100]

In 1980, when the stadium was in need of redesign to meet UEFA criteria, the club raised money by offering supporters the opportunity to inscribe their name on the bricks for a small fee. The idea was popular with supporters, and thousands of people paid the fee. Later this became the centre of controversy when media in Madrid picked up reports that one of the stones was inscribed with the name of long-time Real Madrid chairman and Franco supporter Santiago Bernabéu.^[103]^[104]^[105] In preparation for the 1992 Summer Games two tiers of seating were installed above the previous roofline.^[106] It has a current capacity of 98,787 making it the largest stadium in Europe.^[107]

There are also other facilities, which include:^[108]