FC Barcelona, also known as Barca to its fans, is one of the most legendary football clubs in the world. The success Barca has enjoyed puts the team right up there among the biggest names in the world of football. The club’s achievements on the field have put it on the list of the richest teams in the world, one that is followed by millions of fans worldwide. Fans buy FC Barcelona tickets every time the team sets foot on to the football field and that looks well on course to remain the case for a long time to come.
Inception of FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona owes a great deal to Hans Kamper for its birth who placed an advertisement stating his desire to create a new football club on 22nd October 1899. The ad got good response and that resulted in the official formation of the club as Foot-Ball Club Barcelona on 29th November 1899.
The Beginning of the Barca Legacy
The club tasted success for the first time in 1910 when it went on to lift the Copa del Rey. In 1929 Barca were crowned champions of Spain for the first time in their history. That in reality was the start of an illustrious legacy that has turned the club into a behemoth of world football. Nine more Spanish championships and twenty Copa del Rey titles were won from that point onwards till 1988. Barca also won one Supercopa de Espana in between. The only thing missing was a European Cup and that drought was about to end in some style.
Johan Cruyff and the Birth of “modern” Barca
FC Barcelona turned to one of their former players and a legend of the game, the Dutch maestro Johan Cruyff in 1988. The squad he assembled was called the Dream Team and it contained stars like Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov and Romario. Barca went on a run of four successive La Liga titles between 1991 and 1994 and won the club’s first ever European Cup in 1992.
Cruyff left his post as the manager after eight glorious years. Barca won a few domestic titles till 1999 but couldn’t do anything of note after that. The arrival of Frank Rijkaard changed that. Under his guidance, the club went on to win back to back La Liga titles (2005, 2006) and the Champions League in 2006.
Rijkaard departed in 2008 and was replaced by Pep Guardiola. He led the team to new heights in 2009 as FC Barcelona became the first Spanish club in history to do the league, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble. Players like Xavi, Iniesta and Messi became integral to how Guardiola wanted the team to play and Barca won two more La Liga titles in 2010 and 2011. The club also won the Champions League in 2011 to become European Champions for the fourth time.
Guardiola left the post in 2012 and was replaced by his assistant Tito Vilanova who led the team to their twenty second league title in 2013. Vilanova stepped down due to cancer and was replaced by the current manager Gerardo Martino who has made a blistering start to his reign as well. Things are looking good once again and it will take a very brave man to bet against them losing their top position.