Barcelona FC were founded in 1899 by Joan Lamper to create a football team for the city, it was formed with many others including Englishmen the Parsons brothers. Futbol Club Barcelona is their official name and they play football at the camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 98,772.

Their colours are claret and blue. The club nickname is Barca, obviously short for Barcelona and their President is Joan Laporta. Barca's main rivalry is with current champions Real Madrid, but they also have a city derby when they play Espanyol.
 
Barca are second only to Real Madrid in terms of domestic dominance. The club have won 20 La Liga titles and a stunning record of 24 Copa Del Reys[Spanish cups]. They claimed their fist league championship in 1929 with legends such as Cesar and Ivelasco proving hugely influential in that success.

The arrival of Football genius Johan Cruyff signalled a rejuvenation for Barca who won their first La Liga in 14 years, thrashing bitter enemies Real Madrid 5-0 along the way. It was the return of Cruyff this time as manager which would begin the era of the 'dream team' at the Camp Nou with the likes of Romario, Hristo Stoichkov and Danish star Michael Laudrup.

European Performances

They won the UEFA cup winners cup versus Italian side Sampdoria in 1989 and three years later at Wembley won the club's first European Champions League trophy at Wembley courtesy of a Ronald Koeman free-kick.

They would dominate the Spanish league in the early nineties with 4 consecutive La Liga crowns. The departure of the Dutchman Cruyff in 1996 brought about a turn in fortunes for the club who would only win 1 league title in 9 years and fail to challenge in Europe.

Frank Rijkard joined as manager in 2003 and would transform the team with the help of the infamous Ronaldinho, Samuel E'to'o and captain Carles Puyol. Barca won back to back La Liga's in 2005 and 2006, as well s the 2006 Champions League, they came from 1-0 down to beat Arsenal 2-1 in Paris.

Things started to fall apart at Barcelona with Ronaldinho struggling to find the form which made him world player of the year and Rijkard's fall out with the president. In 2008 they lost a semifinal to that years winners Manchester United.Rijkard finally left in 2008 to be replaced by ex Barca player Josep Guardiola who has got them back to winning ways with consecutive league titles in 2009 and 2010.

The stars of today's side are Argentinean wonder kid Lionel Messi, Xavi and Former Valencia heroine David Villa.They were knocked out at the semi final stage in 2010 by eventual winners Inter Milan despite being strong favourites.in this year's Champions League and have a second leg tie with Olympique Lyonnais to play in the last 16. Barca completed a historic treble in 2009, winning the league, the Champions League and the Spanish cup. In 2010 they retained their La Liga title with a staggering total of 99 points.

Their display against Manchester United in Rome to win the European cup as earned them the recognition of being the best side in Europe, but they may have lost that moniker after the loss to Inter Milan.