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 their 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 Real Madrid, but they also have adversaries in local side 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 first league championship in 1929 with legends such as Cesar and Ivelasco proving hugely influential in that success.

The arrival of Footballing genius Johan Cruyff as head coach 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.

 

Barcelona European Performance / Record/

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 tremendous 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 saw a turnaround in fortunes for the club and they would only win 1 league title in 9 years whilst failing to challenge in Europe.

Frank Rijkard joined as manager in 2003 and would transform the team with the help of the infamous Ronaldinho, Cameroon striker Samuel E'to'o and dogged captain Carles Puyol. Barca won back to back La Liga's in 2005 and 2006, as well as 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 manager Rijkard's fall out with the president. In 2008 they lost a semifinal to that years winners Manchester United.Rijkard finally left in 2008 and was 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 hero David Villa.They were knocked out at the semi final stage in 2010 by eventual winners Inter Milan despite being strong favourites. 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. 2011 saw Barca add two more titles to thier trophy case with a League championship and their 4th Champions League crown. Barca returned to the sight of their first ever European cup win in 1992 and the hallowed turf of Wembley proved fruitful for them once again as they beat English giants Manchester United 3-1 in a repeat of the 2009 final.

Their display against Manchester United in Rome to win the European cup earned them the recognition of being the best side in Europe, a moniker which they may have temporarily lost after the defeat to Inter Milan in the 2010 semi final.The 2011 Champions League triumph has cemented Barcelona as arguably the best side that have ever taken to a football pitch.

See Also Champions League History

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