The name ‘FC Barcelona’ is known worldwide. When someone mentions Barcelona, many people immediately associate the city with the football club. And there’s a reason for that: it’s the heart and soul of the community. The red, blue, and gold club colors are displayed throughout the city, and FCB flags are hung everywhere from apartment buildings to storefronts. The motto “Més que un club” flawlessly represents the way FC Barcelona brings together a city of 1.6 million people, in addition to the hundreds of millions around the world that continue to support the world-renowned team. More specifically, the influence Barça has in Catalan society is extremely significant, especially in the present age as the team continues to win trophies and gain popularity. The club is partly known for their flashy, modern players and new, shiny facilities; in reality, Barça has a hidden, rich history not many people know about. But in order to understand why Barça is the very essence of the Catalan community, one first needs to recognize what occurred more than a century ago, and how that led to the existence of the football club people know today.
History
Firstly, the club was founded in 1899, by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English football players. Already, it began as a symbol of various cultures joining together to create a brand focused on a shared passion. The following year, Barça’s blue and red colors were worn for the first time in a match against Hispania. Then, in 1902, they won their first trophy, the Copa Macaya. On March 14, 1909, they decided to build their first stadium, the “Camp de la Indústria”, to try and create a stable income source; this also helped to grow the club’s popularity and scale.
On January 1st, 1913, the club admitted their first female member, Edelmira Calvetó. They were the first club in Spain to open its doors to women, which likely paved the way for the success of the women’s team. The women, often overshadowed by the men, are extremely dominant, and have won three UEFA Champions League and nine La Liga F trophies. The men have won five UEFA Champions League, and 27 La Liga trophies. However, Barça co-founded La Liga in 1929, while La Liga F was founded in 1998. This means that the men have had around 70 additional years to compete, in addition to the significant lack of financial support the women were subjected to. However, with each passing year, the gender divide within the club is slowly closing, partly due to the success of the women’s team and famous players such as Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Puttelas.
The historical significance of FC Barcelona is better understood, one could argue, through a political lens. Although the club was founded by foreigners, Catalan values are deeply embedded in the culture, a pattern that began when Spain transitioned to an autocracy in 1925. Because of this transition, Catalonia started to develop tensions with the government in Madrid. This hostility caused FC Barcelona to become a focal point for Catalonism. When Franco banned the Catalan language, the stadium in Barcelona became the one place where people could express their dissatisfaction with the dictator. Even when Spain became a democracy in 1978, Catalonia’s pride stood strong. Club officials have been loyal to the club’s steady commitment to the defense of the country, democracy, freedom of expression, the right to decide, and are against any actions that may restrict these rights (Superadmin). Participating in the club had less to do with football and more to do with being a member of the collective identity of living in Catalonia – which is still evident today.
Messi’s Impact
Now, what is also evident is that the entire city knows the name Lionel Messi. He is, arguably, the best football player of all time. But his greatness was developed at Barça. He enrolled in La Masia at the age of 13, and the world noticed his potential quickly; he had outstanding dribbling, vision, and finishing, which allowed for his debut with the first team at the age of 17. He became the youngest player to score in a La Liga game and the UEFA champions league. He worked extraordinarily well with his teammates, players such as Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Dani Alves, and Pique, which allowed them to win the treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey, and UEFA Champions League), under Pep Guardiola in 2008/2009. Pep was originally from Catalonia, and is known to have revolutionized football in Barcelona. He is recognized as one of the best managers of all time, and should be credited for the success of this Barça team. The starting 11 he put on the field was deadly for any opponent, especially with him behind the wheel. Rather significantly, from 2009-2012, Messi became the first player in history to win the Ballon d’Or four times consecutively (Tech). One can only imagine the attention and popularity this brought to the club. This period, spanning from 2008-2015, is considered to be the “golden age” of FC Barcelona.
Financial Troubles
On the other hand, an underlying issue Barça faces is their continuous financial instability. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the club has been close to bankruptcy multiple times. In recent years, information surrounding their situation has become more well known, most likely due to the seriousness of their predicament and leakage through social media outlets. The source behind said financial troubles was a combination of bad decisions, Covid, and the way by which the club is owned. FC Barcelona is owned by a group of around 150,000 investors, known as “socis”, who pay an annual fee of 200 Euros or so in exchange for voting rights on club decisions. It used to be that socis had to have a personal connection with an existing soci, but now anyone can join. Their memberships make up a portion of income for the club. This unique system typically worked well, as it allowed for many people to feel like they were a part of the Barça community.
However, in 2017, things took a turn. Josep Bartomeu, the director of the club, decided to buy Neymar from PSG for 222m, and followed with the purchase of Dembele for 90m from Dortmund. Dortmund, knowing Barça had money, demanded twice as much, so Barça paid 180m for him. Just weeks later, they handed over 150m for Coutinho to Liverpool. There was no question that these players were talented, but the managers couldn’t figure out how to play them with Messi. Some might say they were lazy, as they didn’t try to find the right players that would fit seamlessly into the team; instead, they bought the flashy ones that weren’t entirely comfortable with their style of play (Jakeman).
Following this investment, Covid happened, and the stadiums were closed; games were played without a crowd, meaning no one could buy tickets. This had social impacts, in the way Catalonians could no longer watch a club in person that meant so much to them, in addition to economic impacts – throughout 2018, 2019, and 2020, the club had a total net loss of 430 million (Jakeman). In 2020, Bartomeu resigned, and Joan Laporta replaced him. To try to straighten out their financial situation, he decided to sell his big players, people’s who’s wages they now couldn’t afford to pay. Messi, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, and Antoine Grizmann were all sold. That, in addition to selling their broadcasting rights, brought in large sums of money and steered them in the right direction.
The Right Track
Barça also now has a new deal with Nike and Spotify. They also have Lamine Yamal, who is extremely marketable, and are renovating Camp Nou, which, when finished, will bring in a lot of income. The team has had a strong start to the season so far, despite how young this team is. They just beat Real Madrid 4-0 in ‘El Clásico’, an extremely decisive victory, considering that FC Barcelona’s roster costs much less than the millions Madrid spent on new players. Additionally, many players for the first team have been, or are now, being developed through La Masia academy, and a program that is just now receiving recognition for developing the best young players in the world. La Masia has always been something the club has put a lot of effort and resources into, and it has served as something to fall back on whenever their financial situation was not good. They were able to trust that good players would soon rise to the first team. It’s paying off now, with players like Yamal, Fort, Guiu, and Cubarsi becoming key players on the starting lineup.
Ultimately, with the club mostly back on track, they have overcome their latest period of financial instability, for now. Nonetheless, it poses the question of how long will this successful period last? Don’t all good things come to an end eventually? Will bad decision making lead to their downfall again? But Barça is a club that has so much rich history; its past means so much to the region of Catalonia, economically, politically, and culturally – and it’s because of this that its legacy as “more than a club” will last forever.
Bibliography:
Ballús, Pol. “The Power of Barcelona’s La Masia Youth Academy – and Why for Years It Was Ignored.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024, www.nytimes.com/athletic/5428944/2024/04/20/barcelona-la-masia-youth-academy-xavi-yamal-cubarsi/.
Jakeman, Mike. “Is FC Barcelona Emerging from Its Financial Nightmare?” Front Office Sports, 27 Sept. 2024, frontofficesports.com/fc-barcelona-emerging-from-financial-crisis/#:~:text=Throughout%202018%2C%202019%2C%20and%202020,of%20the%20club’s%20wage%20structure.
Tech, Bams. “The Messi Era: A Legendary Decade at FC Barcelona.” Medium, Medium, 18 July 2023, bamstech.medium.com/the-messi-era-a-legendary-decade-at-fc-barcelona-b6ae81a2185e.
“History of FC Barcelona.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_FC_Barcelona#:~:text=FC%20Barcelona%2C%20also%20known%20simply,1910%20in%20various%20regional%20competitions.
Superadmin. “The Story behind… FC Barcelona – the Switch: EAE Barcelona.” The Switch | EAE Barcelona, 5 Sept. 2024, theswitch.es/en/fcbarcelona-story/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20iconic,for%20the%20city%20of%20Barcelona.
“Women’s Football Honours: FC Barcelona Official Channel.” Women’s Football Honours | FC Barcelona Official Channel, www.fcbarcelona.com/en/football/womens-football/honours. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.
Carrascosa, Laura. Tips to attend a FC Barcelona match. 2024. Spain Traveller, https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=c263faa809bdb49e&rlz=1C5GCCM_en&q=fc+barcelona&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWtG_mNb-HwafvV8cKK_h1a5eSkyfXNgRC6a9SKsMT7FIcXZ7F00AJ76jVv_EZ-SyaXfXumB_0vcwrOs3VBdYJO3ULhKBPCorKpoqADGy51YXU4fAd3W75VKgs9PELeo5wzZ1rk6G6cQ_9lpcnfXHX89dOtX-Ms0DyQ0kMWwYhRW9AcNEp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiiv8WumMiJAxUraqQEHZ0LB4wQtKgLegQIEBAB&biw=1440&bih=813&dpr=2&safe=active&ssui=on#vhid=M_L4AyykMujUvM&vssid=mosaic. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.