By Spyros Politis, B2 class

Footballl Club Barcelona, also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.  Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto «Més que un club» (More than a club).

Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the world’s second-richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of $613 million and the third most valuable, worth $2.6 billion. The official Barcelona anthem is the «Cant del Barça», written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.

Barcelona is the most successful club in Spain, in terms of overall official titles won. Barcelona was ranked first in the “All-Time Club World Ranking” by IFFHS, on December 31, 2009, and is also currently placed on top of the UEFA club rankings. A recent study by Goal.com found Barcelona to be the most successful club in the UEFA Champions League, ahead of AC Milan. Barcelona are the current Spanish football champions and have won 22 La Liga, 26 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions.  In international club football, Barcelona have won four UEFA Champions League, a record four UEFA Cup Winners” Cup, four UEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a record two FIFA Club World Cup trophies.

The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as «El Clásico». Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, and has one of the biggest fanbase on social networks (with over 46 million fans on Facebook, around 10 million followers on Twitter, and more than 6 million on Google+). Barça’s players have won a record number of Ballon d’Or awards, as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards. In 2010, the club created history when three players who came through its youth academy (Messi, Iniesta & Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world, having bagged the top spots at the FIFA Ballon d’Or, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football school.

Barcelona is one of the clubs to have played continental football every season since 1955, and one of three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year, thus completing the sextuple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In 2011, the Blaugrana again became European champions and won a total of 5 titles, missing out only on the Copa del RΕΥ. This all-conquering Barça team, which reached a record 6 consecutive Champions League semi-finals and racked up 14 trophies in just 4 years under Guardiola’s charge, is considered by a few managers, players and experts to be one of the best team of all time. FC Barcelona B youth manager Pep Guardiola took over Frank Rijkaard’s duties at the conclusion of the season. Guardiola brought with him the now famous tiki-taka style of play he had been taught during his time in the Barcelona youth teams. In the process Guardiola sold Ronaldinho and Deco, and started building the Barcelona team around Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. Lionel Messi, four-time FIFA/Ballon d’Or winner, in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and FC Barcelona’s top goalscorer in official competitions with 327 goals.

Barça beat Athletic Bilbao 4–1 in the 2009 Copa del Rey Final, winning the competition for a record-breaking 25th time. A historic 2–6 victory against Real Madrid followed three days later and ensured that Barcelona became La Liga champions for the 2008–09 season. Barça finished the season by beating the previous year’s Champions League winners Manchester United 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to win their third Champions League title and completed the first ever treble won by a Spanish side. The team went on to win the 2009 Supercopa de España against Athletic Bilbao and the 2009 UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, 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 and became the first football club ever to accomplish the sextuple. Barcelona accomplished two new records in Spanish football in 2010 as they retained the La Liga trophy with 99 points and won the Spanish Super Cup trophy for a ninth time.

After Laporta’s departure from the club in June 2010, Sandro Rosell was soon elected as the new president. The elections were held on 13 June, where he got 61.35% (57,088 votes, a record) of total votes. Rosell signed David Villa from Valencia for €40 million and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool for €19 million. In November 2010, Barcelona defeated their main rival, Real Madrid 5–0 in El Clásico. In the 2010–11 season, Barcelona retained the La Liga trophy, their third title in succession, finishing with 96 points. In April 2011, the club reached the Copa del Rey final, losing 1–0 to Real Madrid at the Mestalla in Valencia. In May, Barcelona defeated Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League Final 3–1 held at Wembley Stadium, a repeat of the 2009 final, winning their fourth European Cup.In August 2011, the La Masia graduate Cesc Fàbregas was bought from Arsenal and who would help Barcelona defend the Spanish Supercup against Real Madrid. The Supercup victory brought the total amount of official trophies to 73, matching the number of titles won by Real Madrid. Later the same month, Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup after defeating Porto 2–0 thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Cesc Fábregas. This extended the club’s overall amount of official trophies to 74, surpassing Real Madrid’s total amount of official trophies. The UEFA Super Cup victory also marked another impressive achievement as Josep Guardiola won his 12th trophy out of 15 possible in only three years at the helm of the club, becoming the all-time record holder of most titles won as a coach at FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League In December, Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup for a record second time since its establishment, by beating the Brazilian 2011 Copa Libertadores holders, Santos, 4–0 in the final thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi and goals from Xavi and Fábregas. As a result, the overall trophy haul during the reign of Guardiola was further extended and saw Barcelona win their 13th trophy out of 24 possible in 4 years, continuing their high-quality performance in recent world football competitions. In the 2011–12 season, Barcelona lost the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League against Chelsea. Right afterward, coach Pep Guardiola, who had been on a rolling contract and had faced criticism over his recent tactics and squad selections, announced that he would step down as manager on 30 June and be succeeded by assistant Tito Vilanova. Guardiola finished his tenure with Barça winning the Copa del Rey final 3–0, bringing the tally to 14 trophies that Barça had won under his stewardship.

Guardiola’s four trophy-laden years has inspired British director Paul Greengrass to make a documentary about the Catalan giants. Entitled Barça, the film will examine the process and legacy of one of the world’s most famous sports franchises, focusing primarily on the four years in which Guardiola guided the club to 14 trophies. The movie is expected to be finished ahead of the 2014 World Cup, when public attention will begin focusing on the international event in Rio de Janeiro. Xavi presently holds the team record for number of total games played (693) and the record number of La Liga appearances (454), surpassing the previous record holder Migueli (391).

FC Barcelona’s all-time highest goalscorer in all competitions (including friendlies) is Paulino Alcántara with 369 goals. The all-time highest goalscorer for Barcelona in all official competitions, excluding friendlies, is Lionel Messi with 327 goals. He is also the record goalscorer for Barcelona in European and international club competitions and the record league scorer with 223 goals in La Liga. Four people have managed to score over 100 league goals at Barcelona: Lionel Messi (223), César Rodríguez (192), Ladislao Kubala (131) and Samuel Eto’o (108) . 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. 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. Barcelona’s highest home attendance was 120,000, for a European Cup quarter-final against Juventus on 3 March 1986. 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 capacity of the stadium is 99,354.