FC Barcelona is known all over the world – even people who are not interested in football will most likely have heard of the club. So it is only natural that one of the articles looks at this famous team!
Here are 5 interesting facts about FC Barcelona for you to mull over before you visit:
FC Barcelona was founded by a student
Yup, you read that right! Hans Gamper who was a Swiss student moved to Barcelona in the late 1890s to learn Spanish. Football was becoming more known during that time, and it was something that Gamper was very passionate about, and he had a considerable influence in promoting the sport.
In 1899, Garner decided to found a club, somewhere where he could organise football matches himself regularly. That’s when FC Barcelona was born!
La Masia
Not only it’s known all over the world – FC Barcelona also has its youth academy, where many star players graduated from. La Masia, which strangely translates to ‘the farmhouse’ was once home to Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Pep Guardiola, and even Lionel Messi. The academy has a whopping 300 students and is continually being praised as the best in the world. La Masia has of course been an essential factor in the success of FC Barcelona as well.
FC Barcelona is member-owned
This is an interesting and unusual fact about a football club! As one of the very few football clubs in the world – it is owned by its fans. Yup. There is over 14,000 social (members) who make the decisions and as the former club vice-president Ferran Soriano once said: “The fans truly own this club. They decide its destiny and how it is managed.”
The only club in Europe to win more than one treble
No other team in Europe that has won domestic league, domestic cup AND European Cup in a year, more than once. Ever. If this isn’t a great accomplishment for the team, then I don’t know what is. Is FC Barcelona the greatest football club ever? You can see their trophies in the museum at the stadium and then make your own decision. Let’s say there are many!
Camp Nou is Europe’s biggest football stadium
The home of FC Barcelona is not only famous for the team – it’s also known for the large stadium which holds 99,354 fans! For a little comparison – this is about 10,000 more than what Wembley aka the second largest stadium on the continent can hold. It was built in 1957 and redeveloped in 1982 for the World Cup.
So there you go! plenty of interesting facts about FC Barcelona. I guess a visit to the club is a no brainer right?
