Neymar and Barcelona
Fc Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. Barcelona is one of only three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga and the most successful club in Spanish football along with Real Madrid, having won a total of 64 domestic titles; 22 La Liga titles, a record 26 Spanish Cups, 11 Spanish Super Cups, a record three Copa Eva Duarte and two League Cups. FC Barcelona is the only European side to have played continental football in every season since its inception in 1955 and one of the most successful clubs in European football, having won 12 official UEFA trophies in total. FC Barcelona is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The team was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish footballers led by Joan Gamper. The club played amateur football until 1910 in various regional competitions. In 1910, the club participated in their first of many European competitions, and has since amassed ten UEFA trophies and a sextuple. In 1928, Barcelona co-founded La Liga, the top-tier in Spanish football, along with a string of other clubs. As of 2010, Barcelona has never been relegated from La Liga, a record they share with Athletic Bilbao and arch-rival Real Madrid. The history of Barcelona has often been political. Barcelona gradually became a club associated with Catalan values. Around 1925, Catalonia became increasingly hostile towards the central government in Madrid. The hostility enhanced the image of FC Barcelona as a focal point for Catalonism, and when Francisco Franco banned the use of the Catalan language, the stadium of FC Barcelona became one of the few places the people could express their dissatisfaction. The Spanish transition to democracy in 1978 has not changed the image of FC Barcelona as a symbol of Catalan pride. In the 2000s, a period of sporting success in the club and an increased focus on Catalan players, club officials openly called for Catalonia to become an independent state.
Barcelona Colours
Red and blue have featured on the Barcelona shirt for more than one hundred years and the Club is widely known as the Blaugrana in reference to the names of these colours in the Catalan language. However, although the shirt has remained relatively constant in design over the years, the team shorts were white for the first ten years of club history, then switched to black, and were only blue from the 1920s onwards. Just why Barcelona originally chose to wear these shirt colours has been a matter of much debate among Club historians, and although several theories have been put forward, nobody has ever managed to provide substantial evidence that the colours were chosen for any symbolic reason. Naturally, most of the theories are related to the foundation and origins of the club. For instance, it was claimed for several years that the Barcelona colours were adopted from a Swiss club that Gamper had founded earlier in his life, or that they were the colours of the Swiss canton that the founder was from. We now know that these hypotheses are highly unlikely to be true. There is another common but unproven theory that the founders based their choice on the colours of the blue and red accountancy pencils that were so popular at the time. And there are other more prosaic suggestions, for instance the one which maintains that the mother of the Comamala brothers supplied the players with red and blue sashes so that they could differentiate between each other in the days before they had a kit of their own. But, as stated earlier, none of these theories have ever managed to offer conclusive evidence of why it was that Barcelona used these colours from its very earliest days. But what is certain is that the Barcelona shirt has gone on to be one of the most recognisable and enigmatic shirt designs in world football.
Famous Players
The team was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper.Aside from being the founder, Gamper was also one of the first Barcelona footballers and holds the record for most goals in one match, with nine. Lionel Messi is all-time top scorer with 420 goals, holds the record for most goals scored in official competitions with 392 and is the current La Liga topscorer with 270 goals. Xavi holds the record for the most appearances in all competitions (including friendlies), with 705 games, the record for most league appearances, with 488 games, and the record for most appearances in official competitions, with 803 games. Xavi holds also the record for most titles (22). Barcelona has employed several famous players, with five FIFA World Player winners and six Ballon d'Or winners among the previous and current Barcelona players. This makes it the club with the most FIFA World Player awards received by the players. In 2009, Barcelona won an unprecedented sextuple by winning the 2008 to 2009 La Liga, 2008 to 2009 Copa del Rey, 2009 Supercopa de Espana, 2008 to 2009 UEFA Champions League, 2009 UEFA Super Cup and 2009 FIFA Club World Cup. The same year, five of their players and their coach were voted onto the UEFA Team of the Year 2009.