Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional association football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, and played its first friendly match on 8 December 1899. Initially, Barcelona played against other local clubs in various Catalan tournaments, but in 1929 the club became one of the founding members of La Liga, Spain's first national league. As of 2024, Barcelona is one of only three clubs to have never been relegated from the top level of Spanish football, the others being Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.[1]
In the period from 1919 to 1929, Barça won the Copa del Rey five times and the Campionat de Catalunya nine times.[2] Barcelona enjoyed a successful start in La Liga, winning the championship in the competition's first season. However, they did not win the league again until 1945. Three seasons prior to that, Barcelona finished twelfth, which remains, as of 2024, the club's lowest league finish.[3] Barcelona won five trophies in the 1951–52 season, becoming known as "Barça of the Five Cups" (Catalan: el Barça de les Cinc Copes), and went on to win La Liga three times, the Copa del Rey five times and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup once during the 1950s.[2] The club then entered a lean spell, with only two league titles between 1960 and 1990. In 1988, former legendary player Johan Cruyff was appointed manager and assembled what would later be known as the "Dream Team".[4] In 1991, he led the club to its first league title in six years and repeated the feat the following season when Barça also won the European Cup for the first time. In the 1993–94 season, Barcelona won their fourth consecutive league title, edging out Deportivo de La Coruña on goal difference after the two clubs finished level on points.[5][6]
During this period Spain did not have a national football league. Barcelona competed in the championship of the Catalonia region, the winners of which qualified for the Copa del Rey along with the other regional champions.[15] Barcelona also won the Pyrenees Cup, the first competition played between European clubs, four times (1910, 1911, 1912, 1913).
In 1929, La Liga, Spain's first national football league, was formed, with Barcelona among the founding members.[17] The club also competed in the Catalan championship until it was abandoned in 1940.[15] The Copa del Rey continued alongside La Liga.[18] Clubs continued to qualify for it based on their placings in the regional championships until 1940, when it became open to all teams in the top two divisions of the Spanish League and selected other teams.[19]
(* Barcelona also won the Mediterranean League in 1937.)
^Barcelona withdrew from the Copa Macaya in protest after having two points deducted for fielding an ineligible player, and organised the Copa Barcelona instead.[15]
^The winners of the Campionat de Catalunya should have qualified for the Copa del Rey, but the tournament was not completed in time.[16]
^The league championship was not completed due to a series of protests over the result of a match between Barcelona and X Sporting Club. The authorities instead ordered these two teams to play-off for the championship. Barcelona lost the match 3–1.[15]
^Several clubs, including Barcelona, broke away from the existing governing body of football in Catalonia and formed a rival group, which organised its own championship. This competition was abandoned after only four games, but Barcelona were declared champions.[15]
^Barcelona finished level on points with RCD Espanyol and the two teams were ordered to play-off for the championship. Barcelona lost the match 4–0.[15]
^Barcelona withdrew in protest at the decision of the Spanish football authorities to move the site of the final from Seville to Bilbao.[16]
^Barcelona finished level on points with CE Europa at the top of the table and the two teams were ordered to play-off for the championship. Barcelona lost the match 1–0.[16]
^Barcelona finished level on points with CE Europa at the top of the table and the two teams were ordered to play-off for the championship. Barcelona won the match 1–0.[16]
^ abFC Barcelona automatically received the trophy as it won the league championship and the Copa del Rey.
^The format of the 1964–65 Fairs Cup meant that there were only twelve teams remaining at what would otherwise have been the Round of 16, of which six, rather than the usual eight, qualified for the Quarter-finals.[32]
^"Liga BBVA – Season 2008/2009 – Matchday 38". Liga de Fútbol Profesional. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2010. Tables for previous seasons may be obtained using the "Other searches" button. User must select the appropriate season, and set "matchday" to the number of matches played in that season, as per this list.
