History
On 22 October 1899, Hans Kamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Sole on 29 November.
On 14 June 1925, the crowd in the stadium jeered the national anthem in a spontaneous protest against Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. The ground was closed for six months as a reprisal, and Gamper was forced to relinquish the club presidency.
With Helenio Herrera as manager, a young Luis Suarez, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungarians recommended by Kubala, Sandor Kocsis and Zoltan Czibor, the team won another national double in 1959 and a La Liga and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup double in 1960. In 1961 they became the first club to beat Real Madrid in European Cup competition, but lost 3-2 to Benfica in the final.
The 1973-74 season saw the arrival of Johan Cruyff, who was bought for a world record 920,000 pounds from Ajax. Already an established player in Holland, Cruyff quickly won over the Barca fans when he told the European press he chose Barca over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Franco.
In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager and he assembled the so-called Dream Team. He used a mix of Spanish players like Josep Guardiola, Jose Mari Bakero, and Txiki Begiristain while signing international stars such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romario, and Hristo Stoichkov. Under his guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994.
On 14 June 1925, the crowd in the stadium jeered the national anthem in a spontaneous protest against Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. The ground was closed for six months as a reprisal, and Gamper was forced to relinquish the club presidency.
With Helenio Herrera as manager, a young Luis Suarez, the European Footballer of the Year in 1960, and two influential Hungarians recommended by Kubala, Sandor Kocsis and Zoltan Czibor, the team won another national double in 1959 and a La Liga and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup double in 1960. In 1961 they became the first club to beat Real Madrid in European Cup competition, but lost 3-2 to Benfica in the final.
The 1973-74 season saw the arrival of Johan Cruyff, who was bought for a world record 920,000 pounds from Ajax. Already an established player in Holland, Cruyff quickly won over the Barca fans when he told the European press he chose Barca over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Franco.
In 1988, Johan Cruyff returned to the club as manager and he assembled the so-called Dream Team. He used a mix of Spanish players like Josep Guardiola, Jose Mari Bakero, and Txiki Begiristain while signing international stars such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romario, and Hristo Stoichkov. Under his guidance, Barcelona won four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994.
The 2007-08 season was unsuccessful, and as Barca failed to emulate the success of previous years, Barca B youth manager Josep Guardiola took over Frank Rijkaard's duties at the conclusion of the season. Josep Guardiola brought with him the now famous tiki-taka style of play which he had been taught during his time in the Barcelona youth teams. In the proces Guardiola sold Ronaldinho and Deco, and started building the Barcelona team around Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.
Barca 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. Barca 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.
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.
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.
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