Barcelona FC
The night of 6th June , 2015 was truly special for FC Barcelona. At the historic venue of Olympic stadium of Berlin, Barcelona completed the treble by winning the UEFA Champions League title, adding to the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey. This was only the second time that Barcelona achieved this unique feat after the eventful season of 2008-09. But what is the secret of such a success?
Barcelona, popularly also known as Barca was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers, and soon became a symbol of catalan culture, hence the motto “Mes que un club” ( More Than a Club). The home ground for Barcelona is Camp Nou. Unlike most of the football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. Among many titles, the most notable ones that Barca have won are 23 La Liga titles, 5 UEFA Champions League titles, a record 4 European Cup Winners’ cup, 5 UEFA Super Cups and a record 2 Fifa World Club Cup trophies. To add to the glory, Barcelona was the World’s No 1 Club in 1997, 2009,2011 and 2012.Barcelona is also the second most valuable club in the world and is the most followed team in social media worldwide. Barcelona also has an enviable record of most players winning the Ballon D’or(10) and most number of FIFA World Player of the Year award(7).
The secret behind the success of Barcelona has been its youth development system. A big example is the current great Lionel Messi, who moved to Barcelona at a tender age to be nurtured by them, taken care of his childhood ailment and ultimately becoming a great player for the club. Barcelona also attributes its success to the development of home grown talent, a strict training schedule and a long term planning. This is the sole reason, that Barcelona continue to be successful year after year and it has attracted the best players across the world since it was formed. Some of the all time greats to have turned out for the club are Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Messi, Suarez and Neymar from the latin American countires along with the Spanish greats like Pep Guardiola, Xavi Hernandes, Iniesta, Victor Valdes and the current coach Luiz Enrique to name a few. There are also examples of Barcelona’s own players going on to become great coaches for the team, like Pep Guardiola and Luiz Enrique, who both were instrumental in Barcelona winning the Treble.
The current Barcelona club is a mixture of youth and experience with the Latin American trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez wrecking havoc among the opponents in combination with local greats like Gerard Pique, Andreas Inesta and Sergio Busquets. The Champions League crown in 2015 was very special for Barcelona because not only did they beat the English, French, German and Italian Champions en route the title but they also avenged a defeat to Bayern Munich the previous year. The final against Junventus ,the Italian Champions was a tough match but Barcelona could overcome the strong Italian Challenge to prevail 3-1.
With such a record achieved last year, the challenge for Barcelona continues for the season 2016-17. Barcelona has lost 2 greats in Xavi Hernandes and Pedro Rodrigues this season and has recruited Arda Turan from Athletico Madrid. It remains to be seen, if the Barcelona juggernaut rolls on…..
