F.C. Barcelona Thread

ceh · Emo Kid !

F.C. Barcelona Thread
Futbol Club Barcelona

website

Stadium

Capacity: 109,815
Built: 1957
Official Name: Nou Estadi del Futbol Club Barcelona

History and opening

When Kubula arrived, the old Les Corts stadium proved to be too small and it was necessary to find a new site. From when the idea was first thought of until the day it was opened on 24th September 1957, there were difficult moments for the Camp Nou, but the dream eventually became a reality. In this section we will explain how this ambitious project was realized.

The background (1948-1954)

Even though the first voices to call for the construction of a new stadium were heard in 1948, it was the huge expectation surrounding the arrival of Hungarian star Ladislau Kubala (June 1950) that suggested that Barça had outgrown the Les Corts stadium. The Old Ground had been founded back in 1922, and after several extensions, was able to hold 60,000 spectators, a figure that was practically impossible to increase any more. So, on September 19, 1950, FC Barcelonas Board of Directors, presided by Agustí Montal Galobart, purchased a plot of land next to the Maternitat, fairly close to the site of the old Les Corts ground.

A troublesome period followed, when the new stadiums commission (February 9, 1951) changed their minds about the site of the project, opting for an area at the top of the Diagonal. Negotiations with the Administrators bore little fruit and never reached a definitive agreement. The issue was left on hold until Francesc Miró-Sans was elected president of FC Barcelona (November 14, 1953). The new president was particularly insistent that the project for a new stadium should go ahead immediately and one of the first things he did after coming to power (February 18, 1954) was to situate the new site on the land purchased in 1950 and not at the top of the Diagonal. So it was that, on March 28, in front of 60,000 fans, he laid the first stone of the Camp Nou, watched by the president of the Civil Government, Felipe Acedo Colunga, and blessed by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego.

The construction (1954-1957)

The project for the new stadium was entrusted to the architects Francesc Mitjans Miró, Miró-Sans cousin, and Josep Soteras Mauri, under collaboration with Lorenzo García Barbón. More than a year later, on July 11, 1955, the Club handed the construction rights to INGAR SA, who put forward an estimate for 66,620,000 pesetas for completion of the building in 18 months. However, the eventual cost was considerably higher than the original proposal, reaching 288 million pesetas, a figure that had to met by successive emissions of obligatory mortgages (100 million pesetas) and bank loans (60 million pesetas). This was enough to finance the construction of the stadium, but the Club would be repaying that debt for several years afterwards.

The inauguration

The date for the inauguration of the Estadi was set at September 24, 1957. An organising committee was formed to plan a special opening ceremony, which was presided by two people: Aleix Buxeres (public relations) and Nicolau Casaus (organisation). On September 21 in the Barcelona Councils Assembly Room, José Maria de Cossío, a member of the Real Academia Española, read the proclamation that officially opened the celebrations of the inauguration of the new stadium. That September weekend, members of different sections of the Club appeared in a series of international sports meetings at the Les Corts stadium and the Palau Municipal dEsports. Those important events were enough to inspire the renowned poet Josep M. de Sagarra to write a sonnet entitled Blau Grana, and the creation of the FC Barcelona Stadiums hymn with lyrics by Josep Badia to the music of Adolf Cabané.

On that day of the Mercè festival in 1957, the city was clothed in the colours of the Club. The inauguration began with a solemn mass and the blessing of the stadium by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego. Immediately after, the Gracienc Choir sung Händel`s Hallelujah and enthroned the image of the Mother of God of Montserrat. Several dignitaries from the worlds of sports and politics sat in the presidents box alongside Francesc Miró-Sans, including José Solís Ruiz, general secretary for the Ministry of Movement; José Antonio Elola Olaso, president of the National Sports Delegation; Felipe Acedo, Barcelonas civil governor, and Josep M. de Porcioles, mayor of Barcelona.

The terraces of the Camp Nou, still not quite complete, were opened to more than 90,000 people, as representatives of all of the football clubs of Catalonia paraded across the field, along with members of the sections of the Club, Barcelona fan clubs and different teams belonging to the Club. The aforementioned hymn was then sung, followed, at four thirty in the afternoon, by the inaugural match. FC Barcelona played a Polish team from Warsaw. The Barcelona line-up in the new stadium was formed by: Ramallets, Olivella, Brugué, Segarra, Vergés, Gensana, Basora, Villaverde, Martínez, Kubala and Tejada. In the second half the Barcelona eleven was the following: Ramallets, Segarra, Brugué, Gràcia, Flotats, Bosch, Hermes, Ribelles, Tejada, Sampedro and Evaristo. The game ended with Barcelona winning 4-2 with goals from Eulogio Martínez (who, in the 11th minute scored the first ever goal at the Camp Nou), Tejada, Sampedro and Evaristo. During the break, 1,500 members of the Agrupació Cultural Folklòrica de Barcelona danced an enormous sardana and 10,000 doves were set free. And so began a new era in the history of FC Barcelona.

History of F.C. Barcelona

In the late 1800's Hans Gamper and ten other enthusiasts were playing an unknown sport called 'foot-ball'. When Gamper went on to found Barcelona Football Club on 29 November 1899, he could hardly have imagined the momentous events that would follow!

Throughout some of Catalonia's most difficult years, the flag represented the people's hopes for freedom, and today that very flag is the symbolic link which continues to represent the ties between a very special club and its' supporters.

Over the course of 100 years, the club has lived through moments of glory and tragedy, through good times and bad, through epic victories and crushing defeats. Each one of these moments has contributed to shaping Barcelona into the absolutely unique club that it is today.

Barcelona's renown can be attributed, in part, to impressive statistics but another factor is certainly that Barcelona is one of the most highly decorated teams in the world. With the exception of the International Cup, the showcases of the Barcelona museum contain every trophy possible. Topping off the impressive collection is the European Cup, the crowning glory of a Wembley final that went into the history books.

Quite apart from winning the supreme continental prize, Barcelona is also in the extremely enviable position of being the only team in Europe to have participated in every European Cup since 1955 the first year the tournament began. Their massive European trophy collection also includes the Cup Winners' Cup, which the club has won no less than four times - making it undisputed king. Barcelona has also collected four UEFA Cups, two of these when the tournament was still known as the Industrial Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Of course, Barcelona reigns in Spain as well as in Europe and no other Spanish team can equal Barcelona's 24 championship titles in the Copa del Rey.

As for the Spanish championship league (historically one of the toughest competition grounds for the club), Barcelona celebrates the centenary birthday with 16 league titles to its name. Six of these were amassed over the last ten years alone.

Kits
Home

Away

Squad

Club Roster

Goalkeepers

1. Víctor Valdés Arribas
25. Albert Jorquera Fortia
28. Ruben Iván Martínez Andrade

Defenders

2. Juliano Belletti
4. Rafael Márquez Álvarez
5. Carles Puyol Saforcada
12. Giovanni Van Bronckhorst
15. José Edmílson Gomes Moraes
23. Oleguer Presas Renom

Midfielders

3. Thiago Motta
6. Xavi Hernández Creus
10. Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
18. Gabriel García De la Torre
20. Anderson Luis de Souza
17. Mark Van Bommel
24. Andrés Iniesta Lujan

Forwards

7. Henrik Larsson
8. Ludovic Giuly
9. Samuel Eto'o Fils
11. Maximiliano Gastón López
14. Santiago Ezquerro Marín

Club Honours

Champions League: 1
1991-92
FC Barcelona 1 - 0 Sampdoria
Goal by Ronald Koeman (111')
UEFA Cup: 4
1958
FC Barcelona 6 - 0 London XI
London XI 2 - 2 FC Barcelona
1960
FC Barcelona 4 - 1 Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C. 0 - 0 FC Barcelona
1966
Real Zaragoza 2 - 4 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona 0 - 1 Real Zaragoza
1971
FC Barcelona 2 - 1 Leeds United
European Super Cup: 2
1992
Werder Bremen 1 - 1 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona 2 - 1 Werder Bremen
1997
FC Barcelona 2 - 0 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund 1 - 1 FC Barcelona
Cup Winners' Cup: 4
1979
FC Barcelona 4 - 3 Fortuna Düsseldorf
1982
FC Barcelona 2 - 1 Standard de Liège
1989
FC Barcelona 2 - 0 Sampdoria
1997
FC Barcelona 1 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
Spanish First Division: 17
1928-29, 1944-45, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1973-74, 1984-85, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1997-98, 1998-99 , 2004-5
Spanish Super Cup: 5
1984, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997
Spanish League Cup: 2
1983, 1986
King's Cup: 24
1909-10, 1911-12, 1912-13, 1919-20, 1921-22, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1927-28, 1941-42, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1956-57, 1962-63, 1967-68, 1970-71, 1977-78, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1996-97, 1997-98
Catalunya Cup: 5
1990-91, 1992-93, 1999-2000, 2003-04, 2004-05
Macaya Cup: 1
1901-02
Championship of Catalunya: 20
1904-05, 1908-09, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1912-13, 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1937-38
Latin Cup: 2
1949, 1952
Eva Duarte Cup: 3
1948, 1952, 1953
Martini & Rossi Trohpy: 2
1952, 1953
Little World Cup: 1
1957
Joan Gamper Trophy: 30
1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Teresa Herrera Trophy: 5
1948, 1951, 1972, 1990, 1993
Ramon de Carranza Trophy: 2
1961, 1962
Ciudad de Palma Trophy: 5
1969, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981
Cup of the Pyrenees: 4
1910, 1911, 1912, 1913
Mediterranean League: 1
1937

President: Joan Laporta i Estruch
Manager: Frank Rijkaard
Email: premsa@club.fcbarcelona.com
Address: Avinguda Arístides Maillol s/n 08028-Barcelona
Telephone: +34 902 1899 00 (general)
Fax: +34 93 411 22 19 (general)

gohawks13 · Moderator

HAHA! beat me to it. Nice job my boy, nice job! Very impressive stadium pics as well!

ceh · Emo Kid !

gohawks13 · Moderator

aaaa... so i see.. well ill let you too it Very Happy

(when ur done, can u make my brand NEW celtic thread sticky!?!? Doh!

)

ceh · Emo Kid !

Mahat · Candy

Woow, Nice man, nice, very nice pics of the stadium.. This thread is magnificent, I love Barça, it's the best team in The world..

gohawks13 · Moderator

Thought this might be a good way to open the Barca thread...

Spanish Super Cup Preview: Barça Want The Pot, Betis Look To Europe

ceh · Emo Kid !

Cool match between 2 spanish top teams, I would go for Barça but you never know what Betis is cappable of, but still 2-0 for Barçca, I hope Mexes can score a goal...