Barcelona FC and the amazing Nou Camp

Barcelona FC and the amazing Nou Camp (or Camp Nou as the Spanish say) is a passion of the people in Barcelona and a huge year round tourist attraction with the tours and the museum featured at Camp Nou and with the draw of watching Barcelona FC (players such as Messi, Xavi and Iniesta) play beautiful football live. For all the Barcelona FC history you could want visit the museum at Camp Nou and take a tour for 19euros. For a brief catch up, keep reading!

A little Barcelona FC and Nou Camp history…

• Barcelona FC was founded in 1899 by Hans Gamper as Futbol Club Barcelona. The team played at Les Corts and in the first twenty years identified themselves as the top team in Catalunya, adopting the popular slogan, ‘mes que un club’ meaning ‘more than a club’.
• After a difficult period during the Spanish civil war the popularity of Barcelona FC grew, helped by the arrival of Ladislao Kubala, and the need for a bigger stadium materialised. In 1957, after 3 years of construction, Estadi del FC Barcelona (Camp Nou) was inaugurated and the impressive stadium held close to 100,000 people.
• The 1960’s were less successful for the club as they had a lack of money with which to buy players but the 70s arrived along with Johan Cruyff an influential player (and later manager) at Barcelona FC. Barcelona regained the La Liga title in 1974 and Cruyff won the Balon d’Or (he won 3 in total!).
• In 1979, Barcelona FC won their first European cup and the following year Camp Nou underwent an expansion, enlarging their capacity to 115,000 in anticipation for the 1982 World Cup. The capacity lowered later to 96,000 due to a change in FIFA regulations.
• In 1998 Johan Cruyff became Barcelona FC manager and went on to win four consecutive La Liga trophies between 1991-1994. This led to much success in the rest of the 90s.
• In 2000 after a regional poll, the popular nickname Camp Nou was made the stadiums official name. The turn of the millennium brought good things to Barcelona FC. In 2005 Ronaldinho won the FIFA World player of the year award and the following year Barcelona won the Champions League. In 2009, under current manager Josep Guardiola, Barcelona FC became the first team to ever win the sextuple, including the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and La Liga.
• Spain won the World Cup in 2010 with many of the Barcelona players involved and Barcelona FC went on to retain their La Liga title. The famous Nou Camp is supposed to be remodelled in celebration of its 50th anniversary and its capacity slightly increased to 106,000 and a glistening Gaudi like skin added to its exterior. View the plans for this amazing new look for the Nou Camp. However 3 years on and the building hasn’t started, so don’t get too excited yet!