- Address: Barcelona
- Country: Spain
- Capacity: 54,000
- Opened: 20 May 1929
- Main use: Football
- Tenants: FC Barcelona (football)
Extra stadium info – Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
The stadium, which is located on a hill, opened as the Estadi de Montjuïc. It is named after Lluís Companys i Jover. He was born in 1882. Lluís Companys i Jover was a politician from Catalonia. He was captured by the Geheime Staatspolizei, the former German secret police during the reign of Adolf Hitler. Lluís Companys i Jover was handed over to the Spanish government of Francisco Franco Bahamonde, which executed him in 1940. In 1992, the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys was the main venue for the Games of the Olympiad. FC Barcelona, the second sports club with 100 million followers on its main social media page, moved to the stadium in 2023. FC Barcelona, nicknamed Barça, was founded in 1899.
The Spanish top-flight football league and the Spanish cup tournament
In 1929, FC Barcelona were crowned Spanish football champions for the first time in their history. They won 11 of their 18 domestic league games during that football season. Three of those 18 games ended in a draw. In 2010, FC Barcelona became the second club with 20 Spanish top-flight football league titles. Arch-rivals Real Madrid became the first one in 1980. FC Barcelona won the Spanish cup tournament various times. In 1910, they won the tournament for the first time in their history. FC Barcelona became the second club with 20 Spanish cup titles. They won their 20th Spanish cup title in 1983. Athletic Club became the first club with 20 Spanish cup titles in 1958.
The Spanish super cup
In 1982, FC Barcelona won the second edition of the Spanish super cup. They won the title after beating the Basque side Athletic Club. One year earlier, Real Sociedad won the first-ever edition of the Spanish super cup after defeating Real Madrid. In 2011, FC Barcelona became the first club with 10 Spanish super cup titles after beating arch-rivals Real Madrid.
The European championship for football clubs
In 1992, FC Barcelona were crowned European champions for the first time in their history. They won the title after defeating UC Sampdoria from the Italian Republic in the English city of London. 70,000 spectators showed up for the final between Sampdoria and FC Barcelona. Ronald Koeman scored the only goal for Barça in the final. He played numerous matches for FC Barcelona. Koeman also played professional football for the Dutch sides FC Groningen, Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. In 1988, he won the European championship for football clubs with PSV from Eindhoven. Later that year, Koeman won the European championship for national football teams with the Netherlands.
More European championship titles
FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League, the European football championship for clubs, four times between 2006 and 2015. In 2006, they defeated Arsenal Football Club from the United Kingdom in the UEFA Champions League final. It was the first-ever European championship final for Arsenal. In 2009, Barça faced the English side Manchester United Football Club in the final of the European championship for football clubs. Two years later, they faced Manchester United again in the final of the continental championship. FC Barcelona won both finals. In 2015, they were crowned European football champions for the fifth time in their history after winning against the Italian side Juventus Football Club.
The world championship for football clubs
FC Barcelona were crowned world champions several times. They won their first-ever world championship title in 2009 after beating the Argentine side Estudiantes de La Plata. Barça drew an average home attendance of 78,000 during that domestic league season. The 2009 FIFA World Cup final took place in the United Arab Emirates in front of a crowd of 43,000. The Argentine football legend Lionel Andrés Messi scored once in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup final. FC Barcelona reached the final after beating the Mexican side Atlante FC. The Estudiantes de La Plata reached the final after defeating the Korean side Pohang Steelers.
More FIFA World Cup titles
FC Barcelona won their second FIFA Club World Cup title in 2011 after beating Santos FC from Brazil. FC Barcelona drew an average home attendance of 79,000 during that domestic league season. The 2011 FIFA Club World Cup final took place in the Japanese city of Yokohama in front of 68,000 spectators. Lionel Messi scored twice in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup final. In 2015, Barça won their third world championship title after defeating the Argentine side River Plate in Yokohama. Lionel Andrés Messi scored once in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup final.
The rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid
The fierce rivalry between Barça and Real Madrid is world famous. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid became the first sports clubs with 100 million followers on their main social media page. Any football match between the two football giants is known as El Clásico. The matches between both clubs usually are among the most viewed annual sporting events. El Clásico is sometimes identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as representing Spanish nationalism and FC Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism.
Diego Maradona
The Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona, widely regarded as one of the best players in football history, scored various goals for FC Barcelona in the 1980s. He won the 1986 FIFA World Cup with the national football team of the Argentine Republic, commonly known as Argentina. In the 1990s, Maradona served a 15-month ban for failing a drug test for cocaine. He ended his professional football career with the Argentine side Boca Juniors in 1997. Maradona, also known as El Pibe de Oro, died in 2020 at the age of 60.
The youth academy
In 2010, FC Barcelona created history when three football players who came through its youth academy were chosen as the three best football players in the world. Those players were Andrés Iniesta Luján, Lionel Andrés Messi and Xavier Hernández Creus. Iniesta left Barça in 2018 for the Japanese club Vissel Kobe. In 2021, Xavier Hernández Creus became the manager of FC Barcelona. He is commonly known as Xavi. The former Spanish midfielder ended his professional football career in 2019 with Al-Sadd from Qatar.
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi is widely regared as one of the best football players of all time. The Argentine football legend was born in Rosario in 1987. He became one of the first people in the world with 100 million followers on his or her social media page. Messi played hundreds of matches for FC Barcelona before he left the club in 2021. Messi scored hundreds of goals for the club from Catalonia before he signed with the French club Paris Saint-Germain. He won the 2022 FIFA World Cup with the national football team of the Argentine Republic. The Argentines were crowned world champions after winning a penalty shoot-out against the French Republic. Lionel Messi scored multiple goals in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. In 2023, he signed with Inter Miami from the United States.