FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona is a Spanish soccer club founded in 1899 by Swiss soccer pioneer, Joan Gamper. Barcelona is known for their mesmerizing style of play, which usually leads the team to incredible results. The club  has a long and successful history, and it has delivered soccer stars such as Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi. 

When Gamper placed an ad in a newspaper stating his desire to form a football club, he had no idea he was laying the groundwork for what would become one of the most popular clubs in the world. FC Barcelona’s team dynamic worked from the start: they won the Copa del Rey, Spain’s leading national football cup, eight times between 1902 and 1928. In 1929 La Liga, the top Spanish soccer league, was formed, and FC Barcelona won the inaugural tournament title. 

The 1930s saw the outbreak of political conflicts in Spain, with the establishment of Francisco Franco's regime. During this time, FC Barcelona's founder and director, Joan Gamper, was deported, and the club's new director, Josep Sunyol, was executed. Despite the hard times, the club worked hard to maintain its position, and it did so for the next several decades.

A new era for FC Barcelona

With Real Madrid being pretty strong, Barcelona stopped from winning every title, until Johan Cruyff, one of the most prodigious football players of all time, joined the club in 1973. Cruyff came up with the idea of establishing a football academy, and an old country house known as La Masia was transformed into its headquarters. 

La Masia has become the most prestigious soccer academy in the world, known for training soccer stars, such as Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi. Cruyff's became FC Barcelona's manager in 1988, and assembled a "dream team", with players such as Guardiola and Michel Laudrup, and set the foundations of what would be the famous tiki-taka system: the short passing play style, Barça’s trademark. 

In 2008 Pep Guardiola took over the team's management. His coaching style focused on the tiki-taka method, and highlighting the importance of constant movement. With the incorporation of Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola led the club to win three La Liga, two Copa del Rey, and two Champions Leagues from 2008 to 2012.

Achievements, facts and titles

It is hard to record any list of rankings when dealing with the best club in the world, but let's give it a try!