Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔɫ ˈkɫub bərsəˈɫonə], Spanish: [ˈfuðβol kluβ βarθeˈlona]), (often known simply as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça (Catalan: [ˈbarsə], Spanish: [ˈbarsa])), is a Spanish professional football club, based in Barcelona, Spain. They play in La Liga, and is one of the only three clubs to have never been relegated, along with Athletic Bilbao and rival Real Madrid. Founded as Foot-Ball Club Barcelona in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (English: More than a club). The official Barça anthem is the "Cant del Barça" written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the world's second richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turn-over of €398 million. The club holds a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid, and matches between the two teams are referred to as "El Clásico". FC Barcelona is the second most successful club in Spanish football in terms of overall trophies, having won twenty-one La Liga titles, a record twenty-five Spanish Cups, nine Spanish Super Cups, and two League Cups. It is also one of most successful clubs in European football, having won ten UEFA competitions. It is the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955. In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year, thus completing the sextuple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

Sports Notice: Our friend and companion Hans Gamper... former Swiss [football] champion, being keen on organising some football games in the city asks anyone who feels enthusiastic enough about the sport to present themselves at the office of this newspaper any Tuesday or Friday evening between the hours of 9 and 11pm. Gamper's advertisement in Los Deportes On 22 October 1899, Joan Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended—Walter Wild (the first director of the club), Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons, and William Parsons—and Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born. FC Barcelona had a successful start in regional and national cups, competing in the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey. In 1902, the club won its first trophy, the Copa Macaya, and participated in the first Copa del Rey, losing 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final.Gamper became club president in 1908, the club in financial difficulty after not winning a competition since the Campionat de Catalunya in 1905. Club president on five separate occasions between 1908 and 1925, he spent 25 years in total at the helm. One of his main achievements was ensuring Barça acquire its own stadium and thus generate a stable income. On 14 March 1909, the team moved into the Camp de la Indústria, a larger stadium with a seating capacity of 8,000 people. From 1910 to 1914 Barcelona participated in the Pyrenees Cup, which consisted of the best teams of Languedoc, Midi, Aquitaine (Southern France), the Basque Country, and Catalonia. At that time it was considered the finest competition open for participation. During the same period, the club changed its official language from Castilian to Catalan and gradually evolved into an important symbol of Catalan identity. For many fans, supporting the club had less to do with the game itself and more with being a part of the club's collective identity. Gamper launched a campaign to recruit more club members, and by 1922 the club had over 20,000 members and was able to finance a new stadium. The club to moved to the new Les Corts, inaugurated the same year. Les Corts had an initial capacity of 22,000, which was later expanded to 60,000. Jack Greenwell was recruited as the first full-time manager, and the club's fortunes began to improve on the field. During the Gamper era, FC Barcelona won eleven Campionat de Catalunya, six Copas del Rey, and four Pyrenees Cups, its first "golden age".

There is often a fierce rivalry between the two strongest teams in a national league, and this is particularly the case in La Liga, where the game between Barça and Real Madrid is known as El Clásico. From the start of national competitions the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain: Catalonia and Castile, as well as of the two cities. The rivalry reflects what many regard as the political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and the Castilians, seen by one author as a re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War. During the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and especially of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), all regional cultures were suppressed. All of the languages spoken in Spanish territory, except Spanish (Castilian) itself, were officially banned. Symbolising the Catalan people's desire for freedom, Barça became 'More than a club' (Més que un club) for the Catalans. According to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, the best way for the Catalans to demonstrate their identity was by joining Barça. It was less risky than joining a clandestine anti-Franco movement, and allowed them to express their dissidence. On the other hand, Real Madrid was widely seen as the embodiment of the sovereign oppressive centralism and the fascist regime at management level and beyond (Santiago Bernabeu, the former club president for whom the Merengues stadium is named, fought with los nacionales). However, during the Spanish Civil War, members of both clubs such as Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra suffered at the hands of Franco supporters. During the 1950s the rivalry was exacerbated further when there was a controversy surrounding the transfer of Alfredo di Stéfano, who finally played for Real Madrid and was key to their subsequent success. The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the European stage when they met twice at the knock-out rounds of the European Cup. The latest European encounter between the clubs, in 2002, was dubbed the "Match of The Century" by Spanish media, and was watched by more than 500 million people.