Supporters of FC Barcelona

Supporters Of FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona is a Catalan club based in Barcelona, formed in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and local players led by Joan Gamper. It has been part of the Spanish top-flight, La Liga, since the league's inception in 1928 and has won La Liga 21 times, along with 25 Copas del Rey and 4 UEFA Champions League victories. The supporters of Barcelona have played an important part in the formation of the club's Catalan identity during the club's 113-year existence. From the authoritarian rule of Spain under Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, which later ended with the fascist rule of Franco, various forms of cultural oppression were enacted against Catalonia and FC Barcelona in particular, causing the club to become a symbol of rebellion. After Spain's transition to democracy in 1978, several support groups of FC Barcelona evolved, most notably the Boixos Nois, who later mixed their support of the club with a demand of secession from Spain.

The arrival of Ronaldinho in 2003, and Barcelona's subsequent success in La Liga and Champions League, has been seen as crucial to an increase in the national, and worldwide, fan-base of the club. This development of a larger national fan-base has created friction between those supporters who wish to secede from Spain and its non-Catalan Spanish supporters.

There exist three different types of supporters of Barcelona; one is the soci or club-member, who is eligible to vote in the presidential election of the club and other matters. The penyes, who are closely affiliated with the socios, are fan-clubs, which in the past have been responsible for large donations to the club. Lastly there are the ordinary fans of the club, the culés, who do not possess any formal membership.