How to Bet on Barcelona

Barcelona were founded in 1899 and won the Copa Macaya the year after a narrow defeat in its first edition, the club's first-ever silverware, before losing 1–2 to Bizcaya in the final of the first Copa del Rey. László Kubala signed in June 1950, and together with coach Ferdinand Daučík he delivered five different trophies in 1952. Johan Cruyff then defined the next era: he joined in the 1973–74 season as a player and returned in 1988 as manager. Under him the club beat Sampdoria at Wembley in the 1992 European Cup final, Ronald Koeman scoring from a free kick. Laporta became president in 2003, and the Guardiola era of 2008–2012 followed. A 2–6 victory over Real Madrid ensured the 2008–09 league title, and Messi, Iniesta and Xavi ranked as the world's top three players for 2010. Five trophies in 2011 earned the Laureus award for Team of the Year. A 3–1 win against Juventus in the 2015 Champions League final made it a treble, the second inside six years. Hansi Flick was appointed head coach on 29 May 2024, and Laporta, who beat Víctor Font, stays in office until 2031.

Camp Nou is the stadium that grew out of a club too big for its old home. By 1922 the supporters had passed 20,000, and Camp de Les Corts was built with an initial capacity of 20,000. Kubala's arrival and back-to-back league titles in 1948 and 1949 drew crowds that kept pushing it further. Work on Camp Nou began on 28 March 1954 in front of 60,000 fans and it was completed on 24 September 1957 at a final bill of 288 million pesetas, which was 336% over budget. In 1980 the club raised money by letting supporters inscribe their names on bricks, and the 1992 Summer Olympics brought two new tiers of seating above the old roofline. Renovation work began on 1 June 2023 with a target of 2027 and an estimated €1.5 billion of net funding. Since November 2025 the first team has played there again, although not at full seat capacity.

Real Madrid are the rivals that define Barcelona. The feud has a transfer saga at its root: Di Stéfano had impressed both clubs, and Calero's solution split his career between them, with Madrid in 1953–54 and 1955–56 and Barcelona in 1954–55 and 1956–57. The rivalry reached the European stage in the 1960s, when the two met twice in the European Cup, and Spanish media called the 2002 European tie between them the Match of The Century, a game Madrid won in front of an audience of more than 500 million. Espanyol are the city rival, and the bad blood goes back to 1918, when they started a counter-petition against autonomy. Barcelona took the Copa del Rey final against their Catalan neighbours in 1957, while Espanyol point to a 6–0 in 1951 as their biggest margin. Espanyol also won 2–1 at Camp Nou in 2008–09, the first team to do it in Barcelona's treble-winning season.