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More than a club. It’s difficult to imagine this motto fitting any other team in the world as well as it does FC Barcelona. A Catalan sports club (though we know it from its football team) founded by a Swiss footballer while on a vacation to visit his uncle in Barcelona, the team was an immediate success through its mix of Catalan, Swiss, and English personalities and influences. Within two years, Barça had won its first hardware and has been, along with Real Madrid, one half of one of the world’s greatest sporting rivalries for over 100 years, though league play between the two has only been going on for approx 80 years.

However, despite the seemingly endless lists of honors (including 18 La Liga championships, 4 Cup Winners’ Cups, and 24 Copa del Rey championships) and stars that have played for the team (including Ronaldo, Romario, Rivaldo, Maradona, Cruyff, Stoitchkov, Figo, and Hagi, among others), what makes Barça more than a club is its history and relationship with the people of Catalonia.

The northeast region of Spain is famous for many things, but the prime reason we even know that it exists is a result of its location. For hundreds of years, Catalan was a major power in Mediterranean (and for several hundred years that meant “world”) trade; a combination of industry and trade brought the region wealth for its people and gave them a “global” perspective of life in general. The willingness to accept others, improve with diversification, and appreciate outside perspectives and ideas helped forge the identity and philosophy of the region.

FC Barcelona was not only created in this environment, but it prospered by directly embracing the attitudes of the people who followed the team. Joan Gamper,the Swiss founder of the club, fell in love with Barcelona and its heritage, moving to the city and learning the Catalan language. In fact, Joan (a name familiar to Spanish citizens as a masculine name compared to the Joan Melissa Hart usage in America) is the name HANS Kamper took after moving to Spain, so devoted was he to his new culture.

Celebrating Catalan nationalism, however, wasn’t acceptable to the powers in Madrid, and the team’s success both on the field and off (fans have been extremely pleased and supportive of the team since its origins) was attacked by Castilian leaders from the time of the kingdom (with General de Rivera seizing power of the city, banning the flag and language from the region) to Franco’s regime (with Franco’s men-at-arms arresting and executing FC Barcelona’s president, Josep Sunyol). Franco also had Barca’s trophies destroyed, installed one of his men as president of the club, removed the Catalan flag from the team’s crest, and changed the club’s name from FC Barcelona to “Club de Football Barcelona” (that is, they took their identity and gave the club a Castilian Spanish name).

In 1943, after a threat from the director of state security, Barcelona lost to Franco’s favorite team (he was obsessed with them), Real Madrid by a score of 11-1. For decades, the seat of Spanish power was intertwined with Real Madrid – how many games and championships do you think Real “won” thanks to threats and bribes over the last century?

In 1953, the greatest player of the 50s, Alfredo Di Stefano, signed a deal with Barça to transfer over from River Plate. The Franco regime would not stand for this and the government stepped in, preventing the transfer. In the meantime, Santiago Bernabéu (yes, that one) who was president of Real Madrid at the time, worked out a deal with Di Stefano that was more “government friendly” and signed the Argentinean great to play for Real instead. There was some wrangling back and forth over this travesty, with the government eventually giving in and saying Di Stefano could play 2 years for Real and 2 for Barca (with the implication being that after the 4 year contract was up, he’d stay with Real Madrid). However, behind-the-scenes pressure from the government made even this ridiculous compromise unavailable to Barcelona. Di Stefano went on to score 219 goals for Real Madrid, while the team won five champions leagues and eight La Ligas during his tenure with the club.

While all of this sounds like a long whine about the Castilian’s actions against Barcelona, the real importance of the team’s history is how well it has supported, and been supported by, its fans. Unlike the Basques, Catalans protested peacefully, both at the stadium and in their private lives. Instead of shutting down and shutting out the rest of the world, the Catalan region welcomed immigrants, expanded industry, and grew financially. Tourism exploded, the culture of arts and expression continued to expand, and the city’s love for its team grew more with each challenge.

When listening to debate over the influence of ‘foreigners’ in football – whether it involves Russian and American billionaires buying English teams, or non-Americans playing in MLS – keep in mind that Barcelona’s phenomenon of winning with Dutch managers, Brazilian stars, French and Cameroon international players is nothing new. The club has reflected its city’s spirit of greatness through diversity, of playing a beautiful game in a style befitting its fans. It is one reason why both players and fans either “get it” and become Barça fans for life, or don’t (and normally leave the city relatively quickly).

Despite every other major club in Europe carrying a sponsor’s logo on their shirts, Barça displayed nothing but the team colors and crest for over 100 years. Just recently, one word has been introduced to the team’s shirts: Unicef. This is a fitting way to summarize the history of FC Barcelona.

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