Futbol Club Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça,is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led byJoan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture andCatalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). 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 turnover of $613 million and the third most valuable, worth $2.6 billion.The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.

Barcelona are the most successful club in Spain, in terms of overall official titles won (83). Barcelona were ranked first in the 'All-Time Club World Ranking' by IFFHS, on December 31, 2009,and are also currently placed on top of the UEFA club rankings.A recent study by Goal.com found Barcelona to be the most successful club in the UEFA Champions League(since the current format was adopted in 1992), ahead of AC Milan.Barcelona are the current Spanish football champions and have won 22 La Liga, 26 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona have won fourUEFA Champions League, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, fourUEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a record twoFIFA Club World Cup trophies.The club has a long-standing rivalry withReal Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as "El Clásico".

Barcelona is one of the most supported teams in the world, and has the largest fanbase among all sports teams on all major social networks (with over 45 million fans on Facebook, around 10 million followers on Twitter, and more than 6 million on Google+). Barça's players have won a record number of Ballon d'Or awards (10), as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards (7). In 2010, the club created history when three players who came through its youth academy (Messi, Iniesta & Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world, having bagged the top spots at the FIFA Ballon d'Or, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football school.

Barcelona is also the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955, and one of three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win thecontinental 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 theSpanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.