The 75th anniversary had clearly demonstrated the full potential of the club and its influence on Catalan society, at a time when civilian life was highly affected by the political conditions being imposed by the Franco dictatorship.
The arrival of democracy not only meant major changes in the country on a political level, but also in [...]

More than a club
But although successes on the pitch were few and far between, the club’s membership never stopped growing. One of the biggest attractions of following Barça was its increasing symbolism as being part of the kind of Catalonia that the Franco regime was so opposed to. Incoming president Narcís de Carreras made a [...]

The club came of age with the construction of the Camp Nou stadium. It was an unprecedented project on an architectural level, as well as being extraordinarily ambitious on a financial scale.
But with the team going from strength to strength, there were plenty of reasons to justify the construction of a new home for [...]

During the 40s, the club gradually recovered from a crisis which had seen them nearly relegated in 1942, although they did win the Spanish Cup in the same season. During the next season, the scandalous game against Madrid, saw the Barca players threatened by referee and police and Piñeyro, a fascist supporter, but honestly disgusted [...]

In the midst of the glorious 20s, Barca suffered a precursor of the non-sporting conflicts which were to mark the following decade. On 14th June 1925, during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, the crowd at a game in homage to the Orfeo Catalan jeered the Spanish national anthem and as a reprisal the government closed the [...]