While there has been some success on the pitch in recent seasons — chiefly the clinching of the La Liga title in 2022/23 — the situation off the pitch at FC Barcelona has been chaotic in recent seasons. In the media, much has been made of the club's struggles, from their financial instability in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to the often incomprehensible transfer strategy that has seen them attempt to spend their way out of trouble, it has sometimes seemed like a hot mess at Camp Nou. Just over a decade ago, when the club was thriving on the European stage and regularly winning trophies thanks to homegrown players showcasing a highly influential brand of football, this might have seemed far-fetched. But things have changed a lot since then.
In this article, we'll be digging into the context behind these struggles; we'll explain how the FC Barcelona ownership model works and dive into the set-up that has informed these recent financial dealings. And we'll explore who is in charge of the club today, from the Barcelona owner to the people who handle the day-to-day operations of the La Liga heavyweights.
FC Barcelona was founded in 1899, making it one of the oldest football clubs in Spain. One of only three teams to have remained in the Spanish top flight ever since its formation, Barca is one of the most successful clubs in the history of European football. And beyond just winning trophies, Barcelona has contributed immensely to world footballing culture, from the development of coaching maestros such as Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola to the evolution of the famous 'tiki taka' style of possession football.
The club was first established by Joan Gamper, a now legendary president who was at the helm for a total of 25 years, playing a huge role in the early development of the club. During the 1910s, Barca became one of the country's strongest clubs, and they won the inaugural Spanish league title in 1929 before entering a decade in which they struggled for national success. Plenty of silverware came in the 1940s and 50s, but the incredible dominance of Real Madrid during the 1960s left Barca struggling to compete.
Eventually, the arrival of Dutch superstar Johan Cruyff from Ajax in 1973 changed the club's fortunes; in his first season he won European Footballer of the Year and guided the club to the league title, and after leaving the club in 1978 he returned a decade later to inspire the evolution of modern Barcelona. Combining the first generation of La Masia players (which featured Pep Guardiola) with other stars like Ronald Koeman and Romario, he assembled a 'dream team' that won four consecutive league titles from 1991-94 and also won the European Cup and European Super Cup during this period.
Cruyff's disciple Pep Guardiola then reinterpreted the Dutch visionary's brand of attacking, passing football for the new millennium, creating a world-beating team in the late 2000s and early 2010s with stars like Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets. Throughout the 21st century, Barcelona has gained fans across the globe for their attractive style of play and impact on world football — today, they are the second most-supported club on the planet. But who owns FC Barcelona?
Barcelona has achieved this phenomenal degree of success without technically being owned by a hugely wealthy individual. Yes, in recent years the club has been able to spend generously on wages and transfer fees, but it's not all about just one person pumping tons of money into the club.
This is because FC Barcelona operate under a fan ownership model that is reasonably common in Spain but completely unheard of at the top level of English football, where clubs like Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are owned by billionaire individuals or investment groups. Barcelona — along with fellow La Liga stalwarts Real Madrid, Athletic Club, and Osasuna — is owned by a group of supporters called 'socios'.
From the start of the 1992/93 Spanish league season, clubs were required to be privately owned as per the Sports Law Ley 10/1990 del Deporte. There was, however, an exception to the new rule: if clubs could prove that they were profitable for five consecutive seasons from 1985 to 1990, they were permitted to operate as member-owned non-profit sports associations. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Club, and Osasuna all qualified and ever since they have remained as fan-owned enterprises dubbed 'socios'.
A socio model works as follows: club members, aka socios, will pay an annual subscription fee in exchange for voting rights in elections for the club's president and board of directors.
At the time of writing, it costs €215 for adults to become a Barca socio and €107 for children, and on top of voting rights, this fee will get you free access to Barca TV+ as well as some local discounts. All you have to do to get this membership is fill out an online form, pay your annual fee and provide some identification, and you'll receive a socio membership package in the post. Barcelona has over 150,000 socios, making it the largest fan-owned club in Spain.
It's important to note that there are some limitations when it comes to the socio ownership model. While being a socio ensures a sense of democracy and allows supporters to have a direct role in the running of their club (while preventing profit-driven businesspeople with no interest in the health and sustainability of the club from taking over), there is a limit to the fans' power. Ultimately, their job is to elect a president and board of directors; after they've done this, all the responsibility rests with those elected officials.
What's more, the people in these positions can't just be typical supporters or club staff; there is a financial obligation that comes with the role that means only the very wealthy can control the operations of a club like Barcelona or Real Madrid. Effectively, each director or president must be able to provide 15% of annual turnover as a bank guarantee every season, showing that they can step in and save the club if there's a serious financial collapse. You need to have huge financial power to be a football president in Spain. So who's at the helm at Barca?
Many people believe that Juan Laporta is the Barcelona owner, but in fact he is the president of the club. A Catalonian politican and qualified lawyer with deep roots in the local area, Laporta was first elected in 2003 following a successful campaign against the heavy favourite Lluis Bassat. Laporta campaigned on a promise to bring David Beckham to Barcelona, presumably inspired by the success of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was elected in 2000 largely off the back of his promise to sign Luis Figo. Unlike Perez, Laporta did not deliver on this mandate, and his first season in charge was a tricky one, with the club struggling to compete with their arch rivals Madrid.
The Barca president became more popular as the 2000s progressed; he was able to recruit a crop of talented new players including Deco, Ronaldinho, and Samuel Eto'o, and drove the club to long-awaited success with title triumphs in both 2004/05 and 2005/06, as well as a UEFA Champions League victory in 2006. Laporta was re-elected in 2006, with no other candidate receiving enough signatures to get on the ballot; however, in 2008 he narrowly survived a Vote of No Confidence after many fans voiced their concerns about his leadership style and financial decisions. With many still pressuring him to leave, Laporta departed the club at the end of his second term in 2010 to switch his focus to politics.
After standing in the Catalan parliament and having some time away from football, Laporta decided to aim for re-election once again in 2020, after former president Josep Maria Bartomeu was forced to leave following a No Confidence vote. The following year, Laporta ran a successful campaign and became president once again after receiving 54.28% of the vote in March 2021.
The task he inherited was huge; Barca was paying the price for years of mega-spending after they ditched their youth-first model in favour of a 'Galacticos' style strategy that saw them spend big on the likes of Neymar, Phillipe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann, and Ousmane Dembele. As a result, within months of Laporta's re-election star forward Lionel Messi was forced to leave due to the dire financial position the club was in.
There are things Laporta has been praised for by many supporters; after he left the club, Barcelona abandoned their tradition of avoiding shirt sponsors (under Laporta, they had promoted UNICEF on their shirts and made sizeable donations to the charity each season) and signed a lucrative shirt sponsorship with Qatar Foundation and Qatar Airways, which he criticised. Earlier on in his reign, Laporta's initially controversial hiring of Pep Guardiola turned out to be one of the best decisions ever made by the club hierarchy.
Before him, the patience Laporta showed with boss Frank Rijkaard paid real dividends, with the Dutchman leading the club to several trophies during the 2000s. Ultimately, his legacy is complex and some supporters have plenty of criticisms of Laporta, but their decision to re-elect him in 2021 shows that a majority of supporters believe he is a positive influence. Exactly what he will do with the remainder of his second tenure at the club remains to be seen.
Want to find out more about the inner workings of FC Barcelona? Check out our guide to their training ground, the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.