FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.01.2008 10:57

40 years of 'More than a club'

Àngels Prieto

40 years ago today, Narcís de Carreras pronounced the famous phrase that defined FC Barcelona as being "more than a club". And that makes this an ideal time to have a look back over history.

It was on 17 January 1968 that the recently elected chairman Narcís de Carreras said that “Barcelona is something more than a club ". That sentence, included in his speech on taking office, would become over time the most popular definition of what FC Barcelona is all about.

Narcís de Carreras used the expression again on a number of occasions, such as the day when a packed Camp Nou said farewell to legendary club captain Ferran Olivella, and sometimes in media interviews in response to criticism from Santiago Bernabéu.

Election slogan

Later on the phrase “We are more than a club” became popular during the elections for Barça chairman in 1973, when Agustí Montal Costa used it as his campaign slogan.

Nowadays FC Barcelona is giving a new dimension to the expression to explain the club’s commitment to transmitting the values of solidarity and equality through sport under the slogan “More than a club in the world”.

Precedents

For many years the club and its supporters have used the phrase “Barça is more than a club” to express the feeling of being Catalan and the defence of freedoms which were trampled under foot by Franco’s government. Nevertheless there is a precedent for the saying dating back to 1933, in the time of the Spanish Republic. It is in the Butlletí del FC Barcelona, where you will find the following: “FC Barcelona means something more than just a football club...”

Going even further back in time, on 25 November 1918 the newspaper La Veu de Catalunya published an article containing these words: “...from being a club in Catalonia, FC Barcelona has become the club in Catalonia”.