5 Unknown Facts about Barcelona

It was back in the year 1899 when a man named Hans Kamper made a plan to form a football club. He gave an advertisement in the newspaper for that purpose. This led to a meeting at the Gimnasio Sole and a team of 11 members attended the venue. Joan Gamper presided over the meeting. A club was born and they named it Barcelona. Since then, everything they have done has become a part of history.  Giving a few FC Barcelona facts will never be enough as they have done so many remarkable things and listing a few won’t describe the history they have created.  Still, we have shortlisted a few of the little-known facts about FC Barcelona.

1. The first real stadium for Barcelona was situated close to the location of Camp Nou. It was too small for such a huge club and couldn’t accommodate growing number of Barca fans. So, the club officials felt the need of a new stadium and Camp Nou came into being in 1957. The new stadium had a capacity of accommodating 98,000 people. At present, Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe and the third largest stadium in the world.

2. The motto of Barcelona was “Mes Que un Club”, which means “More than a Club”. It was a symbol of Catalan nationalism especially during Franco’s dictatorship. But after Franquismo, the Catalan symbol and language were banned. In 1939, the club was ultimately forced to change their name to Club de Football Barcelona (FC Barcelona). Even they were ordered to remove Catalan Flag from the shield of the club. But even after those bans, this stadium remained one of the rare places where the Catalan language could be spoken. In 1974, the club finally decided to change their name to FC Barcelona.

3. Within Barcelona, players are required to speak in Catalan language. Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, is a self-proclaimed nationalist and has imposed this rule. However, some famous players like Lionel Messi are not required to speak in Catalan language. He used to spoke in the language once but that too when he was in a tipsy condition and talking over the megaphone.

4. For the first time after Barcelona was established, the club agreed to a shirt sponsorship deal with a Japanese firm named Rakuten. Before this, the team didn’t advertise for corporate sponsors on their jersey. On July 14^th of 2006, the club signed an agreement with UNICEF that added the logo of the organization for the first time in their history. In 2013, the Spanish giants changed their sponsors to Qatar Airways. However, they didn’t allow placing the sponsor’s logo on their jersey.

5. FC Barcelona is not the only Catalan team in the capital city. RCD Espanyol is another name and has argued that FC Barcelona club is full of foreigners. .The two clubs have been rivals to each other for a long time. But despite such rivalry, Barcelona has managed to remain calm and successfully kept a revolutionary spirit alive in them

For more such facts about Barcelona and other popular clubs, keep watching updates on goldengoals.

Author’s Bio: Kev Rob shares his time between watching footballs and writing for Golden Goals. Here he has touched upon five FCBarcelona facts little known to a larger number of football fanatics.

Charitable Works of Some Famous Footballers

Being a famous football player has its responsibilities as well. They have to play their best in the field and at the same time maintain an image as well. While their skill is the first thing that you need, they also have to show their humble side to their fans. Some do it just to earn more fame and some do it just because they love to do it. For the second group, it is just like giving something back to the society. Here are some of the well-known footballers who are into charity work.

Mesut Ozil: Known to be one of the most generous footballers, Mesut Ozil has done a lot for the society and for the people in need. In fact when he won the World Cup in Brazil, the player funded the surgery of 23 Brazilian children by the Bonus of his World Cup winning money. He has done a lot for the children in Brazil ever since then. In fact he has donated further fir the operations of the children in the South American country. For his generosity, he was awarded the Laures Charity award and made the brand Ambassador of Laures Sports.

Cristiano Ronaldo: To some, he is really arrogant and plays for just for fame.But little did they know that Cristiano Ronaldo is into many charity works and his charity, most of the time, goes unnoticed. The player has won the Athletes Gone Good Award for his charity work. He alone has donated 165,000 thousand dollars to his country Portugal.

Cristiano Ronaldo once donated 83,000 for the surgery of a 10 year old boy who requested Ronaldo to donate his shoes and shirt for auction. Ronaldo not only donated his belongings to him, but also paid for the cost of his surgery.

Lionel Messi: He is known as one of the most skilled footballers. On the other side, he is a great example of someone who is always ready to give back to the society. He is one of the highest paid athletes today and most of his money goes to charity work. He has built Lionel Messi Foundation where he helps the vulnerable children with education and care. He has been running this foundation since 2007. He has also donated 600,000 euros to his hometown so that they can rebuild their children’s hospital.

David Beckham: Beckham has excelled in every field he has been into. He has been both a football player and a model. But apart from this, Beckham is very generous to people and humble as well. He has been a part of many charitable causes which include being a member of the Malaria ‘No More UK Leadership Council’. Apart from that he has been a part of the charity campaign for the army personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Apart from all this, David Beckham has his own trust and has named it as ‘Victoria and David charitable trust’. He has even collected a sum of 185,000 thousand dollars for the prevention of Cruelty to Children. 

Author’s Bio: Goldengoals.com is an online football magazine. It covers latest match results, analysis, transfer updates and many more that the crazy fans are curious to know.