FC Barcelona Bàsquet (English: FC Barcelona Basketball), commonly referred to as FC Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔl ˈklub bəɾsəˈlonə] ) and colloquially known as Barça ([ˈbaɾsə]), is a professional basketball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi-sports club, and was founded on 24 August 1926, which makes it the oldest club in the Liga ACB. The team, which competes in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, is one of the most successful basketball teams domestically as well as internationally. Two times European champions, Barça completed a triple crown in 2003 by winning the season's league, cup and EuroLeague. Their home arena is the Palau Blaugrana, which was opened on 23 October 1971. They share the facilities with the roller hockey, futsal and handball teams of the club.
Some of the well-known players that have played with the team included Pau Gasol, Rony Seikaly, Marc Gasol, Anderson Varejão, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jaka Lakovič, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Dejan Bodiroga, Gianluca Basile, Ricky Rubio, Juan Antonio San Epifanio, Saša Đorđević, and Tony Massenburg.
FC Barcelona also has a reserve team, called FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, that plays in the Liga U.
Contents
History
Early years
Founded on 24 August 1926, the club entered its first competition in 1927, playing in the Campionat de Catalunya de Basquetbol (Catalan Basketball Championship). During these early years, basketball in Catalonia was dominated by clubs such as CE Europa, Laietà BC and Société Patrie (later CB Atlètic Gràcia) and it was not until the 1940s that FC Barcelona created a basketball team. During this decade they won six Copas del Generalísimo de Baloncesto and were runners-up once. In 1956 they were founding members of the Liga Española de Baloncesto and finished as runners-up. In 1959 they won Spanish basketball's first-ever league and cup double.
Decline in the 1960s
The 1960s and 1970s saw the team in decline. In 1961 the club president Enric Llaudet dissolved the team in spite of its popularity. However, in 1962, the club was reformed after a campaign by the fans. In 1964 the league's Primera División was cut from fourteen teams to eight and the club found themselves in the Segunda División after not finishing between the two first qualified teams in the relegation playoffs. However they quickly returned to the top division after being crowned Segunda champions in 1965. During the 1970s the club was persistently overshadowed by its rivals Real Madrid and Joventut.
Revival in the 1980s
In the 1980s club president Josep Lluís Núñez gave the team his full support with the aim of making the club the best in Spain and Europe. His support produced results and during the decade inspired by their coach Aíto García Reneses and players like Juan Antonio San Epifanio (better known as Epi), Andrés Jiménez, Sibilio, Audie Norris and Solozábal, the club won six Spanish championships, five Spanish cups, two European Cup Winners' Cups, the Korać Cup and the World Championship. However the European Cup remained elusive, ending as runners-up in 1984. In the 1987–88 season Barça won the Copa Príncipe, Liga ACB, Copa del Rey and the Supercopa completing a quadruple.
Champions of Europe
The club built on this success during the 1990s, winning a further four Spanish championships and two Spanish cups. They were still unable to win the European Cup despite playing in a further four finals in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1997. They also made a record six EuroLeague Final Four appearances. The star player during this era was Juan Antonio San Epifanio.
Their persistence eventually paid off and in 2003, inspired by Dejan Bodiroga, Gregor Fučka, Šarūnas Jasikevičius and Juan Carlos Navarro, they won the EuroLeague, beating Benetton Treviso 76–65 in front of a packed Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. They repeated the feat in 2010, defeating Olympiacos by a wide 86–68 in Paris, and that October, they made further history when they beat the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers – including Kobe Bryant and FCB Bàsquet alumnus and Barcelona native Pau Gasol – 92–88 at the Palau Sant Jordi as part of the 2010 NBA Europe Live Tour. The match was also notable for being both a match-up between the reigning NBA and EuroLeague champions and the first time a European team had won against a defending NBA champion. Two FCB Bàsquet players in that game – captain Navarro and point guard Ricky Rubio – either had or went on to play in the NBA.
Recent years
In the following years, Barcelona would stay on top of Spanish basketball, playing almost all league and cup finals against rival Real Madrid. From 2012 until 2014, Barcelona managed to reach the Euroleague Final Four. However, it could not reach further than the semifinals. Barcelona won the Spanish Championship in 2014, but the next few seasons became absolute disasters, both in the Euroleague, and the Spanish League. However, the team saw a return to form in the Copa del Rey, which was won in 2018, in 2019 and in 2021 defeating Real Madrid on all three finals. In 2021 the Spanish Championship was won for the 19th time—the first in seven years—and only a narrow defeat against Anadolu Efes in the championship game of the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four prevented the Catalan giants from winning the competition for the third time. On June 21, 2023, Barça defeated Real Madrid 82–93 to win their 20th Spanish Championship.
Sponsorship naming
Banca Catalana was the team's initial sponsor, being featured in the official name and the team's uniform for 10 seasons, between 1989 and 1998. From 2004 until 2007 the club was sponsored by the Winterthur Group, a Swiss insurance company with offices in Barcelona since 1910. Coincidentally, Winterthur was the birthplace of club founder Joan Gamper. In 2006 the Winterthur Group was taken over by AXA, leading to a change in the club name. In the 2008–09 season, the club's sponsorship changed to Spanish insurer Regal (a division of Liberty Seguros, the Spanish subsidiary of American insurer Liberty Mutual). This sponsorship finished in June 2013. The team's most recent name sponsor was Turkish tyre manufacturer Lassa Tyres, between 2015 and 2019.
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (1989–1998)
Winterthur FC Barcelona (2004–2007)
AXA FC Barcelona (2007–2008)
Regal FC Barcelona (2008–2011)
FC Barcelona Regal (2011–2013)
FC Barcelona Lassa (2015–2019)
Home arenas
Sol de Baix Sports Complex (1926–1940)
Les Corts Court (1940–1971), located next to Les Corts football stadium
Palau Sant Jordi (1990–1992), after 1992 occasionally used for home games
Palau Blaugrana (1971–1990, 1992–present)
Nou Palau Blaugrana (future venue)
Players
Notable players
Head coaches
José Vila 1926–1936
Juan Enrique Henry 1941–1945
Fernando Font 1945–1955, 1967
Joaquim Broto 1955–1956
Francisco Ortiz 1956–1958
Guimerà 1960
Joan Canals 1960–1963
Josep Grau 1963–1964
Josep Bargalló 1965
Eduardo Portela 1965–1967
Santiago Navarro 1967–1968
Xabier Añúa 1968–1972
Willy Ernst 1972–1973
Vicente Sanjuán 1973–1974
Ranko Žeravica 1974–1976
Todor Lazić 1976–1977
Eduardo Kucharski 1977–1979
Antoni Serra 1979–1985
Manolo Flores 1985, 2005
Aíto García Reneses 1985–1990, 1992–1997, 1998–2002
Božidar Maljković 1990–1992
Manel Comas 1997
José María Oleart 1997
Joan Montes 1997–1998, 2004–2005
Svetislav Pešić 2002–2004, 2018–2020
Honours and other achievements
Other Achievements
Triple Crown
Season (1): 2002–03
Small Triple Crown
Season (1): 1986–87
EuroLeague
Runners-up (6): 1983–84, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2020–21
3rd place (4): 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2021–22
4th place (7): 1981–82, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1999–00, 2005–06, 2012–13, 2022–23
Final Four (17): 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023
FIBA Saporta Cup
Runners-up (1): 1980–81
Semifinalists (3): 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80
FIBA Korać Cup
Runners-up (1): 1974–75
Semifinalists (2): 1973, 1992–93
European Basketball Club Super Cup (semi-official, defunct): 3
1983, 1986, 1986
Runners-up (1): 1987
3rd place (1): 1991
4th place (3): 1988, 1989, 1990
Spanish League
Runners-up (24): 1957, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1999–00, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22, 2025–26
Individual awards
Records
Most points scored in a game: FC Barcelona 147–106 Cajabilbao (1986–87)
Biggest point differential: 74 – FC Barcelona 128–54 Mataró (1972–73)
Biggest point differential (against): 60 – Real Madrid 125–65 FC Barcelona (1973) and Real Madrid 138–78 FC Barcelona (1977)
Most games played with FC Barcelona: Juan Antonio San Epifanio (421)
Most minutes played with FC Barcelona: Juan Antonio San Epifanio (11,758)
Most career points scored with FC Barcelona: Juan Antonio San Epifanio (7,028)
Most assists: Juan Carlos Navarro (932)*
Most rebounds: Roberto Dueñas (2.113)
Most blocked shots: Roberto Dueñas (266)
Most three-point shots made: Juan Carlos Navarro (684)*
Most steals: Nacho Solozábal (611)
Note: Players with a * are still playing for Barcelona.
Matches against NBA teams
On 5 October 2006, it became the first European team- second of the FIBA, beyond the Maccabi of Tel Aviv and the National Team of the Soviet Union- to win an NBA rival. It defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the Palau Sant Jordi of Barcelona.
On 18 October 2008, it played the first game of an ACB League team on the court of an NBA rival, the Staples Center of Los Angeles against the Los Angeles Lakers.
On 7 October 2010, FC Barcelona, current champion of the Euroleague, became the first European team and the second FIBA in the History of Basketball to beat the reigning NBA champion, L.A. Lakers, for 92–88, in a match played at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Pete Mickeal with 26 points and Juan Carlos Navarro with 25 were the best of the match. In the Lakers, Pau Gasol, former Barça player, was the best with 25 points scored.
On 9 October 2012 FC Barcelona beat Dallas Mavericks in a match played at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona 99–85 to become the first European team- second of the FIBA, beyond the Maccabi Tel Aviv- to win 3 games against NBA teams.
On 5 October 2016 it faced the finalist of the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Barcelona lost the match by a narrow margin despite being reduced by the quantity and quality of their injured players. Two basketball players from the subsidiary -Stefan Peno and Pol Figueras- had to occupy the point guard position.