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Abstract
This article presents an in‐depth case study of the governance of FC Barcelona up to the end of Citation2008. An historical account of how the membership‐ownership model at FC Barcelona was threatened during the presidency of Josep Núñez between 1978 and 2000 is first presented. An analysis of the conditions over 2000–2003 which led to the election in 2003 of Joan Laporta as club president, on a radical platform for reform of the governance of the club, is then presented. A detailed analysis of the governance and management of FC Barcelona over the 2003–2008 period is then outlined, with the analysis focusing on four key strategic areas: the prioritisation of sporting success; the re‐assertion of member democracy and improvements in transparency of club governance; the implementation of a commercial strategy designed to generate increased revenues; and the development of an innovative series of corporate social responsibility initiatives. The analysis concludes with a critical consideration of the reasons why the mutual ownership and governance structure of FC Barcelona does not appear to have hampered its ability to compete in financial and sporting terms and whether this model could be replicated in the English Premier League.
Notes
1. Deloitte. Football Money League, 2, Citation2008.
2. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Barça Reaches 163,000 Members’.
3. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘FCB Other Sports’.
4. For a useful summary of the social, cultural and sporting history of FC Barcelona see: Ball, ‘Sunshine & Shadow’.
5. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 94.
6. Deloitte. Football Money League, 29, Citation2007.
7. FC Barcelona. Annual Report & Accounts 2007/2008 Season, 149.
8. Burns. Barça, 76.
9. Many contemporary club histories gloss over this fact and either ignore it altogether, as is the case with Sobreques (Citation1998), and Barnils (Citation1999), who offer no explanation as to why this happened, merely stating that he left the club.
10. See earlier work by author; Watson ‘FC Barcelona: Identity and Nationalism’ – Gamper's marriage to Emma Pilourd, a Catholic Swiss woman, enabled his acceptance by the Catholic population in the city, a fact to which the newspaper Las Deportes attested to at that time.
11. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 203.
12. Burns. Barça, 97.
13. Bahamonde. El Real Madrid en la historia de España, 187.
14. Burns. Barça, 128.
15. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 203.
16. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 94.
17. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 203.
18. Ball. ‘Sunshine & Shadow’, 82.
19. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 94.
20. For a more detailed review of the Núñez era see: Burns. Barça, 346–57.
21. Burns. Barça, 347.
22. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 93–5.
23. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 204–6.
24. Ascari, and Gagnepain. ‘Spanish Football’, 76–89.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., 77–9.
27. Castillo. ‘The Concept of Loyalty and the Challenge of Internationalisation in Post‐modern Spanish Football’, 24–5.
28. Ascari, and Gagnepain. ‘Spanish Football’, 86.
29. Ibid., 76–89.
30. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 206.
31. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 94–5.
32. Burns. Barça, 353.
33. Ibid., 355.
34. Ibid., 355.
35. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 206.
36. Ibid., 202–8.
37. Burns. Barça, 356.
38. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 207.
39. Ball. ‘Sunshine & Shadow’, 105.
40. Burns. Barça, 356.
41. L'Elefant Blau. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at FC Barcelona and the Case for a European Independent Regulator of Professional Football’, 137.
42. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 206.
43. Burns. Barça, 354.
44. Badia. Cronica de Núñisme, 93
45. Brown, and Walsh. ‘Football Supporters' Relations with Their Clubs’, 95.
46. Ibid.
47. Ball. ‘Sunshine & Shadow’, 109.
48. Deloitte. Football Money League, 29, Citation2007.
49. Kase, Gomez, Urrutia, Opazo and Marti. Real Madrid – Barcelona, 4.
50. Ibid., 9.
51. FC Barcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona History: Presidents – Enric Reyna i Martinez (Citation2003)’.
52. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona History: Presidents – Interim Administrative Committee’.
53. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 6.
54. FC Barcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona History: Presidents – Joan Laporta Estruch (Citation2003)’.
55. An interesting account of Laporta's first 18 months as president is provided by Webster, ‘Viva Barça!’.
56. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 10.
57. Deloitte. Football Money League, 29, Citation2007.
58. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 7.
59. Webster. ‘Viva Barça!’.
60. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 11.
61. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 3.
62. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 11.
63. Ibid., FC Barcelona, 7.
64. For an overview of FC Barcelona's business strategy in Ferrán Soriano's own words see: Soriano, ‘Governance in a Big Soccer Club’.
65. Ball. ‘Sunshine & Shadow’, 109–10.
66. For an account of how Manchester United implemented a similar strategy over the 1992–2007 period see Hamil. ‘Manchester United’, 114–34.
67. Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
68. Richelieu, and Pons. ‘Toronto Maple Leafs vs Football Club Barcelona’, 241.
69. Kase, Gomez, Urrutia, Opazo, and Marti. Real Madrid – Barcelona, 9–10.
70. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 5–6.
71. Chadwick, and Arthur. ‘Més que un club (More Than a Club)’, 4.
72. Martin, ‘La Gira Asiatica’, 34.
73. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Barça Reaches 163,000 Members’.
74. FC Barcelona.cat. ‘FCB Members: Adult Member’.
75. Richelieu, and Pons. ‘Toronto Maple Leafs vs Football Club Barcelona’, 249.
76. See the FC Barcelona website: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/club/temporada08-09/11/n081113106033.html
77. Allen, and Recuero.’ FC Barcelona’, 18.
78. Ibid., 19.
79. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Barça Reaches 163,000 Members’.
80. Allen, and Recuero. ‘FC Barcelona’, 34.
81. Conn. ‘Barcelona's Model of Integrity Shows Right is Might’.
82. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona – Penyes: the Social Commission’.
83. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008; Deloitte. Football Money League, 5, 29–71, Citation2007; FC Barcelona. Annual Report & Accounts 2007/2008 Season, 149.
84. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008; Deloitte. Football Money League, 5, 29–71, Citation2007.
85. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 3–4.
86. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 13.
87. Ibid., 14–15.
88. Kase, Gomez, Urrutia, Opazo, and Marti. Real Madrid – Barcelona, 7.
89. Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
90. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 5.
91. Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
92. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 14.
93. Ibid., 20.
94. Webster. ‘Viva Barça!’.
95. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 6.
96. Deloitte. Football Money League, 31, Citation2007.
97. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008.
98. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008; Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
99. Ibid.
100. Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
101. Gil‐Lafuente. ‘Marketing Management in a Socially Complex Club’, 186–208.
102. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008.
103. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Norman Foster Admired by Peers.’
104. Allen, and Recuero. FC Barcelona, 16.
105. Conn. ‘Barcelona's Model of Integrity Shows Right is Might’.
106. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008; Deloitte. Football Money League, 30, Citation2007.
107. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008.
108. Deloitte. Football Money League, 8, Citation2008; Deloitte. Football Money League, 31, Citation2007.
109. Ibid.
110. Richelieu, and Pons. ‘Toronto Maple Leafs vs Football Club Barcelona’, 242.
111. Chadwick, and Arthur. ‘Més que un club (More Than a Club)’, 5.
112. For a more detailed summary of FC Barcelona's international marketing strategy over the 2003–2006 period see Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 10–14.
113. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Boix’.
114. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona – The Foundation’.
115. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘More Than a Club’.
116. Chadwick, and Arthur. ‘Més que un club (More Than a Club)’, 5–6.
117. Ibid.
118. Ibid., 6.
119. La Vanguardia. ‘La moción de censura contra Laporta ya está en marcha’.
120. FCBarelona.cat. ‘UNICEF shows a solid commitment from Barça’.
121. Chadwick, and Arthur. ‘Més que un club (More Than a Club)’, FC Barcelona 9.
122. The Times Online. ‘Aston Villa Forgoes £2 Million Sponsorship to Support Charity’.
123. Hawkey. ‘Heart of Barça’.
124. Davilla, Foster, and Llopis. Futbol Club Barcelona, 4.
125. Govan. ‘Barcelona Boss Scores Own Goal’.
126. CNN.com. ‘Laporta to Resign for New Election’.
127. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘The Vote of Censure is Unsuccessful’.
128. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘The Importance of Participation’.
129. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘The Ex‐Presidents Also Take Part’.
130. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Eight Directors Resign’.
131. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Laporta to Continue as President.’
132. L'Elefant Blau. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at FC Barcelona and the Case for a European Independent Regulator of Professional Football’, 137.
133. Murillo, and Murillo. El Nou Barça, 199–200.
134. Presentation by FC Barcelona Finance Director Ferrán Soriano at Birkbeck College, University of London, on 22nd February 2006.
135. Caraben, Godall, Laporta, and Moix. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at Barcelona FC’, 209.
136. L'Elefant Blau. ‘The Struggle for Democracy at FC Barcelona and the Case for a European Independent Regulator of Professional Football’, 138.
137. The Times. ‘Mandela Snubbed’.
138. Ball. ‘Sunshine & Shadow’, 84.
139. Burns. Barça, 355–6.
140. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘FC Barcelona Financial Balance’.
141. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Historic Budget Approved.’
142. FCBarcelona.cat. ‘Boix’.