FC Barcelona Femení

One morning in November 1970, 18-year-old Catalan amateur footballer Immaculada "Imma" Cabecerán Soler met with former FC Barcelona president Agustí Montal Costa to discuss the formation of a women's team associated with the club.[1]

On 17 November 1970, in a way akin to Joan Gamper, Cabecerán posted a print advertisement in an FC Barcelona fan magazine called La Revista Barcelonista. She called for women between the ages 18-25 to play in an exhibition match the following month at the Camp Nou.[2] The team came to fruition and was formed of 17 individuals- Maria Antònia Mínguez, Llera, Giménez, Pilar Gazulla, Lluïsa Vilaseca, Aurora Arnau, Anna Jaques, Maite Rodríguez, Immaculada Cabecerán, Núria Llansà, Alicia Estivill, Blanca Fernández, Lolita Ortiz, Consuelo Pérez, Carme Nieto, Fina Ros and Glòria Comas- all of whom were all trained by Barcelona legends Antoni Ramallets and César Rodríguez, although the latter left after a few days. The team played their first match on Christmas Day, 1970, winning on penalties against Unió Esportiva Centelles in front of a crowd of around 60,000 people.[1]

The match, played under the name Selección Ciudad de Barcelona, was a charity match organised by Ràdio Nacional to raise funds for local children's hospitals. Although the team was not officially recognized by the club, it was the first match played by a women's team associated with FC Barcelona (then known as CF Barcelona). The team later evolved into Penya Femenina Barça, and Ramallets coached them until 1972.[1]

During the 1980s, the team was renamed Club Femení Barcelona. They reached an informal integration agreement with FC Barcelona where they were allowed to use the colors, badges and facilities of the club, but it took a few more years to adopt the crest.[3] On 29 June, 1985, the team won its first competition- the Generalitat Cup.[4]

In 1988, Club Femení Barcelona, which was sponsored by FC Barcelona, was a founding member of the Liga Nacional (now known as the Primera División), the first women's league recognized by the RFEF. They had a successful 3-year run in the early 1990s, winning the 1994 Copa de la Reina and being the championship's runner-up in 1992 and 1994, but they subsequently declined to bottom table positions.

In 2001, the Spanish League was rebranded into the Superliga Femenina, but Barcelona were not accepted into the top division due to their poor results in the previous season. On 26 June, 2002, CF Barcelona was incorporated to FC Barcelona as an official section, and the club rebranded the women's section to its Catalan name, Futbol Club Barcelona Femení.[5]

Barcelona remained in the second division after two unsuccessful appearances in the promotion playoffs, but was eventually promoted to the Superliga Femenina in 2004. Once promoted, the section enjoyed some popularity in the 2004-05 season due to the signing of the Mexican international Maribel Domínguez and the Spanish María Luisa Coimbra, but those signings did not translate into quality results for the team.[6] Xavi Llorens was hired as manager in 2006 to replace Natalia Astrain, but Llorens was unable to keep the section in the Superliga. At the end of the 2006-07 season, the team was relegated from the Superliga and the club even considered dissolving the section.

Barcelona celebrating their 2011 Copa Catalunya win

Barcelona returned to the Superliga in 2008, and between 2009 and 2011, they consolidated themselves in top positions in the league table. In 2011, they won their second Spanish Cup, beating local rival Espanyol 1–0 in the final.[7] In 2012, they won their first national championship with a then-record 94 points,[8] qualifying for the first time for the UEFA Champions League where they were defeated by Arsenal in the first round. The title was successfully defended in 2013 with a last matchday away win over leading team Athletic Bilbao, and weeks later they also won the national cup with a 4–0 win over Prainsa Zaragoza to become the fifth team to win the Spanish double.[9]

Barcelona qualified for the first time the quarterfinals of the Women's Champions League in the 2013–14 edition, which was also the season they won their third straight title. In the following 2014-15 league season, they became the first team in the Spanish women's league to win four straight league titles.

In the summer of 2015, the club made the decision to professionalize the women's section.[5] In the seasons that followed, Barcelona placed a greater priority on competing in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The club reached their first Women's Champions League semifinal in the 2016-17 season, and also defeated Atlético Madrid Femenino in the 2017 Copa de la Reina.

In the summer of 2017, the women's team underwent significant changes. Xavi Llorens stepped down as coach after eleven seasons, in which he won six Copas Catalunya, four Copas de la Reina and four league titles. The club hired Fran Sánchez in his place, and that summer signed multiple big names in international football- namely Lieke Martens, Toni Duggan, and Élise Bussaglia, amongst others. In the 2018-19 season, Barcelona signed a shirt sponsor deal with Stanley Tools, the first shirt sponsor specific to the women's team.[10]

Barcelona's starting XI for the 2019 UEFA Women's Champions League Final

Around this same time period, Barcelona forged a domestic rivalry with Atlético Madrid Femenino.[11][12] Atlético won 3 league titles between the 2016-17 and 2018-19 seasons, and Barcelona were runners-up in each of those seasons. On 17 March, 2019, Barcelona defeated Atlético at the Wanda Metropolitano in a match that broke the world record for attendance at a women's club football match with 60,739 attendees.[13] Months later, the club reached the second Women's Champions League semifinal of their history in a tie against Bayern Munich, which they won 2-0 on aggregate to advance to their first ever UEFA Women's Champions League Final. They met five-time Champions League winners Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, who defeated them 4-1 in Budapest to capture their fourth-consecutive and sixth overall Champions League title.

In the summer following their Champions League Final defeat, the club signed Caroline Graham Hansen from Wolfsburg and re-signed one of the clubs all-time top scorers Jenni Hermoso, who spent the previous season with Atletico Madrid. On 9 February 2020, Barcelona won the inaugural Supercopa de España when they defeated Real Sociedad 10–1 in the final.[14] On 8 May, Barcelona were crowned league champions for the fifth time during which they were unbeaten in the 21 games they had played, before the season prematurely ended in January due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.[15] On 25 August, Barcelona were defeated 0–1 by VfL Wolfsburg in the single-legged semifinal of the UEFA Women's Champions League, a disappointing downgrade from their previous season.[16]

On 6 January, 2021, only weeks after the 50th anniversary of the team's formation, Barcelona played their first ever match as a professional team at the Camp Nou, winning 5–0 against rivals Espanyol. On 13 February, Barcelona defeated Logroño 3–0 in the final of the 2020 Copa de la Reina after it was postponed from 31 May, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17] This was the club's seventh Copa de la Reina title, surpassing Espanyol's six wins to become the team with the most all-time Copa de la Reina titles. On 9 May, Barcelona were crowned league champions for an unprecedented sixth time after second-place Levante drew 1–1 to Espanyol. They achieved this while they had a perfect record in the league, winning all 26 of their games.[18]

On 16 May, Barcelona won the UEFA Women's Champions League title for the first time after they beat Chelsea 4–0 in the final in Gothenburg, with all four goals coming within the first 36 minutes of the match.[19] In doing so, Barcelona became the first ever club to have been European champions in both men's and women's football.[20][21] It was also the largest margin of victory in any UEFA Women's Champions League final. On 31 May, Barcelona defeated Levante 4–2 in the Copa de la Reina final to win the trophy for the eighth time,[22] becoming the first-ever Spanish women's side (fifth overall) to win the continental treble. The club also set an unprecedented record of both the men's and women's sections of a European club completing a treble.[23] Amidst this success, Barcelona announced manager Lluís Cortés was set to stay for two more years.[24] Weeks later, reports emerged that the players had called for Cortés to be sacked, citing the need to refresh and start over.[25][26] In response, Cortés admitted that a change was indeed necessary, but maintained the rumours were unfounded.[27]

On 1 June, just two days after the Copa de la Reina Final, Barcelona suffered their only league defeat of the season as they lost 3–4 to rivals Atlético Madrid.[28] On 27 June, ahead of Barcelona's 9–1 thrashing of Eibar in their final league game of the season, Cortés announced that he would leave Barcelona following that game amidst reported unrest within the team.[29][30] They finished their season with a record 33 league wins and a record 99 points in the league.

On 2 July, Cortés' assistant coach Jonatan Giráldez was appointed as the new manager of Barcelona following Cortés' exit.[31] On 8 August, Barcelona won the inaugural Women's Joan Gamper Trophy after they defeated Juventus 6–0, with the first 5 goals being scored within 30 minutes.[32]

On 23 January 2022, Barcelona defeated Atlético Madrid 7–0 in the final to win their second Supercopa de España Femenina.[33] In doing so, Barcelona completed the quadruple of league title, national cup, Women's Champions League and the supercup and became the first Spanish club to do so. Less than two months later, on 13 March 2022, they were again crowned Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino champions after beating Real Madrid 5-0, with six games to spare.[34] This was their seventh title, and Grant Wahl called the side one of the best women's club teams in history.[35]

On 30 March 2022 they qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League, beating Real Madrid 5–2 at the Camp Nou, and 8–3 on aggregate. Barcelona's home quarter- and semi-finals (91,553 and 91,648) were the largest reported attendances for women's football matches in the world since 1971,[36][37] Mexico–Denmark (110,000), at the Azteca Stadium.[35][38] Barcelona beat Wolfsburg 5–1 in the semi-final, 1st leg.[36]

As of 10 August 2021[39][40]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Sandra Paños (3rd captain) 2 DF  ESP Irene Paredes 3 DF  ESP Jana Fernández 4 DF  ESP María Pilar León 5 DF  ESP Melanie Serrano 6 FW  ESP Clàudia Pina 7 MF  NOR Caroline Graham Hansen 8 DF  ESP Marta Torrejón (vice-captain) 9 FW  ESP Mariona Caldentey 10 FW  ESP Jennifer Hermoso 11 MF  ESP Alexia Putellas (captain) 12 MF  ESP Patricia Guijarro (4th captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 GK  ESP Cata Coll 14 MF  ESP Aitana Bonmatí 15 DF  ESP Leila Ouahabi 16 FW  SWE Fridolina Rolfö 17 DF  ESP Andrea Pereira 18 MF   SUI Ana-Maria Crnogorčević 19 FW  ESP Bruna Vilamala 20 FW  NGA Asisat Oshoala 21 MF  ESP Andrea Falcón 22 MF  NED Lieke Martens 23 MF  NOR Ingrid Engen 24 GK  ESP Gemma Font

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ESP Emma Ramírez (at Real Sociedad until 30 June 2022) — DF  ESP Laia Codina (at A.C. Milan until 30 June 2022)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ESP Candela Andújar (at Valencia until 30 June 2022) — FW  BRA Giovana Queiroz (at Levante until 30 June 2022)

• Primera División (7, record):
  2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• Copa de la Reina (8, record):
  1994, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021
• Supercopa de España (2, record):
  2019–20,[43] 2021–22[44]
• Copa Catalunya (10, record):
  2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• UEFA Women's Champions League (1): 2020–21; runners-up: 2018–19

• COTIF: 2014
• Women's International Champions Cup: 2021; Third Place