text: In the late 1800's Hans Gamper and ten other enthusiasts were playing an unknown sport called 'foot-ball'. When Gamper went on to found Barcelona Football Club on 29 November 1899, he could hardly have imagined the momentous events that would follow!\n\nThroughout some of Catalonia's most difficult years, the flag represented the people's hopes for freedom, and today that very flag is the symbolic link which continues to represent the ties between a very special club and its' supporters.\n\nOver the course of 100 years, the club has lived through moments of glory and tragedy, through good times and bad, through epic victories and crushing defeats. Each one of these moments has contributed to shaping Barcelona into the absolutely unique club that it is today.\n\nBarcelona's renown can be attributed, in part, to impressive statistics but another factor is certainly that Barcelona is one of the most highly decorated teams in the world. With the exception of the International Cup, the showcases of the Barcelona museum contain every trophy possible. Topping off the impressive collection is the European Cup, the crowning glory of a Wembley final that went into the history books.\n\nQuite apart from winning the supreme continental prize, Barcelona is also in the extremely enviable position of being the only team in Europe to have participated in every European Cup since 1955 the first year the tournament began. Their massive European trophy collection also includes the Cup Winners' Cup, which the club has won no less than four times - making it undisputed king. In addition, Barca accumulated three Fairs Cups (nowadays know as the UEFA Cup) in the 1958, 1960 and 1966 seasons. The Club retained the trophy in perpetuity after winning a special final in 1971, which paired together the first winner of the competition, FC Barcelona, against the last winner, Leeds United. However, Barca does not just reign in Europe but also in Spain, specifically in the Kings Cup, leading the ranking of winners in this competition with 24 titles. \n\nOf course, Barcelona reigns in Spain as well as in Europe and no other Spanish team can equal Barcelona's 24 championship titles in the Copa del Rey.\n\nAs for the Spanish championship league (historically one of the toughest competition grounds for the club), Barcelona celebrates the centenary birthday with 16 league titles to its name. Six of these were amassed over the last ten years alone.\nBut most outstanding of all was that glorious night of May 20, 1992 at the legendary Wembley Stadium in London, when Barcelona beat Sampdoria 1-0 to win the European Cup. Ronald Koemans goal in the 112th-minute of the game now forms part of the Blaugrana legend and the side that featured in that historic match has gone down in gold letters in the clubs proud history: Zubizarreta, Nando, Ferrer, Koeman, Juan Carlos, Bakero, Salinas (Goikoetxea), Stoichkov, Laudrup, Guardiola (Alexanko) and Eusebio.\n\nThe last few years\n\nThe Cup Winners Cup, Spanish Cup and Spanish Super Cup won by English manager Bobby Robson's Barca in 96-97, the League and Cup double in 1998, and the League in 1998-99 (the first of Van Gaal's two periods in charge at the club) were the last major titles to be won by the FC Barcelona first team.\n\nAnother highly emotional occasion was the Club Centenary in 1999 (Antoni Tàpies designed the official poster), which served as a link between a glorious past and hope for continued success in the future. In its historic centenary year, Barcelona won the football, basketball, handball, and roller hockey leagues.\n\nOn July 23, 2000, Joan Gaspart took over the presidency of the club, and on January 22, 2002, work began on the 'Joan Gamper' training grounds in Sant Joan Despí. Another of the Club's proudest moments came on May 11, 2003, when the basketball team won the Euroleague for the first time ever. The final was played in the Palau Sant Jordi aga