Barcelona

Full name	Barcelona Sporting Club
Nickname(s)	Ídolo del Astillero (Shipyard Idol) Toreros (Bullfighters) Equipo Canario (Canary Team) Idolo del Ecuador (Ecuadorian Idol)
Founded	May 1, 1925
Ground	Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha Guayaquil, Ecuador (Capacity: 89,930)
Chairman	Eduardo Maruri
Manager	Juan Manuel Llop
League	Serie A
2009	10th
Principal colours Alternate colours

Barcelona Sporting Club is an Ecuadorian football club based in Guayaquil. They are currently tied with Club Deportivo El Nacional as the most successful team in the country in terms of national championships, currently at 13 titles. They were the first Ecuadorian team to make it to the Copa Libertadores finals, having done so twice in 1990 & 1998. Their main rival is crosstown team Club Sport Emelec, with whom they play one of the most popular matches in Ecuador, the Clásico del Astillero.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Foundation and early years (1925-1969) 1.2 Success, then fall from grace (1970s) 1.3 Resurgence (1980s) 1.4 The glory years (1990s) 1.5 Title drought (2000-present) 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 4 Supporters 5 Current squad 6 Noted players 6.1 Noted Squads 7 Noted managers 8 Achievements 8.1 National 8.2 International 9 Records 10 See also 11 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation and early years (1925-1969)

Aguirre Sangster Guzmán Murillo Moya Franco Márquez Zevallos Moría Criollo Pacheco Viteri

Barcelona Sporting Club's 1st squad of 15 June 1925. The coach was Eutimio Pérez.

Barcelona Sporting Club was founded on May 1, 1925 by Eutimio Pérez, a Spaniard immigrant who decided to name the club after his home city of Barcelona, Spain. The team was named after Pérez' return to Ecuador, BSC's Barça-like crest was adopted later on. The team competed in the provincial amateur tournament organized by Asociación de Fútbol del Guayas (AFG), which included clubs from around the Guayas Province in Ecuador. During the 1940s, Barcelona's popularity grew thanks in part to notoriety achieved by playing matches against important Colombian teams such as Deportivo Cali and Millionarios, two of the best teams from Colombia's golden era of football. Barcelona defeated Millionarios twice in Guayaquil, by scores of 3-2 and 1-0.

In 1950, Barcelona won their first AFG amateur title; the following year, the Association turned professional, and between 1951 and 1967, Barcelona racked up five professional regional titles and finished as runners-up six times, tying crosstown rival Club Sport Emelec for the most titles. In 1957, as one of the top two finishers in the Guayas regional tournament, Barcelona was invited to participate in the newly organized national football championship, which would crown a national championship from among the top two teams from both the AFG and the Interandino tournament disputed by teams from Quito and Ambato. Barcelona finished second in their first participation. Barcelona won its first national title in 1960, and became the first Ecuadorian team to compete in the South American continental tournament, the Copa Libertadores.

• First match: June 15, 1925 vs C.S. Ayacucho (1-0)
• First international match: March 19, 1931 vs Deportivo Cali (4-4)

[edit] Success, then fall from grace (1970s)

By the 1970s, Barcelona had established themselves as one of Ecuador's more popular teams after winning a number of provincial and national championships. Despite their national success, their performance in the Copa Libertadores had been lackluster, having exited the tournament early in competition. That changed in 1971, when they reached the semi-finals of the tournament with a star-studded squad that featured players such as Brazilian international Jose Paes, Peruvian World Cup player Pedro León, and Ecuadorian legend Alberto Spencer. Although they failed to reach the finals, they managed to defeat three-time tournament winner Estudiantes de La Plata 1-0 in Guayaquil. In 1972, they reached the semi-finals again, establishing themselves in the international stage.

The first two years of the decade were in stark contrast to the remainder; after the 1972 season, the club entered a dry spell that would last nine years. Barcelona did not win a national title, nor did it qualify for the Copa Libertadores, until the 1980s.

[edit] Resurgence (1980s)

In the 1980s, Barcelona shed the shackles of the prior decade and resurged on the international and domestic fronts. In 1980, the team won their first national title since 1971, going on to win four more before the end of the decade, making the 1980s the team's most successful period in terms of national titles; Barcelona became the first Ecuadorian squad to win 10 national championships. During this period, Barcelona competed in six editions of the Copa Libertadores, reaching the semi-finals twice in 1986 and 1987.

In 1987, Barcelona inaugurated a new home ground, the Estadio Monumental. With a capacity of almost 90,000 spectators, the Monumental is the largest stadium in Ecuador, and the second-largest in South America, after the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. The Monumental also has the reputation of rarely getting filled to full capacity.

[edit] The glory years (1990s)

The 1990s saw Barcelona newly achieve international success. Under new presidency, and bolstered by the acquisition of top-level players including Argentineans Marcelo Trobbiani, Alberto Acosta and Uruguayan Marcelo Saralegui, Barcelona set out to bring home the Copa Libertadores trophy. In the 1990 tournament, Barcelona became the first Ecuadorian team to reach the finals, after a thrilling semifinals series against Argentine powerhouse River Plate. Victory was not to be theirs, as they would be bested by Paraguayan side Olimpia in the final match.

In the 1992 edition, Barcelona got only as far as the semifinals, losing to eventual Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup champions São Paulo FC of Brazil. In 1998, Barcelona reached the finals yet again, boasting an experienced squad that included greats such as Bolivian Marco Etcheverry, Colombian Antony de Ávila, and Ecuadorians Agustín Delgado and José Francisco Cevallos. Again, they would fail to win the tournament, losing both legs to Vasco Da Gama.

While international titles eluded the team, the domestic front saw a number of successes; before the end of the decade, Barcelona took home three more national titles, bringing their overall count to 13, becoming the most successful team in the history of professional Ecuadorian football. Until 2006, when El Nacional reach them.

[edit] Title drought (2000-present)

Barcelona has not won a national title since 1997, and participated in only two editions of the Copa Libertadores in the 2000s. Despite the lack of titles in recent years, the club remains among the most successful teams in the league, having managed three Serie A runners-up finishes in the decade. Barcelona continues to be among the top contributors to the Ecuadorian national team, and remains one of the most popular teams in Ecuador. The derby with crosstown team Club Sport Emelec, remains the most popular football game in Ecuador.^{[citation needed]}

Barcelona has become a bounty for Guayaquil's local politicians who have used the team and its publicity to gain popularity. Despite having invested almost 15 million dollars in the last two years in strengthening the team, Barcelona is barely avoiding a run to Ecuadorian second division. For the last two years, scandals, managerial negligence, and violence have become frequent in news coverage about the team. Barcelona saved themselves from relegation last seaon by beatin LDU Portoviejo 2-0.

[edit] Colours and badge

The crest of Barcelona has changed over the years. The teams' first crest consisted of a modified version of the city of Barcelona's Coat of Arms in dark blue borders. The team used this crest for two years until 1927. In 1935, the first major change came when they used Barcelona's flag in a circle, with a triangle behind it baring the team's initials. In 1955, after the team won their first Guayas Championship, the team adopted their current crest, which is similar to FC Barcelona's. Changes they made to it included the number of spikes, the color of the ball, border color, and the initials.

Barcelona's original home kit in 1925.

The team's traditional colors are yellow and black, with the home kit being all yellow since the mid 1950's. Prior to that, the teams used to play in black and white kits. For a period early in their history, the team used the a kit similar to FC Barcelona's, but after a series of losses in that uniform, the team president swore never to wear those colors again. In the 1940s, yellow was introduced, and would eventually become the team's primary color, replacing white altogether; black would become the secondary color, used in their alternate kit.

[edit] Stadium

Barcelona has played in four stadiums. Their first stadium was Estadio George Capwell, with whom they shared with crosstown rival Emelec as it was the only stadium in Guayaquill.

In 1959, they moved to the Guayaquil's brand new stadium Estadio Modelo. This was the stadium in which the teams played in during the golden years. For several years Barcelona shared this stadium with Emelec and Patria.

After Estadio Modelo's success, the president of Barcelona, Isidro Romero Carbo, initiated the project to give Barcelona their own stadium. Romero talked with Jaime Nebot, Guayaquil's mayor, and León Febres Cordero, then President of Ecuador (both of whom are Barcelona fans) about the idea; they decided to help. Nebot donated a huge ground, the San Eduardo garbage dump site, for construction and Febres Cordero helped him with money. In 1986, Romero put up the first block of the stadium in 1986. In 1987, Estadio Monumental opened for the first time. The stadium was the first in Ecuador to have suites, and became the largest in terms of capacity, with space for close to 90,000 fans.

Recently the team signed a ten year deal with Latin America Futbol Corporation to install a state of the art LED perimeter board in the Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha. The 243 meter LED perimeter board was installed in September, 2008 and is the first LED perimeter board in an Ecuadorian football stadium. The deal is a 50-50 partnership between the two groups.

[edit] Supporters

Barcelona's ultras are known as La Sur Oscura (English: The Dark south). They are the biggest fan-bases in the country. During home matches, they are located in the southern end of the Estadio Monumental. Another big one is known as Zona Norte and many more from different parts of the country, as the capital city's Sierra Oscura (English: Dark Highland).

[edit] Current squad

Current squad for Barcelona Sporting Club as of October 3, 2009 (edit)