Although Real Madrid is generally considered to be the most successful Spanish football club in terms of league championship victories, having won 31 of them compared with the 20 that were won by Barcelona, in terms of total trophies won it is Barcelona that dominates. As well as its 20 La Liga cups the team has also collected the Spanish Cup 25 times, the Spanish Super Cup 8 times and the Copa de la Liga (league Cup) twice.
The team owes its birth to Joan Gamper, a Swiss pioneer of football. In 1998 he paid a visit to Barcelona to visit a relative and liked the city so much that he made it his home where he worked as an accountant. The following year he published an advertisement inviting people to join a football team and as a result FC Barcelona was born.
Initially the new team was very successful and by 1902 it had won its first trophy which was the Catalan Football Championship, but this was followed by some bleak times and but for the further intervention of Gamper would have folded. Under his helmsmanship the team acquired its own stadium and thus a source of income.
The team became professional in 1926 and two years later won the Spanish Cup though they were shut down for six months during the Spanish Civil War due to overt dissent by their fans. This resulted in the eventual suicide of a by then financially and personally challenged Gamper.
The 1940s and 1950s were good for the team and it enjoyed much success and in 1945 they won La Liga a feat that they repeated in 1948 and in 1949 when they also won their first Latin Cup.
During the 1960's it was Real Madrid that dominated the sport though Barcelona achieved the occasional success; in 1963 they won the Copa del Generalsimo and in 1966 they won the Fairs Cup.
In was not until 1974 that they won another La Liga, beating Real Madrid 5 - 0. They won their first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1979. Real Madrid also dominated La Liga throughout the 1980s but from 1990 it was Barcelona's turn to dominate. The team won La Liga 6 times during the decade.
Since the turn of the century, in terms of La Liga, honours have been shared evenly between Barcelona and Real Madrid though Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League on two occasions, in 2000 and 2002.
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FC Barcelona - The Most Successful Spanish Trophy Winner 