On Friday at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, just off La Rambla in Barcelona, there will be a big birthday party. The occasion? FC Barcelona's 125th anniversary.
Barça will mark the day with a special gala at one of the city's iconic venues. Around 2,000 people have been invited to the event, many with links to the club's storied past.
There is quite a lot to celebrate and remember, and not just the combined total of 36 LaLiga and Liga F titles and eight UEFA Champions League crowns won by the men's and women's teams. The last 125 years have been filled with ups, downs, trophies, transfer sagas and some of the best players to ever play the game.
Let's revisit the most significant moments that have played a part in Barça becoming one of the most recognisable sports teams on the globe, and see which of the club's greatest-ever players fit into our all-time XIs.
1. The ad that started it all
On Oct. 22, 1899, an announcement appeared in a Barcelona newspaper looking for people interested in forming a football club. It was credited to a Mr. Kans Kamper. His name was misspelled.
The ad was placed by the Swiss-born Hans Gamper, now known as Joan Gamper -- the founder of FC Barcelona. The club was officially founded on Nov. 29, 1899 during a meeting at a gymnasium in the city. The meeting was attended by Gamper, his compatriot Walter Wild and 10 other men.
The club's famous blaugrana colours -- blue mixed with a claret shade of red -- followed later. They were introduced by the Witty brothers, two of the club's first players. The theory, supported by Barça, is that they brought them from Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby, a coastal town near Liverpool in England.
2. The English influence
Despite being founded by a Swiss man and based in Catalonia, the English influence on Barça's early years extended beyond the Witty brothers. Many of the club's early managers were from England, including Jack Greenwell, who remains the club's longest-serving coach to this day. He won 10 trophies with a team spearheaded by the Filipino-born Paulino Alcántara during an initial 10-year spell -- including three Copa del Reys in an era before LaLiga was launched in 1929.
Slightly more recently, Vic Buckingham, Terry Venables and Bobby Robson have all sat in the Camp Nou hot seat, too, while an Irishman also played a role at a key juncture in the club's history. As coach, Patrick O'Connell remained loyal to the club during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s and led a tour of Mexico and the United States which some say saved the club financially. A book, "The man who saved FC Barcelona" and a documentary, "Don Patricio" tell the story of his legend.
3. Stars are born: César, Kubala, Suárez
Barça won the inaugural LaLiga title in 1929, but it was not until the 1940s and 1950s that they enjoyed sustained success. They won the league seven times across the two post-war decades and had a team packed with stars.
César Rodríguez was a striker who remained Barça's all-time top scorer until Lionel Messi came around. Luis Suárez (not that one) came next, the only Spanish man to win the Ballon d'Or until Rodri picked it up this year. But at the centre of that era, and playing alongside first César and later Suárez, was László Kubala.
The Hungarian fled his homeland and was the subject of a transfer battle between Barça and Real Madrid. He helped Barça win five trophies in 1951-52 -- the season remembered as "Kubala and the five cups" -- and several more titles during a decade with the club, although the European Cup eluded him. His story is told in the film "The Stars Search for Peace" and he is immortalised with a statue outside Camp Nou.
4. Di Stefano transfer saga fuels Clásico rivalry
Kubala may have helped Barça win a European Cup if it had not been for Madrid and Alfredo Di Stefano. As with Kubala, both Barça and Madrid wanted to sign the Argentina-born forward. For many, it is the saga which laid the foundations for the intensity of the Clásico rivalry which exists between the two teams to this day.
Going back to 1953, River Plate had been the last team to hold Di Stefano's FIFA-affiliated rights, but the Argentine was contracted to Colombian side Millonarios. Barça negotiated a deal with River Plate; Madrid with Millonarios. Amid the confusion, intermediaries ruled that Di Stefano would play two seasons with Madrid and then two with Barça. The decision was accepted initially but soon led to problems at Barça, with board members resigning and the club eventually transferring their half-share.
"I have come to Spain to play for Barcelona," Di Stefano had said in July 1953. Just over a decade later, he'd helped Madrid win eight LaLiga titles and the first five European Cups back-to-back. Barça were left wondering what could have been.
