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Secrets of FC Barcelona’s success

September 7, 2019

The famous club was founded on October 29, 1899, by Hans Gamper and its motto is „Més que un club” (More than a club). It was the first club in the city and football wasn’t so popular then. FC Barcelona started to succeed very quickly, in the same year the club gained i.a. Catalonia International Trophy. In the following years, Barca gained a lot of trophies and started to be the symbol of Catalonia. That’s where played legendary football players like Ronaldinho or Diego Maradona. Thanks to Barca, Lionel Messi had a chance to do such a great career. What are young players taught to achieve so high results?

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  • Barca from an early age injects players competitiveness. When they enter the field, they do it to win. Only with such an attitude, they can do their best in the most difficult situations.

,,In Barca Academy players are taught that they have to win” Francesc „Tito” Vilanova

,,The most important is that everyone – here in Barcelona – knows that only victory counts. It’s the part of upbringing”. Pep Guardiola

„I have always had the will to fight. I hate to lose”. – Leo Messi

“From the earliest age, I hate to lose. It hurts. I hate it”. – Henry Thierry

The tendency to compete is a common feature of all top sportsmen. But they have to take failure similarly as a victory – they should congratulate their rivals because they were better this time, but they have to believe that next time, they will be better. If you can, compete you learn how to win and, what’s equally important, to lose.

To learn how to compete, you have to get to know the taste of failure”. – Luis Enrique

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  • Every season to Barca Academy arrive young players from all over the world. There aren’t language or racial divisions. All that matters is persistence and desire to develop. Coaches could enumerate hundreds of players who had enormous potential but didn’t use it. Albert Puig compares it to Formula One: the strongest and the best car cannot win the race if the driver doesn’t put the pedal to the metal. He says that the most important is persistence in every training and using one’s all advantages. Carles Puyol is a perfect example – he wasn’t the genius of technique but his character, courage, PERSISTENCE, and physical fitness captivated Barca’s coaches.
  • Let’s think about what would have happened if Messi had listened to his taller mates who used to tell him he won’t amount to anything? How great talent and potential would waste if he had listened to negative opinions? Who would he be nowadays if the only thing he’s always loved is football? Once, the coach of Catalan Team FC Barcelona in 1976, Laurent Ruiz, noticed a boy who took part in football tests oganized in his school.  After tests, he was left alone and kicked a ball against the wall. The coach asked about him his trainers, but they said that he shouldn’t take care of him because the boy is not worth a damn. This boy is Albert Ferrer, in the ‘90s played as a right-back for Barcelona and Spain. He was doing everything to become a football player and he made his dreams come true. It was Barcelona’s coach who believed in him because he had noticed his zeal for work. FC Barcelona doesn’t presuppose that someone is going to fail because of short height or weak form. If they notice your tenacity, determination, and cooperativeness, you will win them over. Unfortunately, not every club is like that and often young players hear about themselves negative, demotivating comments. You have a choice – listen to them and let go of your dreams or follow the best player’s ex ample.

“To first Barca’s team more people get because of work than skills” – Andrés Iniesta

The article written on the basis of the book “The Power of Dreams. The way to success” by Albert Puig.