Could Barcelona join the Premier League?
Tuesday 3 October 2017
AS STRIKES and protests continue in Catalonia, Professor Simon Chadwick explores how independence for the Spanish region could impact on Barcelona FC, one of the most famous football clubs in the world.
This article was first published in The Conversation.
The slogan ‘Mes que un club’ – translated as ‘more than a club’ – is synonymous with Spain’s FC Barcelona. It is ubiquitous too: on the seats at the club’s Nou Camp stadium, embroidered inside the collars of first-team shirts, and emblazoned across the organisation’s website.
The label ‘more than a club’ originated in 1899 and the Catalan club’s foundation, when a Swiss émigré founded what is now commonly referred to as ‘Barca’. Hans Max Gamper-Haessig, who was enthralled by Catalonia and would later change his name to the Joan Gamper, established Barca as a membership club. Even today, members (or socios) pay an annual fee to become part of what many observers see as being one of world football’s best governed clubs.
From the outset, FC Barcelona has thus been a focal point for Catalan identity, as well as a symbol of democracy. So much so, that in 1925 then Spanish Prime Minister – Primo de Rivera – accused Gamper and Barca of promoting Catalan nationalism. Later, during the Spanish Civil War, the Nou Camp would become one of few places in the city where people could openly speak in Catalonian.
It has therefore been unsurprising that in recent weeks FC Barcelona has become a focal point for those associated with the region’s independence vote. Indeed, on Sunday, the club called for its La Liga game against Las Palmas to be postponed as violence spread across the city.
The match was laden with meaning, some critics stressing that Barca ultimately sold-out to pressure from television companies to stage the game, putting money ahead of political principles. Others observed that pressure has been placed on the club by La Liga president Javier Tebas, a lifelong Real Madrid fan. Tebas also gave permission for the Las Palmas team to play with a Spanish flag (intended to symbolise Spanish unity) woven into their shirts.
One of the players on the field during the game was Barca’s talismanic defender, Gerard Pique, who has publically professed his support for the Catalonia’s independence vote. Pique, recently been booed by other Spanish fans, has even offered to step aside from playing for the country’s national team.
FC Barcelona is clearly, then, much more than a club; it is a complicated and highly politicised entity in a way the likes of Manchester United or Arsenal have never been. But therein lies an important issue, which probably serves as a metaphor too for the many other challenges facing Catalonia.
Elite-level professional football is no longer just a local game for local people, it is a mass-market product traded by businesses for a commercial return. Barca is no exception, notably selling its first shirt sponsorship deal ten years ago. One of its recent shirt sponsors, Qatar Airways, drew condemnation for the way in which it signified how the club has changed. Some cynics have even referred to the ‘Madridification’ of FC Barcelona.
In this context, recent events in Catalonia therefore pose significant challenges for Barca’s commercial team. For example, in the middle of Sunday’s events, the club issued a public statement asserting that it supported the right to self-determination, and condemned any act impeding democracy.
As a philosophy and, for that matter, as a brand proposition, this is both noble and distinctive. However, for a club that has been casting covetous eyes at Asian markets, it remains to be seen how such a brand proposition will play-out. The last thing the Qataris or Chinese will want is for a club advocating separatism to be actively engaging fans and commercial partners in their countries.
Quite how Barca handles this remains to be seen, and it will be worthwhile keeping a close eye on messages coming out of Doha, Beijing and elsewhere in Asia. That said, given Catalan diasporas – communities that fled the region during the Spanish civil war – in Latin America, at least part of the club’s overseas commercial strategy looks set to remain in tact.
What happens to Catalonia in the coming days, weeks and months will also be worth watching. Already people are speculating where, should the region become independent, will Barcelona play. Clearly this makes a big assumption about the ultimate outcome of the current situation.
Several reports have been published that Barca will play in England’s Premier League. Commercially and financially, this might seem like a marriage made in heaven. However, it is extremely unlikely that it will happen, not least because of the potentially complexities of such a move.
An alternative proposal has been that Barca will have to continue playing in Spain’s La Liga. Short-term, this would seem to be the most logical outcome, although medium to long-term less so. Yet such a debate is far too premature; FC Barcelona divorcing itself from the rest of Spanish football would surely require negotiations of Brexit-style scale before a divorce could be agreed.
Besides, while Barca might find itself politically free, its commercial future could be more problematic when set in the context of a European giant playing games solely against local rivals such as Girona and Tarragona. And one should not forget too that, given an independent Catalonia, Barca would probably lose its UEFA membership and right to play Champions League football.
Gamper was right, FC Barcelona is more than a club. However, football in 1899 was a rather different proposition to football in the 21st century. The power of Catalan politics might be compelling, but the lure of global revenue streams may yet trump regional idealism.
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Sam Wood
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