Why are you a Barcelona fan?

Seeing Messi in action for the first time is what really captivated me. I had known about the team during the Ronaldinho era but I never followed football. Only what I saw in headlines really. When I decided that this was the best sport in the world and knew I had to follow it, I watched many teams to determine where my allegiance would lie. I had the good fortune of watching a Barca game first....and that killed it for every other team on the planet . Not long after I put the game on I saw Messi destroy racing santanders defense and chip the keeper...that was the moment that la pulga captured my heart. The way they strung passes together and worked as an ever flowing unit just amazed me. I had already known who Xavi and Iniesta were after the Euro's and I just loved every minute watching them. After that game came a Madrid game.......and yeah. I couldn't help but think how inferior the way they played was to me lmao. I watched numerous english, italian, and german games and NOTHING compared to Barca. I just couldn't get into the games like I did when watching Barcelona play. Every since then I have drowned myself in football both past and present. Barca has become so much more then a club to me . Their philosophy, past hardships, and uprising starting with Cruyff just resonated with me. The academy, the play, the attitude...I love everything about Barcelona. I'll support them until the day I die.

Short answer: Ronaldinho.

Longer answer: Unlike most members here, I used to hate football, or its fans anyway. Growing up in Vietnam, all you could hear people talking was about the English Premiership (which had a more reasonable broadcasting hour). Until that one day, when I saw Ronaldinho's goal versus Chelsea. Yes, that goal, where he shook his hip a couple times and scored while Cech, Carvalho and co. were standing motionlessly. Then I started watching more of Barca, and saw how magical yet joyful Ronaldinho played. Meanwhile, the only popular Spanish club in Vietnam was RM, with the all-star-cast. So I thought I could be a hipster and support the 'underdog' Barca. That's how it all started and now I rarely miss a single minute of Barca, and I've come to love everything about this club: how the players always go out and give their all (Puyi!), how football can be both magical, beautiful and joyful at the same time.

The first game of football I ever saw was back in 98, a Barca match vs Valencia at Camp Nou. Even though I was pretty young, I still enjoyed their play immensely for reasons unknown lol. For the next 10 years or so, I never followed Barca passionately. I still watched a lot of their games, but I also followed a huge number of other teams from England and Italy. I remember enjoying Milan games a lot, with Kaka, Shevchenko and Pirlo. Even during the glory days under Ronaldinho, I never really felt like a Barca supporter - though I was happy they won.

The FIFA games and Euro 2008 was what really got me back to Barca. I was already a big fan of Xavi and Iniesta by then, but that tournament just pinched me back. And the rest that followed is pretty obvious. I loved David Villa's style and clutchness too haha. In 08/09, I used to tune in every week to watch Xavi's through passes and Iniesta's dribbles on the wing. And of course Messi, although his brilliance only started to captured me in the games vs Valencia, Zaragoza and Arsenal the next season. During that time, I also started to get interested in the tactical stuff of football and Barca was sort of unique in that sense. There were other teams too, like Chile and Roma.

I am still pretty impartial, or atleast that's what I like to think. I don't feel as Cule as most people here - hence my username is footyfan. I obviously enjoy all the games which I tune back to every week. No side on the planet can captivate me like Barca.

In 1993, when I was a kid, and the first FIFA (video game) came out, I played it for hours daily and for some reason loved the Barca team with Koeman, Nadal, Romaro, Stoichkov, Guardiola, Laudrup, etc. I cheered for Barcelona among other clubs for the first couple of years, mainly Ajax and Fiorentina. Then around 1996-1997 I made my first trip to Spain with my parents and forgout about all the other teams. Year by year I grow to be a stronger supporter, and I travel all the way from Finland to see at least a couple of matches each season just because (as my girlfriend says) I'm obsessed. I haven't missed a single match in 3-4 years.

Saw Xavi playing for the Spain NT, took a liking to him and started following Barca to see him play. Then took a liking to other aspects such as style of football.

Because of him:



In that time I was lucky to have a cable TV, which was allowing me to watch him and Barca. Plus Barcelona was already very popular in my country because of Hristo Stoichkov. And he was still playing there in that time

It all started with Ronaldinho. He was my favourite player back in the day
Then i read about the history and values of the club
Then came Xavi and Iniesta (came into their prime i mean)
Then came Messi
Then came Tiki Taka
Then came the army of La masia

and i became a cule for life

April, 2000...I wasn't playing football let alone watching it (Although I did play a little in high school)...I had a visit to Barcelona that was planned with a buddy of mine...Last minute, he had to cancel...We were going to see The Cure in concert there and decided to explore a European city while we were there, Barcelona appealed to us out of the cities on the tour...Did and saw just about everything I could fit into a week and at the end of it, I asked locals what else they recommended and they said you have to see a football match...Got some scalped tickets and went to Camp Nou, sat nearly in the last row up high and had a pretty distant view of the pitch & players...Yet, I got swept up in the emotion and singing of the crowd, the energy really was different than anything I had experienced at a sporting event back in the US...I also kept asking, 'Who's #7 or who's #11?'...And to the surprise of some of the people nearby, they couldn't comprehend how I didn't know Rivaldo or Figo

I came back to the US and the addiction to the club & game (I started playing every week after that, now up to twice a week) began...Rest is history.

I always watched Barcelona matches in the Champions League since the Ronaldinho era. Not because of some player, just because they played attractive football. Didn't really follow Barça heavily but I became an instant fan of Messi when I saw him playing. Especially when I saw the vid of his highlights in WC for youth where they became world champion. From then on, I was only interested in Messi and kept seeing Barcelona UCL games. From the 09-10 season when I was aware from what Leo had become I started following more heavily and since the 10-11 season I try to watch as much matches as possible and succeeding quite good in it. Mostly because I realized I probably would never ever see such a dreamteam and such a genius (Messi) again but when I dug deeper I started to learn the values the club and the players stand for. So even after Messi retires and the rest of this team, I'll stay because of the Barça philosophy.

Nice thread !
For me it all started with Ronaldinho.
It would probably start earlier, if I was born earlier

You know, as I grew up I listened older fellows and they all praised individual skilled players like Ronaldo, Henry, Nedved, Shevchenko etc. So one day I saw Ronaldinho and Deco in Barca shirt, and I really liked them. I didn't know anything about the club nor football, nor had I noticed any other players back then,I tought Roni was and will be here forever.

Suddenly as time was going by, I started reading about the club, watching more and more games, and I realised this club represents much more than just a mediocre football club. Also fair play, and no thuggery on field leaves the biggest impression on me.

Now I'm a proud Barca fan. We truly are Més que un club

I remember hearing about Barcelona for the first time when Ronaldo joined the team for a season. After he left, I remember watching highlights on German TV of Rivaldo. After I moved to the States, I really didn't get into a consistent football watching basis until my late teens again. I was a big Ibra fan at the time and I was happy he joined Barca. He left; I stayed. The play of Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi mesmerized me and I've been a cule ever since.

It was in primary school when our geography teacher tasked us to know famous cities in Europe, Barcelona was in my list then, through reading newspaper, I came to know that there is a football team called Barcelona, I started following it through reading newspaper even before seeing them play. during summer olympic in Barcelona'92 I fallen in love with Spain, and when Spain played I was feeling crying the way those boys were playing football,I was very much impressed.
Then I became a Spanish fan, and I supported all the Spanish teams in CL, including rm, but Barca was deep inside me.
The way Barca play the ball I even took a risk to follow Barca games in late night.
After knowing the history of this great club, I came to love Barca regardless who is playing for Barca.
Barca is inside me in such a way that my kids are born and baptized as Barca.
mes que un club!

When I was young I was a fan of Ronaldihno and Brazil team. Since I wanted to see more football than just world cups. I started following Barca. Now that I'm older I enjoy that smart football that is displayed by Barca and I really support their values.

well, world cup 98 was the first time i saw a football match other than our own league, and the culture shock almost killed me. Spain and Austria got kicked out early, so I was unbiased and I really loved the dutch. So after the wc, i wanted to learn more about this wonderland of european football, and half of the dutch team played for barcelona at that time and incidently a club legend from my home club also played for barca in the seventies, so the choice wasn't rocket science.
It's really nice to see how well they play right now, especially when you have seen the gaspart era. But yeah, the whole nationalistic parts were never my thing. I support a football club not a political movement

For me it started with the Dream Team and the final in Wembley... The style of play was somewhat similar to the Colombian national team of that time with Valderrama commanding the midfield so it was love at first sight...

After that, as many others, the history and philosophy of the club made me stay through good and bad...