Spanish side Barcelona has been handed a major boost ahead of the new season with Philipe Coutinho receiving a Portuguese passport.
The passport has ended any problems with Barca which they could have faced with adhering to La Liga’s registration. Following the summer arrivals of fellow Brazilians Arthur and Malcolm, as well as the marquee signing of Chilean Arturo Vidal, boss Ernesto Valverde would have been faced with leaving one superstar out of his La Liga squad in order to adhere to La Liga’s rules.
The rules state that only three players from outside of the EU can be recruited into teams. The ex-Liverpool man received a Portuguese passport through a legal loophole, as his wife Aine is from Portugal and the couple has been married for three years, sharing two children together.
Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third most valuable sports team in the world, worth $4.07 billion, and the world’s third richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €648.3 million.The official Barcelona anthem is the “Cant del Barça”, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs
Domestically, Barcelona has won 25 La Liga, 30 Copa del Rey, 12 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Ligatrophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona has won 20 European and World titles: 5 UEFA Champions League titles, a record 4 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, a joint record 5 UEFA Super Cup, a record 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a joint record 3 FIFA Club World Cup.[5] Barcelona was ranked first in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and currently occupies the third position on the UEFA club rankings.The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.
Barcelona is one of the most widely supported teams in the world, and the club has one of the largest social media following in the world among sports teams. Barcelona players have won a record number of Ballon d’Or awards (11), with recipients including Johan Cruyff, as well as a record number of FIFA World Player of the Year awards (7), with winners including Ronaldo, Romário, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo. In 2010, three players who came through the club’s youth academy (Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi) were chosen as the three best players in the world in the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football school.
Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first Spanish football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, by also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In 2011, the club became European champions again and won five trophies. This Barcelona team, which won 14 trophies in just 4 years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time. By winning their fifth Champions League trophy on 6 June 2015, Barcelona became the first European club in history to achieve the continental treble twic
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