BARCELONA, 29 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, led this Wednesday the events celebrating the 124th anniversary of the Blaugrana club and took advantage of this special day to present the events of the 125th anniversary, which will be celebrated next year with the new Spotify Camp Nou now on march and with the singer and composer David Carabén as commissioner of the events.
“It is a very special day for the club because we celebrate 124 years of history. And it places us in a position of counting down to the 125th anniversary, which will be a historic event. At the Board meeting on April 26, 2022 we approved the appointment of David Carabén to articulate the conceptual framework of the celebrations. And also define and promote the necessary actions,” Laporta began at the Auditori 1899.
About the commissioner, David Carabén, he remembered that he was ‘culer’ from the cradle. “You know that he is a singer and composer (of the group Mishima), a writer and presented the programs on Barça TV ‘Recorda Mister’ and ‘La habitación dels Mirrors’. It is a ‘culer’ made of crushed stone, something he acquired at home because he son of Armand Carabén, one of the architects together with his wife that Johan Cruyff could come to Barça and one of the organizers of the club’s 75th anniversary”, he said.
“It is a great emotion that after 50 years another Carabén is leading the events of a new anniversary, which will serve to take a look back at the club’s history and explain the future. And it will serve to reinforce the feeling of ‘more than a club,'” said the president.
A Joan Laporta who believes that the club arrives “at a good time” for this anniversary. “We will celebrate it at the renovated Spotify Camp Nou, which will not be completely finished but we will play in it. It will be the culmination of one of the dreams of Barcelona fans, because we have always been improving the stadiums we had. We are strong, with a ‘more than a club’ reinforced and a social mass committed and excited about this anniversary. We arrived at a good time and overcoming obstacles, and with the desire to be a reference in sports clubs,” he reiterated.
To close an event “full of emotions, history and feeling”, Laporta assured that the club is experiencing moments of “renewal”, such as that of the Spotify Camp Nou and the Espai Barça. “This project is the most important at the patrimonial and institutional level of the club and it is necessary. It is a time of great challenges, of very important changes that are inappropriate for the new era we are living in, a new era that will lead to a stage full of challenges exciting things like the 125th anniversary,” he said.
“I would ask Barcelona fans to live this moment with maximum emotion and commitment. We are privileged (gets emotional) because we have the opportunity to experience these events and there are others that are not there. They will be events remembered for decades. We have to be worthy custodians of these moments historical events and I ask you to live them more united than ever, in the face of adversity and obstacles. Barça is the best sports family in the world and all of us have the responsibility of making this family even bigger,” he encouraged the member.
“In moments of doubt and maximum pressure, that which is insurmountable, and of maximum difficulty, let us think of the titanic effort made by so many generations of Barcelona fans who persevered so that Barça reaches today as a multi-sports club, being loved and admired in Catalonia and around the world,” he concluded.
DAVID CARABÉN, COMMISSIONER OF THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY
For his part, the new commissioner of the 125th anniversary of the entity, the Mishima singer and son of former director Armand Carabén – one of the architects of the arrival of Johan Cruyff player to FC Barcelona -, assured that they will celebrate the 125th anniversary being “faithful” to the Blaugrana roots.
“We want to celebrate that we remain faithful to what we are. When we have insisted on what made us different is when we have won more titles and have been the best. When we have bet without complexes on what we are. We will not only look at the 19th century and the XX, we want the celebration to be projected into the future. We are Catalans, children of a peculiar way of understanding things, which is the Catalan culture. Our club is property of the members,” he recalled.
“We are a multi-sports club and there are many ways to be Barça, but above all we have an inalienable style of play that defines us. At Barça we have wanted the ball for 125 years. We want the ball because we do not give up having the initiative. We want the ball to enjoy, to win, to decide our future, to attack, to defend, because we are certain that we all play,” he added.
In fact, the ball will be the protagonist of the celebrations. “The rondo, like the sardanas, like the castellers, put all the pieces on an equal footing so that they work in harmony. It is through the combination of the pieces that pure beauty and good play are achieved. Natural talent shines more at the service of the group. You just have to remember the case of Messi,” he recalled.
At the event, the new logo that the club will use throughout the year of commemoration of the anniversary was revealed through a video, for all those initiatives that are framed in the celebration of the symbolic milestone.
“The emblem captures the soul of the manifesto, the fascination with the tool of sport; the ball. It is a centrality and a value that is given to football and sport. And there are not many institutions that have lived three centuries and are in this good state of form,” said Carabén.