num_pages: 416
description: With rare and unrivaled access bestselling coauthor of Soccernomics and longtime Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper tells the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful club in the worldand how that era is now endingFC Barcelona is not just the worlds highest grossing sports club it is simply one of the most influential organizations on the planet. At last count it had approximately 214 million social media followers more than any other sports club except Real Madrid CFand by one earlier measure more than all thirty-two NFL teams combined. It has more in common with multinational megacompanies like Netflix or small nation-states than it does with most soccer teams. No wonder its motto is More than a club. But it was not always so. In the past three decades Barcelona went from a regional team to a global powerhouse becoming a model of sustained excellence and beautiful soccer and a consistent winner of championships. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how this transformation took place paying special attention to the clubs two biggest stars Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi who is arguably the greatest soccer player of all time. Messi joined Bara at age thirteen and more than anyone has been the engine and standard-bearer of Barcelonas glory. But his era is coming to an endand with it a once-in-a-lifetime golden run. This book charts Baras rise and fall.Like many world-beating organizations FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets granting few outsiders access to the Camp Nou its legendary home stadium. But after decades of writing about the sport and the club Kuper was given access to the inner sanctum and the people behind the scenes who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite personal and capturing all the latest upheavals his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond soccer to understand FC Barcelona as a unique social cultural and political phenomenon.
language: English
title: The Barcelona Complex: Lionel Messi and the Making--and Unmaking--of the World's Greatest Soccer Club
publisher: Penguin Press