The FC Barcelona supporters’ clubs movement dates back to July 1919, when the first recorded mention of the “Penya Barcelonista” appeared on an official FC Barcelona document. Specifically, the supporters’ club organized a dance for all the players, fans and blaugrana members at the Carrer Indústria pitch. The second historic milestone goes back to 1944, when the first contemporary supporters’ club was formalised.

After undergoing a period of organic growth in the 1980s, the turning point for the supporters’ clubs movement came after the European Cup final at Wembley in 1992, which gave rise to an unprecedented influx of supporters’ clubs and penyistes. Before winning this championship, the collective was made up of 590 supporters’ clubs. Four years later, the number had already reached over a thousand.

From that point on, the expansion of the movement has fundamentally been qualitative. The work carried out since 2010 has led to the professionalisation of supporters’ clubs through the achievement of significant milestones, such as the opening of the Supporters’ Club Services Office in 2010; the reinstatement of the World Congress of Supporters’ Clubs during the Gamper Trophy, in 2011; the creation of the Supporters’ Club Census in 2012; the establishment of the Work and Institutional Days at the World Congress of Supporters’ Clubs, also in 2012; and the recognition of statutes for Supporters’ Clubs and their territorial Federations, in 2013.

The movement took another leap forward in 2014, with the achievement of two significant milestones. One of these was the edition of the first Penyista Card, which provides formal accreditation to supporters’ club members. The other was the appointment of the 30 Federation presidents to the Club Assembly as delegates.

All this work crystallised in 2015, with the creation of the Supporters’ Clubs World Confederation and the signing of a collaborative agreement with FC Barcelona. During the 2016-2017 season the Club also transferred all the competencies relating to supporters’ clubs to the Confederation.

As of today, backed by a centenary history, we encompass and serve over 1,265 supporters’ clubs and 170,000 supporters throughout the world, establishing a network of Barça spaces across the territory.