The Catalan mes que un club: the articulation between the separatist Catalan movement, the FC Barcelona and the soccer market

• Grant number: 18/12977-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Michel Nicolau Netto
• Grantee: Vinicius Borges Alvim
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research proposes the understanding and analysis of the FC Barcelona public manifestations concerning the catalan separatist movement. The perception of said manifestations is directly inserted, as is the club, in a global market context. Therefore, understanding the FC Barcelona in the duality of the valorization of the team's brand and as a direct agent and representative of the separatist movement is fundamental to the research. The FC Barcelona stands out as one of the biggest exponents of the separatist movement mainly during the Franco dictatorship, period in which several restrictions were imposed on the inhabitants of Catalonia. These restrictions were justified by the idea of a United Spain. The transformation the FC Barcelona undergoes, from a strictly regional club to a global club, follows a development of the soccer market. To think of FC Barcelona nowadays is to think of a global simbol that articulates and represents a regional movement and moves great amounts of money and products, which are commercialized in several countries. The sport itself undergoes the same transformations as FC Barcelona, that can be seen through the financial contributions and external investments that finance the clubs. The same goes for the more and more expensive player transfers. Soccer can, then, be understood as a company but unlike any other, as stated by John Horne. That way, FC Barcelona acts as a company and as representative of the separatists, articulating it's brand and the Catalan separatist movement.