The case of Football Club (FC) Barcelona provides a compelling case for
examining the impact of globalization on the place/identity role of football
clubs. FC Barcelona has deep historical connections to Barcelona and
Catalonia. These connections were de-emphasized by the clubs leadership
under Josep Lluís Núñez (1978-2000) and Joan Gaspart (2000-2003) and
promoted again by Joan Laporta and his directors (elected in 2003). At the
same time, under Laporta, FC Barcelona has developed into a successful
global brand. How are we to understand this renewed focus on the local and
national discourses of place while the team is simultaneously promoted as a
global brand? Although the local and global discourses seem to be at odds,
the club leadership seamlessly promotes la marca Barça (the Barça Brand)
while repoliticizing the club with an explicitly catalanista discourse. The
global and local discourses are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the local is
drawn upon in constructing the global discourse and the global is implicated
in the reproduction of the local (Massey, 1994, p.120).