Joan Laporta

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Joan Laporta bigraphy, stories - Presidents

Joan Laporta : biography

29 June 1962 –

Joan Laporta i Estruch ( born June 29, 1962) is a Spanish politician and former president of Futbol Club Barcelona between 2003 and 2010.

Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has important firms as clients. Laporta was married to Constanza Echevarría and has three sons, Pol, Guillem and Jan. He served as MP in the Parliament of Catalonia between 2010 and 2012.

Trophies won by club during presidency

  • La Liga (4):
    • 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10
  • Copa del Rey (1):
    • 2008-09
  • Supercopa de España (3):
    • 2005, 2006, 2009
  • UEFA Champions League (2):
    • 2005-06, 2008-09
  • UEFA Super Cup (1):
    • 2009
  • FIFA Club World Cup (1)
    • 2009

Career at Barcelona

He started his involvement with FC Barcelona leading the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), a group which opposed former president Josep Lluís Núñez and which, in 1998, tried, unsuccessfully, a vote of no confidence against him.

In the 2003 elections, Laporta did not start as the favourite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the expected victor, publicist Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled) promise to bring David Beckham to Barcelona. Laporta had the support of other young businessmen of Barcelona, such as Sandro Rosell. Laporta quickly became a media star, even more than some of the players.

First season in charge

His first season (2003–2004) as President would prove to be a watershed for the club, but not without initial instability. The club situation was one of bitter unhappiness and disappointment amongst both fans and players after the club failed to meet their own standards to match Real Madrid’s success in the early 2000s, having not won trophies since 1999.

Arrival of Frank Rijkaard

With Laporta’s arrival, and that of football superstar Ronaldinho (his solution signing after Beckham’s decision to turn down the club) as well as new manager Frank Rijkaard among others, the club was forced to embark on a new phase, having elected a new, young and largely untested managerial board along with him. Laporta also decided to fight against the threat of violence outside the Camp Nou stadium, specially from the Boixos Nois (Mad Boys) gang, and faced insults and death threats from them. Police investigation revealed they had planned to kidnap him. To exacerbate the situation, the 2003–04 season began abysmally results-wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for the fans’ understanding and patience with him and Rijkaard as the club slowly phased out underachieving players from the old guard in order to rebuild a new-look side around Ronaldinho.

Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club with the team spectacularly returning to form and finishing second after being at the bottom of the table in 2003–2004, and then finally managing to win La Liga titles both in 2004–05 and in 2005–2006. During this period, the inherited massive financial debt started to be cut down, and only two players remained from the original team that did not win a major title in six years, with players like Deco, Samuel Eto’o and Edmílson as the new starlets, around Ronaldinho and a core of home-grown players like Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández, Víctor Valdés and Oleguer Presas. The club finally won the UEFA Champions League on May 17, 2006, for only their second time in history, as well as that year’s league trophy.

The return of Pep Guardiola

After dismissing Frank Rijkaard, Laporta appointed the untested and inexperienced Josep Guardiola, the team captain at the end of the Dream Team era. Guardiola’s only experience as a coach was with the B team the previous season (which won promotion from the 4th tier to the 3rd). Although the team started poorly, losing the first match to Numancia and drawing the second, Barcelona had the best season in its history, winning the treble of the League, the Cup, and the Champions League. The Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup followed in August, and the FIFA Club World Cup in December.