Joan Laporta Estruch

Joan Laporta was the architect behind one of the best football teams of all times, FC Barcelona. During his mandate the club won two UEFA Champions Leagues; four Spanish Ligas; one FIFA Club World Cup; one UEFA Super Cup; one Spanish King’s Cup and three Spanish Supercups.

Laporta is also a prestigious lawyer (graduating from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, a combined practice of lawyers and economists, made up of professionals with a background in the business world and the civil service, whose mission is to provide enterprises with a truly integrated service.

Joan Laporta is also a well-known politician. He was a member of the Catalan regional parliament (2010-2012) and also a city counselor for Barcelona’s city council (2011-2015).

His first season as President would prove to be a watershed for the club. The club situation was one of bitter unhappiness and disappointment amongst both fans and players after the club failed to meet their own standards, having not won trophies since 1999. With Laporta's arrival, 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 and did 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. During this period, the inherited massive financial debt started to be cut down, and only two players remained from the original team.