Joan Laporta i Estruch (born June 29, 1962 in Barcelona, Spain) is the president of Futbol Club Barcelona since 2003. is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (Catalan) Postal code 08001–08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça (IPA: baɾ.sÉ™), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Laporta is a lawyer (graduated from UB) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has important firms as clients. Laporta is married to Constanza Echevarría and has three sons. The University of Barcelona (Catalan: , Spanish: , UB) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Spain. ...

Career at FC Barcelona

He started his career with F.C. Barcelona leading the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), a group who opposed former president Josep Lluís Nuñez and who, in 1998, tried, unsuccessfully, a vote of no confidence against him. Josep Lluís Núñez Clemente (born on September 7, 1921 at Barakaldo) was president of FC Barcelona between 1978 and 2000. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... A motion of no confidence, also called a motion of non-confidence, a censure motion, a no-confidence motion, or simply a confidence motion, is a parliamentary motion traditionally put before a parliament by the opposition in the hope of defeating or embarrassing a government. ...

In the 2003 elections, Laporta didn't start as a favorite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the favourite candidate, publicist Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled, though not for want of effort) promise to bring David Beckham to Barcelona. Laporta quickly became a media star, even more than some of the players. A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, or for a work such as a book or movie. ... David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ...

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 disappoinment 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. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a Spanish sports club most widely known for its professional football team based in Madrid. ... The 2000s are the current decade, spanning from 2000 to 2009. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ...

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 violence in 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 on kidnapping him. To exacerbate the situation, the 2003/04 season began abysmally results wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for 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. For other persons named Ronaldinho, see Ronaldinho (disambiguation). ... David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ... Franklin Edmundo Frank Rijkaard (born September 30, 1962 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager and former player. ... Camp Nou (Catalan for new field, often reversed in English to become Nou Camp) is a football (soccer) stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ... For other persons named Ronaldinho, see Ronaldinho (disambiguation). ...

Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management has 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. Today, the inherited massive financial debt is being cut down, and only two players remain from the original team that did not win a major title in six years with players like Deco, Eto'o and Edmilson as the new starlets, around a core of home grown players like Carles Puyol, Víctor Valdés and Oleguer Presas. With the end of the 2005/6 season, Barcelona currently has preserved a healthy lead over their arch-rivals Real Madrid for the second consecutive season, and finally won the UEFA Champions League on May 17 2006, for only their second time in history. The club now have regained their status as being rated as the World's best European club once again. (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga, is the professional football league in Spain. ... Anderson Luis de Souza, OIH (born August 27, 1977 in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) is a professional Brazilian footballer widely known as Deco [Portuguese]. He plays internationally for Portugal and for FC Barcelona at club level. ... </gallery> Samuel Etoo (born March 10, 1981 in Nkon, Cameroon) is a professional footballer, who currently plays for FC Barcelona. ... Edmilson Gomes, real name José Gomes Edmilson, (born July 10, 1976 in Taguaritinga (Brazil)) is a Brazilian-Italian football player. ... Carles Puyol i Saforcada (born April 13, 1978 in La Pobla de Segur, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish footballer who is the current team captain of FC Barcelona. ... Víctor Valdés Arribas (born January 14, 1982 in LHospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain), nicknamed Victor, is a Spanish football goalkeeper, who currently plays for FC Barcelona of the Spanish La Liga. ... Oleguer Presas Renom (born February 2, 1980 in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish football player. ... Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a Spanish sports club most widely known for its professional football team based in Madrid. ... The UEFA Champions League (also known as the European Cup, UCL, CE1, C1[1] or CL) is a seasonal club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1955 for the most successful football clubs in Europe. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Scandals

Nonetheless, Laporta's management of the sports sections of the club, especially the basketball one, has been controversial. On June 2, 2005, he faced the resignation of five members of the club's board of directors including Sandro Rosell. They accused him of not being the same person anymore, of being authoritarian and having power ambitions. Winterthur FCB is a Spanish basketball team. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On October 2005, he faced a new scandal, when his brother-in-law and member of the board of directors in charge of security, Alejandro Echevarría, was revealed to be a member of the Francisco Franco Foundation, which stands for the complete opposite of what Barça stands for in Catalonia. After several denials by Echevarría and Laporta, replied by documents shown by a former member of the board of directors, Laporta was finally forced to accept Echevarría's resignation. Echevarría is still, however, close to the club and he organized the security during the recent celebrations of the 2005-2006 Liga championship. General Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892–20 November[1] 1975), commonly abbreviated to Francisco Franco (pron. ... Anthem: Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Catalan,Spanish and Aranese. ... (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga, is the professional football league in Spain. ...

Re-election as club president

There was some discussion about when exactly Laporta mandate started, with the board of directors holding one opinion and the opposition another. One club member went to the court and, on 19 July 2006 a judge ruled that the first eight days of his presidency in June 2003 counted as the first year of his four year term. His term has therefore expired and new elections have been called. ^[1]

The elections were to be held on September 3rd, 2006, but it turned out not to be necessary. On August 22, FC Barcelona confirmed Joan Laporta's Presidency for another 4-years after no other candidate received the 1,804 signatures required to run for the FC Barcelona Presidency.^[2]

Personal life

Joan Laportas father passed away midday the 24th of July.

Joan Gaspart (October 11, 1944) is a Catalan businessman and a former FC Barcelona president between July 2000 and February 2003. ... Futbol Club Barcelona, known familiarly as Barça (IPA: baɾ.sə), is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ...

References

1. ^ Reuters: Judge orders Barcelona to hold presidential election
2. ^ Reuters: Laporta declared Barcelona president without new poll