FC Barcelona in European football

Overall record

Accurate as of 24 May 2016. Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

Pyrenees Cup

Barcelona began to play friendly games against teams from the neighbouring regions in France in 1904. Club president Arthur Witty organised the club's first trip abroad, which resulted in their first game against a non-Spanish team. On 1 May 1904, Barcelona defeated the French team Stade Olympien des Étudiants Toulousains.

By 1910, the international friendlies evolved into the Pyrenees Cup, a competition featuring teams from Languedoc, Le Midi, Aquitaine, Catalonia, and the Basque Country. At that time it was considered the finest competition open for participation. Five editions were played in total, with FC Barcelona winning four consecutive trophies from 1910 to 1913.

Latin Cup

In 1949, the football federations of Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal, came together and launched their own club competition, the Latin Cup, which was staged at the end of every season in a single host country. The competition featured two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final. As La Liga champions in 1949, Barça represented Spain in the inaugural competition. They beat Reims 5–0 in their semi-final at Les Corts, before beating Sporting Lisbon 2–1 in the final at the Estadio Chamartín. Barça also played in and won the 1952 competition in Paris, beating Juventus 4–2 in the semi-final and then Nice 1–0 in the final. After the introduction of the European Cup, the Latin Cup was discontinued and nowadays it is not recognised by UEFA.

European Cup / UEFA Champions League

The European Cup was inaugurated in 1955, with Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid winning the first five editions. In 1959, Barcelona entered this competition for the first time, after winning the 1958-59 La Liga season. Until the 90s, the club had little success, apart from their runner-up places in 1961 and 1986. In 1992, Johan Cruyff's Dream Team won their first European Cup with a 1–0 win against Sampdoria. Since then, Barcelona has won the competition four additional times; in 2006, 2009 2011 & 2015. Barcelona has established itself as one of the strongest sides in European competitions, when measured in UEFA coefficients.

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

The Cup Winners' Cup started in 1960, but it took three years until Barcelona participated for the first time. In their first edition, they were eliminated in the first round by Hamburg SV. In 1969, their second participation, they advanced to the final, but were beaten by Czechoslovakian side Slovan Bratislava. The first success came in 1979 when they defeated Fortuna Düsseldorf in the final, by 4–3 after extra time. This maiden success was emulated in 1982, 1989, and in their last participation in 1997, before the cup was reorganised into the UEFA Cup in 1999-2000. Barcelona's four victories are the most of any club.

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup / UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was established on 18 April 1955, two weeks after the European Cup, to promote trade fairs by playing various cities against each other. The city of Barcelona, however, participated with a team purely made of Barcelona players. From 1958 onwards, the organisers reverted to club participation, but the teams still had to come from cities staging trade fairs. Barcelona would go on to win the Fairs Cup a record three times before it was subsumed into the UEFA Cup in 1971.

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is considered to be the forerunner of the UEFA Europa League, but it is not recognized as a UEFA competition. As such, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup wins do not count toward the tally of Europa League wins. This list tallies the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup together with the Europa League tournament. In the UEFA Cup – Europa League, FC Barcelona has lost four semifinals, in 1975–76, in 1977–78, in 1995–96, in 2000–01. Two times they lost against Liverpool (in 1976 and in 2001), one time against PSV Eindhoven (in 1978) and one against Bayern Munich (in 1996). In all four cases, the team that has eliminated FC Barcelona then has won the trophy.

UEFA Super Cup

The UEFA Super Cup was inaugurated in 1973 as a way of determining the best team in Europe, by pitting the holders of the European Champion Clubs' Cup against the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup. Barcelona first participated in the 1979 edition, after they won the 1978–79 Cup Winners' Cup. They lost 1–2 on aggregate to Nottingham Forest, having drawn 1–1 in Camp Nou after losing 0–1 in City Ground, Nottingham. The first victory was in the 1992 edition, when they beaten Werder Bremen 3-2 on aggregate. Since then, Barcelona has won the competition four additional times (in 1997, 2009, 2011 and 2015) and now shares the record of victories (five) with Milan.

Intercontinental Cup / FIFA Club World Cup

In 1960, UEFA and their South-American equivalent, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), created the Intercontinental Cup as a way of determining the best team in the world, by pitting the winners of the European Champions' Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores against each other. In 2000, FIFA launched their international club competition called the FIFA Club World Cup, featuring teams from all of its member associations. In the second edition of the Club World Cup, in 2005, FIFA took over the Intercontinental Cup, subsuming it into its own competition. FC Barcelona has won the FIFA Club World Cup three times (in 2009, 2011 and 2015) a record for this competition.