Més que un club: what I understood when I visited Barça

In February 2023 I went to see Barcelona's home. I already knew, from the outside, the phrase that became the club's motto — més que un club, more than a club. I thought I understood it. I only truly understood it inside.

The phrase isn't marketing. For Catalans, Barça carries an identity: a language, a culture, a region that always wanted to assert who it is. The club became the place where that expresses itself without asking permission. That's why the rivalry with Real Madrid was never just football — it has political and historical roots, coming from a Spain in dispute over centralization and autonomy. You feel that weight in the air; you don't need to read about it.

What struck me most, though, was something else — and it has to do with how I think about business. Barcelona built its identity by investing in developing its own players, in the academy, and in playing a recognizable way, faithful to a style, even when it would be easier to win another way. That's a long-term decision, not a seasonal one. It's choosing who you are and backing that choice for decades, with the cost it demands.

I left thinking that the institutions that last — a club, a company, whatever — have this in common: an identity that isn't for sale. You can copy tactics, hire talent, buy a one-off result. You can't copy what a community built over generations and decided to defend.

"More than a club" is exactly that. And it holds as a reminder for anyone building something to last: what sets you apart in the end isn't what you do better than others. It's what you are — and refuse to stop being.