FC Barcelona membership up by 4%, biggest growth since 2010

FC Barcelona have closed the 2021/22 season with a total of 143,086 members as of 30 June 2022, which is 5,572 (4.05%) up on the 137,514 at the same time 12 months earlier. This increase has turned around the downward trend of the last decade, and is the first rise since that of 6.07% in the sextuple winning year of 2010.

The increase comes following the introduction of the new policies promised by the board to make it easier for people to become members and thus make the club more open and democratic.

56,021 (39.15%) members are from Barcelona city, and 75,169 (52.53%) are from the rest of Catalonia. The remainder amount to 11,896 (8.31%).

105.705 (73.88%) members are male and 37,381 (26.12%) are female.

Restrictions lifted

The board decided to remove certain restrictions on membership, such as being a first or second degree relative of a member, having been a member before or being a member of a supporters club or commitment card holder for at least three years, agreeing that anyone can become a member by applying in person at the Barcelona Supporter Services Office (OAB), although the club statutes still prevented memberships from being arranged remotely or digitally.

Online membership

A proposal was put to the General Assembly last October to allow online registration, and after it was passed, the club set to work on creating a secure, reliable system to govern such a procedure. The work finally ended in April and for the first time the club was able to offer fans all around the world the chance to become members online.

The response was huge and from April to June there were 1,922 online registrations. A further 1,525 new members were recruited from among holders of commitment cards, which they would normally have needed to own for three years before being able to become full members, a restriction that has now been lifted.