On October 22 1899 Joan Gamper placed an advert in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club. A positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Sole on November 29. Eleven players attended : Gualteri Wild, Lluís d'Ossó, Bartomeu Terradas, Otto Kunzle, Otto Maier, Enric Ducal, Pere Cabot, Carles Pujol, Josep Llobet, John Parsons, and William Parsons.

As a result Foot-Ball Club Barcelona was born. Several other Spanish football clubs, most notably Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, also had British founders, and as a result they initially adopted English-style names.

Legend has it that that Gamper chose the legendary club colours, blaugrana / azulgrana, after FC Basel, his former club. However other Swiss teams Gamper played for, his home canton of Zurich and Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby, Merseyside have all been credited and/or claimed to be the inspiration.

Initially the club used the same coat of arms as the city of Barcelona, but in 1910 the club organized a competition to design their own. It was won by an anonymous entrant who produced the present model.