Why do Barcelona have a St. George's cross on their badge?
The Barcelona badge is a blend of cultures – so what's the English St. George's cross doing on there?
![Barcelona badge](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nuCrpZVrv42vQE5vyL7HBP-1024-80.jpg)
Barcelona have a history entwined with English football.
Their fans fondly remember Sir Bobby Robson's stint as manager in 1996/97 when the former England boss took the club to three trophies and Gary Lineker is a cult hero for netting a hat-trick in an El Clasico.
The link to England goes even deeper, too, with the club's first manager – Jack Greenwell – coming from Blighty. The visionary Vic Buckingham may have only come to Barcelona in the late 60s but he had already laid the foundations for the club with pass-and-move football at Ajax, only for Johan Cruyff to bring it to Catalonia in the late 1980s – and Buckingham was English, too.
But actually, the St. George's cross has nothing to do with England. Sorry.
The upper-right panel of the badge features the Catalan flag of red and yellow, known of the senyera, while the bottom panel of the badge features the blaugrana colours of blue and dark red: the two shades that have always been used on the Barca home shirt. So far, so Catalan.
And the cross? Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia. So that explains it.
FC Barcelona was actually founded by a Swiss man, Joan Gamper, and with such close connections between the football club and the political identity of the city, this club is firmly Catalan.
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Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.