In 1899 Gamper came to visit Barcelona and his uncle, Emili Gaissert, who was living in the Catalan capital at the time, persuaded him to settle here and that is how the founder of our Club came to remain in Barcelona, where he worked for the Credit Lyonnais bank and also for the Sarrià Railway Company. He continued playing football here, in the neighbourhood of Sant Gervasi, until he decided to create a club. From that moment on, Gamper began to surround himself with people who enjoyed the sport - which was still relatively unknown. Then finally, on 28th November 1899, he saw his dream of founding Barcelona Football Club come true.

Initially Gamper did not want to be the President of the Club, but in 1908 he had to take over to prevent it from folding. His first period of presidency began after a dramatic meeting in the Solé gymnasium on 2nd December. The previous President, Vicenç Reig, had just resigned after only 22 days in the job and the director, Francesc Sanz, gave a detailed rundown on the situation of the Club, which was sinking from a sporting, an economic and a social point of view. After his speech it truly looked as if Barcelona Football Club was going to be dissolved. However, after a deathly silence, a player called Wallace spoke up saying:'...but hasn't anyone got the courage to lift up the Club? If anyone is prepared to do it he can count on the support of all the players.' Just then, Joan Gamper, who still had not said a word, stood up and began an animated speech: '...Barcelona Football Club can't and won't die. If nobody is prepared to do it, then I'll make it my responsibility from now on. I feel sure that I'll be supported by all those who didn't hesitate to back me for one moment, even when football was seen as a bizarre thing and looked at suspiciously. From this moment on, I want to forget all the wrongs I've received, which ultimately distanced me from the running of the Club and now I want to be a part of the fight that we'll all be involved in to get it back on its feet again. If anyone wants to second me, speak up.'

These words from the founder raised everyone's spirits, and from that moment on Gamper put all his energy and imagination at the disposal of the Club with one goal in mind - to relaunch it. One, of the many initiatives he introduced was to go knocking on the doors of all the ex-members of the club trying to win them back - a move which soon resulted in numbers swelling to over two hundred.

On the sporting front, Gamper rebuilt the team, which won the Catalan Championship, remaining unbeaten in the 1908-09 season. One of his objectives during his first presidency was to give Barcelona Football Club their own ground, and thus the ground on Carrer Indústria was built. After 322 days running the Club, on 14th October 1909, Gamper gave up the presidency for work reasons, but he remained on the Board of Directors.

On 17th November 1910, during a meeting, the members asked him to take up the presidency again, and so Gamper began his second term in control of the Club - a position he held until 30th June 1913. During the 1910-11 season, the Barcelona President not only had to fight against internal differences caused by the introduction of professionalism, but also battle against the aversion the Spanish Federation had towards the Club.

The following season was yet again controversial, and during a tense meeting of the members Gamper was, once more, on the point of leaving. Finally, however, things calmed down and the season ended on a high note with the Barça winning the Spanish Championship and the Pyrenees Cup.

Disagreements with both the Catalan and the Spanish Federations reached their worst point during the 1912-13 season and Barcelona Football Club, annoyed by the affronts suffered from both organisations, left the Federation. At the end of the season Gamper, who was tired of so many disputes with the Federation, decided to abandon the presidency.

Once again, on 17th June 1917, Joan Gamper took over the reins of the Club to reconstruct it. When he resumed control he decided to sign the Englishman, Jack Greenwell, who became the first professional manager in the history of Barça. In 1919, legendary players like Zamora and Samitier joined the squad and on 19th June of the same year, after having solved the problems which had been affecting the Club, Gamper resigned again. Two years later, on 17th July 1921, the founder became President for the fourth time, thus beginning a new era marked by euphoria. The 1921-22 season will remain indelibly fixed in the history of Barça for the winning of both the Catalan and Spanish Championships, but above all for the inauguration of the ground in Les Corts - on 20th May 1922. The Club's financial position was enviable and its growth in popularity was spectacular. By the end of the 1922-23 season Barça had well over 10,000 members and after 742 days, which were to prove vital in the history of the Club, Gamper once more stepped down.

On 1st June 1924, just months before the Silver Anniversary celebrations, the founder became President of Barça for the last time, with the express aim of solving certain tensions that existed within the Club. Once again, the figure of Gamper as President had the same soothing effect and the celebration was a total success. On 24th June 1925, Gamper and all his Board of Directors were removed from their posts by Milans del Bosch, who closed the ground in Les Corts for six months after the crowd had jeered the Royal Parade before a game.

Thus Joan Gamper said his final goodbye to the presidency of Barça after a brilliant career, without which Barça would not be what it is today. The father of the spirit of Barça died on 30th July 1930, and his funeral was an amazing display of popular mourning. As a special mark of respect, the Club decided to dedicate his membership card number to him for all time and later, the prestigious Joan Gamper tournament was created in his honour.