Toni Duggan becomes only the fourth Brit to sign for FC Barcelona
- Published
England international Toni Duggan has signed for Barcelona’s women’s team after four years with Manchester City. She told the Barcelona Femeni website: “I am really looking forward to the new season, it’s going to be a new challenge for me but one that I will relish. Obviously, FC Barcelona are known worldwide for playing attractive football and I think it will suit my style.” Duggan has played 47 times for England and scored 15 goals. She is going to be only the fourth British footballer to play for Barcelona!
Gary Lineker played more than a hundred games for Barcelona, scoring 42 goals. He also won the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup, and a European Cup Winners Cup - a tournament similar to the Europa League. Barcelona fans remember him best for scoring a hat-trick against rivals Real Madrid in a Classico in 1987.
Current Stoke manager Mark Hughes signed for Barcelona in 1986 for £2 million. He was signed to play alongside Gary Lineker. The welshman didn’t enjoy as much success as his English team-mate, though, and was loaned to Bayern Munich the following season and then sold back to Manchester United.
Scottish international Steve Archibald moved to Barcelona in 1984, before Hughes and Lineker. He won the league in his first season, but when his British colleagues joined he lost his place as there were rules on how many non-Spanish players that could appear for a team. Archibald also played for Barcelona’s city rivals Espanyol later in his career.
In 1996 a former England team manager took over. Bobby Robson spent a year at the club. He won a Copa del Ray and a Cup Winners Cup. You might have heard of one of Bobby Robson’s coaches - Jose Mourinho.
One of the reasons Hughes and and Lineker moved to Spain was because the club just appointed Englishman Terry Venables as their manager. He was in charge for three years and won a league title with the club. Venables would go on to manage the England national team.
Barcelona have a long history of English managers - in the first thirty years of the club they had FIVE English managers. The club even have the cross of St. George on their badge… but that’s because he is also the patron saint of Catalonia, the region of Spain Barcelona is in.
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