The 1995–96 season was FC Barcelona's 97th season in existence and 67th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football,

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

. Barcelona again failed to follow up on their 1993-94 league title, instead finishing third in the league. In April, the team lost the chance at three trophies in 10 days. First, Barcelona reached the finals of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

, losing 1-0 to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

. They then stumbled in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

as they were knocked out by

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in a 1-2 (3-4 on aggregate) loss at home, before losing definitively to

at home, erasing the chance of a league win. Barcelona were active in the transfer market, bringing in players such as Georghe Popescu,

Ángel Cuéllar Ángel Manuel Cuéllar Llanos (born 13 September 1972) is a Spanish former footballer, currently a manager. A left winger or a forward, his main assets were dribbling and scoring ability. He spent most of his professional career with Betis (n ...

Meho Kodro Mehmed "Meho" Kodro (born 12 January 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Kodro started playing professionally at Velež Mostar, making his first team debut in 1985. He spent most of his 1 ...

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Born in West Germany, he internationally represented Yugoslavia and later Croatia. He is the current manager of the Mont ...

, and

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-t ...

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov (; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer and current football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association football), forward, he is widely regarded as the g ...

and

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

were two notable departures. The season was head coach

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

's final with the club, as he was sacked after the May losses.

Carles Rexach Carles Rexach Cerdà (; born 13 January 1947) is a Spanish former football winger and manager. His career was mainly associated with Barcelona, spending 44 years at the club as a player (youth levels included) and coach. He formed a successful ...

served as manager until Englishman

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

was hired.

Summary

The season is best remembered as the end of Johan Cruyff's era as Head coach after almost eight years. During the summer the club made the transfers in of Gheorghe Popescu from

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, striker Ángel Cuéllar from

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

, forward Meho Kodro from

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

, Robert Prosinečki from

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

and the controversial move of Luís Figo from

Sporting Lisboa Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

(a petition of

Jorge Valdano Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born 4 October 1955) is an Argentine former football player, coach, and the former general manager of Real Madrid. He is currently working as a commentator for beIN Sports. Nicknamed "The Philosophe ...

to the

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

) after a two years ban of Italian Federation due to a double accord of the Portuguese midfielder with both

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Cruyff took

and

out of the team with controversy for fans and President included. In this campaign, the plan of head coach was mix arrivals and a new generation known as "La Quinta de Lo Pelat" (The generation of Lo Pelat) young players such as Iván de la Peña nicked as Pelat, Oscar García, Roger García, Toni Velamazan and

Albert Celades Albert Celades López (born 29 September 1975) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. A tactically astute player with a strong defensive mentality, he was best known for his stints with Barcel ...

. The team reached its climax on 7 October 1995 defeating

5–1 in Sevilla with a memorable exhibition of La Quinta de Lo Pelat, the club were struggling in League against leader of table Atlético Madrid meanwhile competing in 1995–96 Copa del Rey where the squad reached the 1996 Copa del Rey Final and

1996–97 UEFA Cup The 1996–97 UEFA Cup was the 26th season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was won by German side Schalke 04, who beat Internazionale of Italy on pen ...

Semifinals phase. However, the squad lost in ten days the three trophies, first on 10 April 1996 FC Barcelona was defeated 0-1 by Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey Final. Six days later, in Barcelona the squad lost the semifinal 1–2 against Bayern München and was eliminated from the UEFA Cup tournament. The bizarre series of results ended on 20 April 1996 when

won 3–1 at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

means that

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

could not win La Liga for second consecutive year. The shocking 10 days of losses shattered Johan Cruyff as manager and President Jose Luis Nuñez started contacts with English trainer

during May to replace Cruyff for 1996–97 season. Finally, Nuñez fired Cruyff on 19 May 1996 and signed Robson as the new head coach.

Squad

Transfers

Competitions

La Liga

League table

Results by round

Note:

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

spot (in green) being non-related with a position in

, does not appear until the winner is assured to not win ''La Liga'', thus if wins ''La Liga'' has a spot in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, then 1995–96 Copa del Rey runners-up earns a spot in the

1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The 1996–97 season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was won by FC Barcelona, Barcelona after beating holders Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain in the final. It was the last of four occasions that the Spanish club won the tournament. All ...

won their 9th

title in the last matchday, so after matchday 39 Barcelona's places are coloured in green. In light green the spot expected for

Matches

Copa del Rey

Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals

Final

UEFA Cup

First round

Second round

Third round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Friendlies

Statistics

Players statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1995-96 FC Barcelona season FC Barcelona seasons

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

1995 in Catalan sport 1996 in Catalan sport