FC Barcelona is not just one of the world's most popular sports clubs; it is one of the most influential organizations on the planet. It has more in common with small nation-states than it does with most soccer teams. No wonder its motto is "More than a club." Barcelona has gone from a regional team to a global powerhouse, and Simon Kuper unravels this transformation through one of the club's biggest stars: Lionel Messi. But Messi's era has come to an end-and with it, a once-in-a-lifetime golden run. This book charts Barça's making and unmaking. Like many world-beating organizations, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets. But after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given rare and unparalleled access to the inner sanctum. Capturing the latest upheavals, Kuper's portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond soccer to understand FC Barcelona as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon. Book jacket.