The first African player to don the Blaugrana strip of FC Barcelona was the Portuguses-Angolan Jorge Alberto Mendonça, signed from Atlético Madrid in 1967/1968 season (67 years after the Catalan club was founded). The major trophy he won is the Spanish Copa del Rey trophy in his first season against bitter rivals Real Madrid CF until he left the club in 1970.
It wasn’t until 1996 that the the club signed its second African player, EmmmanuelAmunike from Sporting Lisbon. The next African player to don the FC Barcelona strip was GbengaOkunowo, when Louis van Gaal was the team’s manager. Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong aka Alex Song is the latest and seventh African player to play for the club.
Danish football legend Michael Laudrup is one of the few illustrious players to have played for the El-Clásico rivals of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid intermitently from 1989/1990 season to the 1995/1996 season. Laudrup is the only player ever to win the Spanish La Liga five times in a row playing for two different clubs in the 1990/1991, 1991/1992, 1992/1993, 1993/1994 for FC Barcelona and in 1994/1995 season for Real Madrid.
He appeared for Real Madrid in a 5-0 win over FC Barcelona and also played for FC Barcelona when they beat Real Madrid 5-0 while he was playing at Camp Nou.He is now the manager of Swansea City in the English Premier League (EPL) replacing Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers who left for Liverpool FC.
As the Spanish Primera Liga continues to be dominated by FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, the number of professional clubs with the prefix "Real" in Spanish football is seven (Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Real Betis Balompie, Real Murcia, Real Zaragoza, Real Racing Club de Santander and Real Mallorca). It actually mean Royal and stemmed from the support that football gained from King Alfonso XIII in the early years of the last century.
