Barcelona's President Was Shot His Body Was Never Found

In 1936, FC Barcelona president Josep Sunyol was shot on a mountain road during the Spanish Civil War, and his body has never been found. This is the story of Barça's darkest years. He wasn't a soldier. He was a lawyer, a journalist, a Catalan politician and the man who ran FC Barcelona. On 6 August 1936, one wrong turn near the Alto del León pass in the Sierra de Guadarrama took his car into territory held by Franco's troops. There was no trial and no judge. His body has never been found, even after the searches in 2010 and 2022. Then the club itself had to survive the war. Workers formed a committee to protect it. In 1937 coach Patrick O'Connell led a tour of Mexico and New York that earned 461,799 pesetas, and the club kept the money in a bank in Paris. Many players never came back. In 1938 a bomb hit the club's offices, and after 1939 the new regime even forced Barcelona to change its name. So how did FC Barcelona survive? And why does the club still call Sunyol its "martyr president"? ⏱️ Chapters 0:00 Shot on a mountain road 0:57 The Republican president 3:33 The wrong turn 6:25 Survival: the 1937 tour of Mexico & New York 10:31 A new name 12:11 What survived 14:00 Watch Episode 1 📺 Episode 1: The Man Who Created Barcelona, Then Lost It (Joan Gamper) 🔔 Subscribe to The Centre Circle for Episode 3: the 11–1 cup match against Madrid in 1943. Sources: FC Barcelona's official club history, contemporary newspaper archives, archival film of the Spanish Civil War, and reports on the 2010 and 2022 searches. #FCBarcelona #SpanishCivilWar #JosepSunyol #FootballHistory #Barça