Blaugrana lineage

In the history of FC Barcelona , ​​cases of fathers and sons wearing the club's colors are not unusual, such as the Boschs, Busquets, and Reina. Or brothers, such as the Gonzalvos. Even twins, such as the De Boers. There are also presidential families, such as the Montals. However, family combinations between players and directors are not common. A particularly interesting case is that of the Amat family, from the prehistoric Barça of 1916 to very recent times.

It all began with Jaume Amat Murtra (1898-1975), a teenager from Vilassar who joined the Blaugrana youth system and rose through the ranks until making his debut with the senior team on March 12, 1916, in a Catalan Championship match against Sabadell. He was a defender and played alongside exceptional players such as Torralba, Sancho, and the famous and controversial Garchitorena. Amat's football career was short-lived, suffering a knee injury, but he continued to play in minor matches and focused on the family business, the cotton mill, of course, to round out the classic Barcelona pedigree. He later became a director during the final part of Miró-Sans' presidency and worked closely with other greats such as Kubala, Evaristo, and Luisito Suárez, in addition to meeting Helenio Herrera on some trips he traveled to as a club delegate. Among the anecdotes he told, here's one: during a league match in Las Palmas , Herrera, who knew everything, convinced him that it was a vital commitment and that it would be worth offering an extra bonus for each goal. He did so, but the match was actually a walk in the park for the Blaugrana, who won 8-0 and took home their pocket money. Jaume Amat, always loyal to the team, ended up holding the number 11 card.

Read also Amat Murtra came to the first team from the base and his son, Amat Curto, promoted La Masia

A brother of Jaume Amat, Alfons, also passed through the Blaugrana board, in his case much earlier, on Enric Cardona's board (1923-1924).

From the Amat Murtras, we move on to the Amat Curtos, sons of the former footballer. Antoni Amat Curto was a Blaugrana director from 1969 to 1978, with Montal Costa and then in Raimon Carrasco's management team, which called the historic elections of 1978. A former champion of Catalonia (5 times), Spain (4) and the World Cup (1) in cesta punta, at Barça he directed the activities of the sections, in the decisive stage of the inauguration of the Palau Blaugrana. Among his memories is having to deal with Raimundo Saporta, and how the Real Madrid director manipulated the draws with the trick of the hot balls.

But the man who has had the greatest career and influence in the internal life of the Blaugrana team has been Jaume Amat Curto (1926-2023). His career in the football world began at the Catalan Federation, where he became vice president with Pablo Porta. In 1975, he was a candidate to succeed him, competing with Antoni Guasch, but Amat ultimately decided to step down. There's no room here for the intrigues and shady dealings of that election campaign; suffice it to say that they were no less impressive than those that subsequently occurred on the road to the Catalan football presidency.

In the 1978 elections, Jaume Amat joined Víctor Sagi's unsuccessful candidacy, and Núñez later rescued him and, in keeping with family tradition, placed him in charge of the club's sections. He played a key role in converting the former offices, located in the farmhouse adjacent to Camp Nou, into a center for the protection and promotion of the youth academy. Amat is, in his own right, one of the founding fathers of La Masia, with the collaboration of Pere García Vila, among others, and the technical direction of Jaume Olivé and Oriol Tort.

In 1981, after being appointed General Director of Roads of the Generalitat by Jordi Pujol, he stepped down from the board. Jaume Amat always remained faithful to his vision of Barcelona and supported presidential candidates. He sided with former player Josep Maria Fusté in 1989, supported Sandro Rosell in 2010, Josep Maria Bartomeu in 2015, and Toni Freixa in 2021. In total, the Amats, at various times, have had 40 FC Barcelona members.

Kinship The branches of the tree

To understand the many family connections in Barcelona's history, it's essential to read a recently published book, "El árbol del Barça" (The Tree of Barça), by Gerard Marteo Arenas (Círculo Rojo Editorial, 2023). All sorts of kinships parade through the pages, some very unusual, like the Sagis, and others less directly related. This is the case with Asensi and De la Peña, Messi and Bojan, Maradona and Agüero, or Hagi and Popescu, to name just a few. There are relationships of all kinds: brothers-in-law, uncle and nephew, distant cousins, father-in-law and son-in-law... Even the growth and popularity of women's football now provides connections. This is the case with siblings Óscar and Ariadna Mingueza.