It is the women's football section of FC Barcelona and competes in the Liga F, the top tier of Spanish women's football, playing home games at the Johan Cruyff Stadium in Sant Joan Despí, and occasionally at the Camp Nou or Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

In its inaugural season it competed in matches against other Catalan teams and was known as Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, taking the name Peña Femenina Barcelonista in 1971.

It also won the previous second tier of Spanish women's football a record four times after battling relegation and fighting for promotion throughout the 2000s.

The Selecció Barcelona played their first match on Christmas Day 1970, winning on penalties against Unió Esportiva Centelles in front of a crowd of around 60,000 people.

In terms of titles, Barcilona was much more successful than Barcelona in the 1980s,[38] though the two were considered the teams to beat within Catalan women's football and "fought to the death" in the league.

They had a successful three-year run in the early 1990s, placing in the league top three between 1992 and 1994, and winning the 1994 Copa de la Reina.

They subsequently declined to bottom table positions but, despite their weaker performances in the later years of the Liga Nacional, always managed to stay in the top division.

[55][verification needed] Xavi Llorens was hired as manager in 2006 to replace Natalia Astrain,[56] who was among the figures to leave when the club restructured and significantly reduced the women's section in the summer of 2006.

[59][verification needed] In 2011, they won their second Copa de la Reina, beating local rivals Espanyol 1–0 in the final.

[63] By the end of the 2013–14 season, the club referred to the previous four years of Barcelona Femení as a Golden Era in which they "absolutely dominated the Spanish football scene", and the team had received their own section in the Barça Museum.

[53] Despite their domestic success, players were unable to make a living playing for Barcelona Femení, and the club knew it could not compete in the Champions League against professional teams from other countries.

[68] Barcelona's domestic dominance ended as they went through the process of becoming professional, with then-captain Vicky Losada later saying that the jump "was a big change" initially, disrupting the team.

[65] As part of their new professionalism, Barcelona placed a greater priority on competing in the Champions League,[69] though focused on improving conditions rather than immediately trying to match the level of foreign teams.

[70] They reached their first Champions League semifinal in the 2016–17 season, which was compared to the rapid rise of Manchester City W.F.C., who had become professional and then achieved this milestone at the same times as Barcelona.

Under his replacement, Fran Sánchez,[65][69] and with Zubizarreta becoming sporting director in summer 2017,[68] Barcelona Femení moved away from its focus on development and integration of youth players.

In the summer of 2018, Barcelona Femení joined the men's team on a pre-season tour for the first time, one of the measures that made The Guardian consider them a groundbreaker in "growing commercial opportunities" and promoting equality for women's football.

"[65] After losing the 2019 Champions League final, the team directed investment to other areas, including improvement in conditions and an expanded support staff.

[77] The period from Barcelona's surge in success and cementing of identity in 2019, to the present as of 2024, is described as a dynastic era for the team and as the "new dynasty" of Europe.

[83] After having been runners-up in all competitions for two years, Barcelona won four titles for the 2019–20 season,[84] but did not reach the final of the 2019–20 Champions League, which the club considered disappointing.

[101] Other records set by the team include twice setting the highest-ever attendance for a women's football match – Barcelona beat Real Madrid and then Wolfsburg at the Camp Nou, with respective attendances of 91,553 and 91,648[90][102][103] – and breaking the world record for a transfer fee in women's football to bring Keira Walsh from Manchester City in the summer of 2022.

[104] The team's dominance in Spain also reached new heights after they summarily defeated main rivals Atlético 7–0 in the 2021–22 Supercopa final.

[109] The same year, authors Jim O'Brien and Xavier Ginesta questioned whether the club itself promoted the women's team in order to be "in the vanguard of genuine change in gender politics" or as a form of brand marketing due to their increased profile and wanting "to breath[e] fresh life into the fading traditions of the club.

[70] Research conducted around this time suggested that the lack of widespread support for Barcelona Femení was primarily because of the power hierarchy within global and glocalised football that under-appreciated women.

[83] The team moved to the Johan Cruyff Stadium in 2019, located in Sant Joan Despí, a town west of the city of Barcelona.

This was attributed by Zubizarreta not to the team becoming more successful, but to the club treating the women's players equal to the men's in advertising and merchandising.

[citation needed] The main rivalry for Barcelona Femení was Atlético Madrid, with the two teams having similar prominence and success within Spain and Europe in the 2010s, as well as having playing styles that contrasted each other.

[65] Barcelona and Athletic Club Bilbao also shared a rivalry in Spain in the 2000s and early 2010s, seeing large attendances at the San Mamés for their matches.

After their matches that season, Losada dismissed the idea that the teams had a rivalry: "For me, it's not a clásico but on a media level it helps that at last they're in our league.