Laporta started his involvement with Barcelona leading the "Elefant Blau" ("Blue Elephant"), a group which opposed former president Josep Lluís Núñez and which, in 1998, tried unsuccessfully a vote of no confidence against him.
In the 2003 elections, Laporta did not start as the favourite, but his charisma grew during the electoral campaign and he finally won against the expected victor, publicist Lluís Bassat, in part because of a widely published (and ultimately unfulfilled) promise to bring David Beckham to Barcelona.
With Laporta's arrival, and that of football superstar Ronaldinho (his star signing after David Beckham's decision to go to Real Madrid, and Thierry Henry who decided to remain at Arsenal) as well as new manager Frank Rijkaard, among others, the club was forced to embark on a new phase, having elected a new, young and largely untested managerial board along with him.
To exacerbate the situation, the 2003–04 season began abysmally results-wise, with Laporta constantly having to call for the fans' understanding and patience with him and Rijkaard as the club slowly phased out underachieving players from the old guard in order to rebuild a new-look side around Ronaldinho.
Laporta also had to spur his board to foster creative business ideas to raise revenue, and in recent years, that new style of management eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club with the team spectacularly returning to form and finishing second after being at the bottom of the table in 2003–04, and then finally managing to win La Liga titles both in 2004–05 and in 2005–06.
The club finally won the UEFA Champions League on 17 May 2006, only their second time in history, as well as that year's Liga championship.
On 10 July 2008, 8 of the 17 board members – vice-presidents Albert Vicens, Ferran Soriano and Marc Ingla, and directors Evarist Murtra, Toni Rovira, Xavier Cambra, Clàudia Vives-Fierro and Josep Lluís Vilaseca – resigned following Laporta's confirmation that he will stay on as president of the club despite the opinion of the members.
Although the team started poorly, losing the first match to Numancia and drawing the second, Barcelona had the best season in its history, winning the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UFEA Champions League, Supercopa de España and UEFA Super Cup titles followed in August, as well as a FIFA Club World Cup victory in December.
[13][14] He succeeded Josep Maria Bartomeu who resigned in October 2020 to avoid facing a vote of no confidence from the club members.
In 1996, he joined the Independence Party, formed by Pilar Rahola and Àngel Colom, former members of the Republican Left of Catalonia.
[16] Laporta has long held ambitions to enter Catalan politics after leaving office as president of FC Barcelona.
FC Barcelona is seen by many as a symbol of Catalonia, a generally accepted fact which Laporta often emphasizes[17] but has been criticized by those who think that Barça should remain neutral from a political standpoint.
[18] Following the end of his second term as president, Laporta formed the independence-seeking political party Democràcia Catalana (Catalan Democracy).