BARCELONA Football Club's longest-running chairman has died aged 87 after a long illness.
Josep Lluís Núñez, a builder and construction firm founder from Barakaldo (Vizcaya province, Basque Country) joined FC Barcelona as its leader in 1978 and stayed in the role for 22 years, until 2000.
His best decision was arguably that of taking on Johan Cruyff as trainer, under whose auspices Barça went on to win its first UEFA Euro, in 1992.
In total, the club won 14 titles with Núñez as chair, including seven League trophies.
Núñez was also a pioneer in bringing money into the club by his management of televising matches and retailing official merchandise.
Barça's Camp Nou stadium underwent two major extensions during Núñez's reign, and the MiniEstadi ('mini-stadium') and Barça Museum and Barça Foundation were built, as well as the land purchased for the club's future tied sports centre, the Ciutat Esportiva, or Sports City.
Núñez was sentenced to six years in jail and a €2 million fine back in 2011 after the Provincial Court of Barcelona considered it proven that both he and his son José Luis bribed tax inspectors nearly €1m allowing them to avoid declaring a total of €13.1m in duties between the years of 1991 and 1999.
Later, the sentence was reduced to two years and two months and the fine to €1.5m.
In Spain, a sentence for a first offence of less than two years does not have to be served, but Núñez's conviction was two months over this limit, so he went to jail in 2014 until 2016.
Despite this blot on his copybook, Núñez is considered to be the best thing ever to happen to Barça and a major player in its success as one of Spain's top two clubs, along with Real Madrid.
Tributes have poured in on social media, and FC Barcelona itself said on Twitter that their late chairman was a 'key figure in the club's contemporary history'.
Photograph: Josep Lluís Núñez in 2012 during the Barcelona Olympics 20-year anniversary celebrations (Wikimedia Commons/Ama d'Álvarez)
