FC Barcelona is saddened to announce the death of Antoni Camps Bau.

Bau was born in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada (Barcelona) on 24 May 1938. A fast left winger, with great skill in delivering crosses, he came through the academy, playing for FC Barcelona’s youth team in the 1955/56 season, although the following campaign he moved to CE Manresa, where he quickly stood out.

RCD Espanyol took notice of him and signed him in 1957. He remained there until the end of the 1961/62 season, when the team’s relegation to the Second Division opened the door for his return to Barça, called back by the then coach Ladislao Kubala.

Camps played at a high level in the 1962/63 season, appearing in 32 official matches and scoring five goals, as well as winning the Spanish Cup. Unfortunately, when he was at the peak of his football career, in the summer of 1963 he suffered a very serious knee injury while playing a match during the annual festival in his hometown.

After the ordeal of a long and difficult recovery, in March 1965 FC Barcelona and CE Mataró, then in the Third Division, reached an agreement for Camps to regain match fitness with the Maresme side. That summer he became a free agent and signed for CE Sabadell, where he played, always in the First Division, between 1965 and 1968. He hung up his boots in 1969 at RCD Mallorca and later had a brief experience as a coach with Catalan teams.

Afterwards, for 34 years Antoni Camps was in charge of the pitchside advertising boards and the electronic scoreboard on the side of the Camp Nou.

Força Barça