Barcelona has elected a new team captain.

In a secret voting process, that was voted on by the players, Andres Iniesta received the most votes. Superstar forward Lionel Messi collected the second most votes, and will be the vice captain for Barcelona this La Liga season.

Middle fielder Sergio Busquets received the third most votes while Javier Mascherano got the fourth most.

With Xavi no longer on the squad, that means that Iniesta is the longest current tenured player on Barcelona. Iniesta has been a member of Barcelona since the 2002 season winning seven Spanish Premier League Championships. He has a lot of experience with Barcelona, and has always shown great leadership, so this comes as no surprise to soccer fans.

Luis Suarez and Neymar are fantastic players, but they haven't exactly shown great leadership skills, especially in international tournaments. Suarez and Neymar each missed playing time at the 2015 Copa America because of on-field behavior issues.

“Above all it is a very special responsibility to represent not only the team but much more: the kit, the club image. Becoming the first team captain it is something very special, especially for people who have spent so much time at the club. In the same way that all people are different, I don't think there is an exact model of a captain. Everyone is different and communicate things in their own way" said Iniesta.

Iniesta is now the ninth team captain in Barcelona soccer history. He is also the six consecutive Barcelona captain to hail from Spain. The only two Barcelona captains born outside of Spain were Bernd Schuster and Gheorghe Popescu. Similar to Real Madrid, their superstar player, Cristiano Ronaldo, is also not the team captain. Sergio Ramos, of Spain, holds that distinction.

This year Barcelona will be looking to win their second straight La Liga championship and 24th in franchise history.

Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter @DamonSalvadore1