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FC Barcelona: The Pride Of An Incredible City

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This spectacular club has the most members in the world: over 175,000 people from around the world meet, debate and help decide the club’s wellbeing in the future, as well a voting for who will be President of Barça, and their board of directors. Sandro Rosell is the chairman of the club, as voted for by members in June 2010.

The club’s incredibly popular social networking sites provide this information and more to millions via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A lot more goes on with this amazing club than the world’s media brings to light (as the football side of things naturally takes the stage). The phrase “Més Que Un Club” genuinely couldn’t become any more true.

Plus, the players undoubtedly have a similar communal feel; at Premiership clubs, we see players come and go, whereas at Barça, in several cases players like Messi, Xavi, Pique, Fabregas and Iniesta all came through La Masia and have spent mass amounts of time in and around the city as a result. Futsal courts and small stadia near the Nou Camp are evidence for the youth system. Guardiola himself, who I saw at a simple newsagent’s during my stay (which reflects and reinforces the bond between Barcelona, it’s people and the club) clearly is also attached to the city. The Spaniard graduated through La Masia, played for the club, has managed Barça B and had been part of the setup here for years before acheiving the unimaginabole as manager of the first team.

In Barcelona, Gaudi’s surreal yet unfinished cathedral is not the only place of worship; the temple-like Nou Camp is unmistakeable from a distance, it’s authority and prowess attracting tourists from around the world. Claret and blue encircles the stadium, which, on the inside is no less incredible as you would expect from the mythical ground.

Entering the museum part of the tour, countless trophies are lined up, from liga cups from the early 1900’s to the FIFA Club World Cup won in 2011, representing the momentous scale of achievements this club has to it’s name. Iniesta’s world cup winning boots, Valdes’ signed gloves, the oldest Barça football shirt in history and Messi’s Ballon D,Or awards from 2010 and 2011 are just a fraction of artefacts representing the club’s illustrious footballing history, gradually collected since Futbol Club Barcelona was founded by Joan Gamper in 1899.

Multimedia consisting of touch screen tables provides information and videos about Barça’s past successes and player profiles. The centre stage of this section is a number of large screens, dedicated to Guardiola’s cataclysmic achievements: from the 2009 Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup victories, to triumphs over Madrid in the Clasicos (the 5-0 and 6-2 thrashings are included, in case you were wondering) and the legendary 2011 Champions League final at Wembley.

Albeit virtually empty, the stadium on a non match day is still magical. The turf is expertly flat and the many seats create a unique pattern of the club colours, with the phrase “Més Que Un Club” catching my eye brilliantly in bold yellow, etched into the middle tier. It is hard to tear my eyes away from the words that mean so much to so many people involved or connected to Barcelona.

From literally every angle, the Nou Camp is visually stunning. Tourists are allowed in the press boxes, down the tunnel and into the simple dressing rooms which are often used by some of the world’s greatest players. I see fans from England, Scotland, America, Italy, Africa, China, Poland and New Zealand who all have a similar link to the club, despite living miles and miles away. Barça is a brand as well as being the greatest football team to live and play together at this present moment; the manager, players and club are known for what they do on every continent in the world, replica shirts can be seen everywhere on the planet and the media, not just in Spain, is in constant admiration.

I can only dream of what it must be like to live in the city and regularly witness Barcelona play. However, in the short time spent in and amongst the city I find it easy to see why, due to a number of factors, Barcelona deserves it’s title as not only the world’s greatest football team, but the world’s greatest sports club.

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