The handball team brushed aside Fertiberia Balonmano Puerto Sagunto on Tuesday to make it 13 wins out of 13 in the ASOBAL league.  On Saturday, they take on second-placed Huesca aiming to widen the gap at the top of the table.

For their part, the basketball team stayed strong in Europe with an important 78-82 win over JSF Nanterre.  On Sunday, they return to the Endesa League with a game in the Palau against Unicaja.

FCB Alusport begin Cup campaign

This coming Thursday, FC Barcelona Alusport begin their defence of the Spanish Cup against Inter Movistar.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, the roller hockey team will be looking to make it nine wins out of nine in the OK League against CE Noia Freixenet.

On December 3 FC Barcelona unveiled the Club’s accessible website. Xavi Hernánez and Gerard Piqué, among others, featured in a spot highlighting the project. In order to appear in the commercial the center back needed to learn a couple basic sign language signs.

Here’s the spot in its entirety:

Dani Alves, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué, Neymar Jr, and Cesc Fàbregas participated in a photo shoot for Replay, an FC Barcelona official sponsor. Here’s a behind the scenes look at the photo session.

The Camp Nou project was the main focus of the Board of Directors meeting this Monday afternoon. After the meeting, Board spokesman Toni Freixa indicated that the directors hadn’t made a definitive decision on the project and that another meeting could take place in the first two weeks of January.

Freixa went on to say that the board had reviewed “the conclusions of the consultants’ reports” which studied two possible courses of action regarding the Camp Nou: “The construction of a new stadium on the land on Diagonal, property which belongs to the University of Barcelona, and a profound remodeling project that would constitute a new stadium keeping current structure of the Camp Nou.”

The spokesman then highlighted what the two projects have in common: both would have a capacity of 105,000 spectators, the stadium would be covered, there will be a construction of a new Palau with a capacity of 12,000 spectators, an adjacent court with a capacity of 2,000 spectators, 6,000 new parking spots and access to the Ciutat Esportiva of the Miniestadi.”

Freixa confirmed that “we’ve made advances, we have all the information and we’re in a position to make a decision.” He also noted that any project submitted for referendum will need to satisfy three prerequisites: “They need to be viable from a technical perspective, urbanist and economic. We would never submit a project that would endanger the sustainability of the Club.”

FC Barcelona’s Board of Directors will make a decision on the future of the Camp Nou in the first fortnight of January, according to Board spokesman Toni Freixa. The Club’s economic vice-president Javier Faus explained in an interview with Jordi Basté on ‘El món a RAC1’ that the objective of the Board presided by Sandro Rosell is to take on the challenge of “securing patrimonial excellence for the Club for the next 100 years.” “We’ve taken a step forward athletically and in management, but the Board’s desire is to take a step forward patrimonially,” he continued.

The construction of a practically new stadium in Les Corts or the construction of a completely new stadium in Diagonal would help address the visibility problems that some of the fans endure during matches at the Camp Nou. “We have 20,000 members that can’t watch the games properly, they can’t see the whole pitch, they can only see parts of the field because of the structure of the stands, and we need to find a solution to this problem.”
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The vice-president then went on to say that the Club can and will generate sufficient funds to take on the cost of the new construction projects: “the funds need to come out of our own resources and we won’t ask the members to shoulder (the burden), we’re committed to the promise that we wouldn’t increase the price of season tickets until the end of our tenure. In 2016 we will have reduced the debt to 200 million euros, which is an overall reduction of 300 million euros. We’ve shown that we can generate approximately 100 million euros each year and we can reduce the debt by 50 million each year.”

In addition, Faus added that the new stadium will generate additional resources, between 30 to 35 million more euros per year, given that it will have approximately 5,000 more seats and the VIP section will be significantly expanded. “We currently are the European team with the least amount of VIP seats, around 2%, while the average in other stadiums is around 7% to 8%.”

When asked about the possibility of selling the naming rights of the stadium to obtain additional economic resources, Faus said, “we could generate around 250 million euros each year, but we don’t support the idea. The majority of the Board does not want to completely sell the naming rights of the stadium.” The vice-president, however, confirm that the Board are considering adding an additional name to the stadium, but always keeping the name Camp Nou. “Adding a ‘last name’ is the lesser to two evils. We could generate around 100 million euros, but these contracts have a duration of 25 years.”

Faus also revealed that in a recent poll of Barça members, that members consider the price of season tickets to be a more important issue than the naming rights of the Camp Nou.
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He went on to explain that Club members will be duly informed on any viable building project ahead of any referendum, and that there’s a very high probability that an option “to not do anything” will be included in the vote “because these are projects that come with a high economic cost and Club members have the right to decide.”

Faus recognised that the building project at Diagonal would be much more expensive than the ENEA project at Les Corts, but that Club members should know that “remodeling the Camp Nou is a very complex project and it would be inconvenient for Club members.” He added: “worst case scenario is that in the most critical phase of construction our capacity would drop from 99,000 spectators to 87,000. The Camp Nou would be under construction for three years.”

FC Barcelona and Intel Corporation have reached a global sponsorship agreement which will make the company – a world leader in computing innovation and technological essentials – the Club’s official technological partner.  The details of the deal will be explained at 13.00 on 12 December in the press room at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.

The event will be attended by Club President Sandro Rosell, Board Member with responsibility for the Economic and Strategy Area, Manel Arroyo, Board Member with responsibility for the Technology Area, Dídac Lee, and the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice-President of Intel, Deborah Conrad.

The event will be attended by Club President Sandro Rosell, Board Member with responsibility for the Economic and Strategy Area, Manel Arroyo, Board Member with responsibility for the Technology Area, Dídac Lee, and the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice-President of Intel, Deborah Conrad.

During the presentation of the new deal with Intel this lunchtime, FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell made it clear that Leo Messi is set to stay at the Club long-term, explaining: “whilst I am President, we'll do everything possible - and the impossible - to keep Messi at the Club. We'll do it intelligently and it really would be very difficult for Messi to leave for another team - really impossible".

President Rosell also spoke about the future of the Camp Nou and insisted: “all the options we present to the members(concerning the new stadium) will be good ones. We'll follow through with the choice the members make".

FC Barcelona has reached an agreement with Intel for the globally prestigious multinational computing company to become a worldwide sponsor of the Club. Thanks to this agreement, Intel will become an official technological sponsor, which will help FC Barcelona to become one of the most technologically advanced clubs in the world.

The collaborative spirit between the two organisations will be reflected on the new FC Barcelona shirt, which will feature the Intel Inside logo on the inside. This is the first time the shirt has ever featured a logo in such a position. The new shirt was presented today at FC Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva in Sant Joan Despí by club president Sandro Rosell, and Intel’s Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Conrad, as well as players Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The team will wear the new shirt for the first time in Saturday’s league match with Villarreal.

Two world leaders join forces

The two brands, both world leaders in their fields, are joining forces to share the values of innovation and good performance, as well as seeking to better help the communities they are aimed at. Intel will be providing the students at La Masia with the very latest technology to help implement and strengthen a culture of creativity. The innovative computing firm will be supplying FC Barcelona players and coaches with the latest 2 in 1 Intel based devices, while working with them to improve their research, training and performance via the most up-to-date technologies.

The agreement also involves FC Barcelona and Intel working together to improve the fan experience through new technology at the Camp Nou. To celebrate the signing of the agreement, over the next five league games Intel will be donating five latest generation laptop computers to the FC Barcelona Foundation, which will be passed on to the different projects and institutions that it collaborates with.

Intel, world leader in computing

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The North American multinational designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices. Intel is the biggest manufacturer of integrated circuits in the world and produces microprocessors for most of the leading personal computer companies.

The multinational computer company Intel presented all the members of the first team squad with personalised computers specially designed by Ricardo Cabolo featuring the name and shirt number of each player.The computers were Ultrabook 2 in 1 models - a laptop which can convert into a tablet. The players were presented with thier machines in a box which also contained the new Barça shirt, which will now feature the Intel Inside logo on the inside.The coaching staff also recieved their specially customised Ultrabooks

At the presentation, held at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper before training this morning, Intel's marketing head Deborah Conrad and the designer Ricardo Cabolo were  accompanied by Club President Sandro Rosell, board member Manel Arroyo and Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué, who were wearing the new shirt with the Intel Inside logo.

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“I have no words to describe how I feel to see our banner in the Camp Nou” said a visibly emotional Tomasz Lasota, president of the Fan Club Barça Polska. After a 26 hour journey by coach, more than fifty members of this club from Poland unfolded their enormous 80x30 banner on the Camp Nou terraces. With FCB anthem playing in the background, the banner showing the words from the same song ‘Tots units fem força’ (together we are stronger), as well as the faces of Guardiola, Messi, Puyol and Cruyff, and which first appeared at Barça’s summer friendly in Gdansk against Lechia, was unfurled in the FCB stadium.

Pawel Kolodziejski, a member of the Fan Club Barça Polska, presented the idea to Maciej Gryko and a group of local graffiti artists, and after two weeks of hard work from eight in the morning to the small hours of the night, they achieved their aim. “Hard work? Barça is a passion and seeing this banner at the Camp Nou is fantastic after so much effort went into it”, says Kolodziejski.

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“Our club always tries to do much more than just follow our team in Europe. We wanted all of Poland and the world to see how much we love Barça and Catalonia”, said Lasota as he coordinated the transfer of the banner and its unfolding in the Camp Nou terraces. Although his is only a young club, it already has 2,000 members and almost 300 of them are Barça members.

Group spirit

The vice president of the Social Area, Jordi Cardoner Casaus, welcomed the members of the  Fan Club Barça Polska and watched as they produced their incredible work: “I think it’s a unique initiative and a way of showing that at Barça ‘it matters not where you come from’” he said, quoting another line from the club anthem. “We are a sentiment and they know that very well in Poland … From Poland they have shown that when 2,000 come together in strength it creates a very special group spirit”.

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Other than the complexity of the project, the artists also had to deal with some difficulties. In late July, just when they were about to put each of the huge sections together, they received the news that the match scheduled for July 20 had been cancelled following the announcement that Tito Vilanova would be unable to continue in charge of the first team. The game was eventually played on July 30, which also marked Neymar’s debut in an FC Barcelona shirt, and it was then that the banner was finally able to make its appearance as the players came onto the pitch.

Five months later, the Fan Club Barça Polska has been able to repeat the gesture at the Camp Nou itself, a place the members describe as their ‘cathedral’. Once they get it safely back to their country, they are going to cut it up into pieces and sell them off for charity.

The family character of FC Barcelona has always been one of its main identifying features.  This December, issue 66 of our members’ magazine ‘Revista Barça’ features the family of Gerard Piqué.  The Piqué’s can boast four generations of Barça members, including grandfather, Amador Bernabeu, who was a Club director for 23 years and now represents FC Barcelona at the UEFA.

Amador Bernabeu shares his passion for FC Barcelona with his wife Montserrat, his daughters Montse and Gemma, his grandchildren Gerard, Aina, Marc and Monat and his great grandson Milan, all of whom were enrolled as Club members from birth.  They reminisce about their greatest Barça memories and Gerard reveals the depth of his love for the Club: “Every night I sing the Barça anthem because it’s the only song I know all the way through”.

The magazine also takes an in-depth look at the current census of Club members, which will remain open until the end of December.  It reveals a fascinating picture of the social base of our Club and brings together some fascinating human stories, such as that of Salvador Escarmís, Barça’s oldest member (he’ll be 100 this year) who is pictured holding the youngest member Ana Cantos, born on 17 October 2014.  There are also stories from overseas members, famous members and one member called ‘Wembley’, born just one month after Barça won the European Cup in the famous London stadium in 1992.

The magazine also explains the new rules relating to the free entry of young children to the Camp Nou, and has a close-up look at basketball star Kostas Papanikolaou.  The women’s football team describe how they have reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League while brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, owners of the recently designated best restaurant in the world, reveal their Barça connections.

Spokesman Toni Freixa announced this Monday that FC Barcelona will play a friendly in Qatar during the first trimester of 2014. The date of the match, which was included in the agreement signed with Qatar Sports Investment in 2010, has yet to be set. Freixa explained that the “date will be announced shortly” and he noted that the contract calls for one match per year: the first was in Paris against PSG, the second was the clinic in Israel and Palestine and the third one will be in Qatar.

Agreement with the Chamber of Commerce

In addition, Freixa explained that the Board has approved the FC Barcelona kits for the 2014/15 season, and he added that “we won’t reveal them” until the appropriate time.

He also announced an agreement with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce to promote “the country on the first team’s travels throughout the world.” He added: “We will use our time to promote business that have commercial interests in the countries Barça travel to.”

Other current events and issues

During the question period, Freixa talked about the various issues that have come up in the press. The first, on the allegations of Leo Messi’s father’s involvement in a money laundering and drugs scheme, he said, “we’re pleased that the Ministry of Interior has immediately denied the information published by a news outlet. The information published by the outlet is untrue.”

He added: “We want to express our concern because lately there’s been an effort to undermine the reputation of our athletes and our institutions. The Board, just as it as done in similar situations, will act strongly. We want to send a message that everything isn’t fair game and that we are aware of what is being produced.”

Freixa also answered questions regarding the contract Neymar Jr signed with FC Barcelona: “The Club has received absolutely nothing, we haven’t been notified of anything. In any event, this is about an operation in which we have been transparent from the very beginning. We said that we didn’t give certain details for reasons of confidentiality, but we are willing to give them if a judicial entity asks us to do so.”

Lastly, the spokesman weighed in on the news that the European Commission is set to investigate FC Barcelona for receiving illegal help: “Honestly, we don’t understand the basis of this investigation. We haven’t received anything and for us this is just news. We’re aware that the LFP has made a statement rejecting the possibility of this happening.”

From 5 euros for members and 9 euros for the general public. That’s all the cheapest tickets will cost for the cup tie between Barça and Getafe in the last sixteen of the Copa del Rey. To be played at the Camp Nou on January 8 or 9, 2014.

Tickets for the match go on sale from Friday December 20 at 10.00 via all the usual channels, namely the club website at www.fcbarcelona.cat, Ticketmaster and the FC Barcelona ticket offices.

Tickets will be available for purchase by Barça members and the general public, and each purchaser may buy up to a maximum of six tickets.

Qatar Airways has released a behind the scenes video of the making of its popular FC Barcelona commercial, The Arrival. Posted on www.qatarairways.com/FCBarcelona, the three-minute video titled The Land of FCB showcases the technology used and the spirit of those involved in the making of the 90-second ad. “As the first commercial partnership in the club’s 114-year history, we knew whatever we did had to be very special,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker. “The Arrival captures the nuances of what it means to be a Barca fan and new details emerge every time you see the ad.”

The creators of the ad were tasked with leveraging the airline’s historic partnership with FC Barcelona in a way that would create a dramatic point of difference with other airline-football sponsorships. The commercial features stunts, stars, animals, children and a host of extras. Qatar Airways also selected five Facebook fans who were flown to Barcelona to appear as extras in the commercial. They are featured in the stadium scene when the commercial’s heroine “Julietta” arrives to take her seat.

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The story line of the commercial centres on Julietta, a Qatar Airways flight attendant touching down in the Land of FC Barcelona. She disembarks a Qatar Airways 777 and takes a journey through the unique Land of FC Barcelona to the famous Camp Nou Stadium. Throughout her adventure Julietta encounters some of the club’s most famous players, past and present, experiences the rich history of FC Barcelona and meets the fans at the heart of the club.

The campaign was shot on location in a number of different countries around the world, including the city of Barcelona, the streets of Doha and inside Qatar’s impressive.

Hamad International Airport, bringing together a mix of high-profile landmarks. In addition, imagined buildings and landscapes were developed using CGI, to create a powerful, artificially-constructed backdrop of the Land of FC Barcelona terminal.

The full range of visual effects techniques were used in over 50 shots, creating more than 20 digital matte paintings by merging cityscapes from around the world. Within the Land of FC Barcelona, artists constructed a huge range of environments, including the airport sequence, much of the architecture and the majority of shots within the city.

The bird’s eye view of the stadium was filmed from a helicopter and a radio controlled camera mounted on an Octocopter (a helicopter with 8 rotors). The environment was then filled with CG buildings, projected matte paintings of roads, moving traffic and detailed lighting effects. The 777 plane was created entirely in CG, using CAD data for an exact aircraft match.

True Barca fans will recognize two unique characters that were added to the story line. Most will notice the giant “Gamper” costume which represents Joan Gamper, (Winterthur, Switzerland, 1877 - Barcelona, 1930) who founded the club in 1899 and was captain of the team. A giant statue of Gamper is featured in the street scene.

FCB icons

FC Barcelona symbol or icon is a person called “l’Avi” which stands for grandfather in Catalan. L’Avi is an old, round-bellied man with a white beard dressed in a Barça T-shirt and shorts. He is the human alter ego of “l’Avi del Barça”, a character created by cartoonist and writer Valentí Castanys on October 29, 1924 for the sports magazine Xut. L’Avi was asked if he would make a cameo appearance in the ad. He was glad to accept and now appears in the festive street scene as the commercial’s heroine, Julietta, walks towards the stadium.

It’s little touches like this in The Arrival that let fans know that much thought has been put into the commercial. That is what The Land of FCB shows viewers.

"The assignment was a very tough one: to create something unique that captures the essence of our relationship with FC Barcelona without being your run-of-the-mill 'sports sponsor' campaign," continued Al Baker. “The Arrival does just that and more. It gives life and personality to the partnership and defines our flight path going forward for the next three years."

The 90-second commercial was launched globally over the internet and on television stations within days of the partnership launch between FC Barcelona and Qatar Airways in Spain on 27 August. To date it has had over 7 million views between both entities’ websites.

The new FCBotiga Megastore creates a unique consumer experience both in terms of innovation and technology. Located on the Camp Nou premises, it has been remodelled and expanded in keeping with new times and technologies to offer a unique opportunity for football fans.

The FC Barcelona Megastore offers a new and more technological, digital and also personal perspective, with personalised services that have turned it into the best FC Barcelona store in the world. The new facility is divided into three floors, offering the finest collection of official FC Barcelona and Nike Football products, including clothing, footwear and accessories, meaning that although it specialises in FCB products, it is also a wonderful football shop in general.

More space and more services 

The new FCBotiga space has gained an additional 500 m² from the old Sala París and now has a total of 2,100 m² on three floors.

The most remarkable new features include the 16 metre LED screen and the striking Chandelier, an innovative new way of projecting images overlooking the traditional stadium-like steps.

Another innovation are the Digital Lockers. These are digital touch-screens situated on each floor, where clients can personalise their Barça shirts with any name and number. The shirt is directly sent to floor -1, where it can be collected quickly and without queues in the Print Lab. The service makes the buying experience much faster and more comfortable for users.

Make It Barça

The top floor also presents an exciting new feature, a service called Make it Barça, exclusive to the FCBotiga Megastore, where customers can choose their favourite item from the Nike and personalise it in a Barça way, by adding different Barça crests, buttons or laces to make sportswear more FCB themed. On the same floor, once the design is completed, photographs can be shared on social networks or published on the Social Wall.

The connection between the FCBotiga Megastore and the Museum is through a tunnel that provides a unique Barça experience.

The new FCBotiga Megastore has included all these new features without forgetting the personalisation services it already offers, such as the printing of names and numbers on football boots, in imitation of the FCB players, or the special section dedicated to the club’s other sports teams, offering basketball, handball, futsal and roller hockey products.

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Line:

Chatting with your friends has never been such fun! Use the official FC Barcelona stickers to express your joy or sadness, declare your love for someone, say hi to your buddies and, most importantly, show the world just what a huge fan of Barça you are!!

FCB Line

Fantasy Manager:

Manage FC Barcelona to glory with FCB Fantasy Manager. Sign and train the best players, face thousands of opponents in a thrilling league and govern the club finances. This is your chance to control the Barça stars!

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FCB TimeRush:

FC Barcelona’s trophies have gone missing and only you can get them back with FCB TimeRush! In this fantastic level-based game you get to revisit the club’s whole history since its foundation. You’ll meet legendary players and get to know the city of Barcelona as you go in search of the lost trophies.

FCB Timerush

FCB World:

Connect to FCB World and get all the latest news about FC Barcelona! News, photos, videos, live match commentaries, fixtures and tables for all competitions, tweets, interactive games and so much more in the palm of your hand!

FCB World

FCB Albums:

Want to create your own album featuring some of your favourite FC Barcelona stars? Well that’s just what you can do here, and using your own designs! Visit the FCB Albums website and personalise your album, mixing your own pictures with those of the players. You’ll be the envy of all your friends!

FCB ALBUMS

1. “We are very happy to have hung onto our lead. Staying top of the league is even harder than getting there”
2. “The Ministry of the Interior and the Guardia Civil have explicitly disassociated Leo Messi and his family from any legal enquiries. However, the attack on the player and his family has not stopped”
3. “The National Court has asked us for information about the transfer of Neymar. We are delighted to be able to provide them with all the documents they need”
4. “As for the information coming from the European Commission, I have to say that Barça complies with Spanish law, which states that a club does not have to become a public limited sports company if it is solvent. FC Barcelona has not received funds of any type from any official bodies”
5. “Those are the facts. All of this has happened after FC Barcelona have led the way for the last few years. Such caustics clearly make people think and I like to believe that the sum of these events is coincidental and that there is no organised persecution of any kind”
6. “Our aims are to continue being as transparent as ever, to keep growing and stay top”
7. “On January 20, at an Extraordinary Board Meeting, we will be making the most important decision at the club for fifty years. The Board has to decide on the future of the stadium and we’ll be making the most sensible and sustainable decision. Then the members will be able to voice their opinion, which is what will count. We said we would tackle this decisive issue, and we are indeed doing so”
8. “I think we’ll have to build a new stadium, either here, using the current structure, or in the Diagonal. We have to compete with the other great clubs around the world over the next 30 years and we need a stadium that can generate more income. There are many stadiums that are more internationally renowned than our own. We have to invest in order to grow and not get left behind. A bit of wood and paint is not enough”
9. “I can confirm the renewal of Andrés Iniesta’s contract. This is part of our plan to strengthen the first team and be able to maintain the leadership that Barça started with Guardiola, continued with Tito Vilanova and is now consolidating with Tata Martino”
10. “Martino has already denied that he wants to leave in 2014. It seems we always have to declare our innocence and deny these stories that appear in the media, in this case in Argentina”
11. “I’d be worried if it was true but I haven’t heard him say such a thing. Puyol is one of the best captains ever, at least in my generation, and I’d be worried if he ever said he wanted to leave. He is a leader and does a lot for the team whether he plays or not”
12. “We haven’t spoken to Messi but the door to our office is always wide open. I have no doubt that Messi should be the best paid player in the word because he’s the best player on the planet”
13. (On the referendum on Catalan independence of November 9, 2014) “I know what I’ll be voting for, but Barça will not vote because it is not a person. It is formed by a set of people with different opinions”
14. “My wish for 2014 is for everyone at Barça to put the club’s interests before personal interests. We have a lot to play for.”

Neymar’s signing and presentation, the Clásico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, and the comeback against Milan in the Champions League head up the most popular tweets of 2013 in the @fcbarcelona account

Barça, on track for 11 million followers on the main official Twitter account, has gained over 3 million new followers this year alone