The Board of Directors have approved a restructuring of the Board that gives certain directors new responsibilities. President Josep Maria Bartomeu revealed the changes during a press conference held this Monday afternoon: “These changes are borne our of necessity to renew our energy and to increase the services that the directors employ for the Club.”

One of the biggest changes is the creation of the fifth vice-president position, which will be held by Manel Arroyo. The new vice-president will be responsible for the Club’s Media and Communications. The creation of the post “is a commitment to communication, which is fundamental to us,” said Bartomeu. The president also announced that the position of spokesperson, which up until now was held by Toni Freixa, will no longer figure on the Board. From now on, Manel Arroyo will decide who will speak to the press after every Board meeting.

Additional changes

The naming of Jordi Mestre to the position of vice-president means that two directors will now have responsibilities tied to the Club’s youth academy. Silvio Elías will now oversee Barça B and Juvenil A, while Ramon Cierco – who up until now was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the roller hockey team – will be the new director of youth football.

Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca will continue to be the Security Director, in addition to overseeing the roller hockey team. While Pilar Guinovart, director of the Social Area, will be responsible for the OAE, trips and amateur sports.

Toni Freixa will continue being the Board’s secretary in addition to presiding over the Discipline Committee. Javier Bordas, in addition to being the director of futsal and FC Barcelona’s representative to the RFEF, becomes responsible for relationships with national football federations that professionals belong to at the Club. Finally Eduard Coll becomes the vice-president and secretary of the FC Barcelona Foundation in addition to being the director of the handball team.

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FC Barcelona’s official Facebook has 5 million fans in Indonesia, making the country the largest in terms of the Club’s 54.1 million global, representing 10% of the Club’s fans on the world’s largest social network where Barça are the biggest sporting entity.

FC Barcelona have focussed their efforts in Indonesia on Indosat, one of the most important telecommunications companies and the Club’s regional sponsor. The Club also reached a deal a year ago with Head & Shoulders (H&S) to become the Barça’s official shampoo in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as regional sponsor in the area. Club Director General, Antoni Rossich, personally signed the two year deal in Jakarta last April.

Barça, a phenomena in Indonesia

The Indonesian Bahasa language is the third language on Barça’s Facebook pages, with more than 4.9 followers, behind Spanish and English, whilst Jakarta only trails Mexico City and Cairo as the largest city represented on the Facebook page. In all there are six Indonesian cities in the top 45 cities represented on the Club Facebook pages - Bandung (14), Medan (20), Subaraya (37), Tangerang (39) and Bekasi (45).

The Club lso has a spectacular following in other Social Media, with more than 100, 000 followers on its official Twitter account (@fcbarcelona_id) – the page which has grown most quickly in recent months.

Official Web

The Club contents in Bahasa are centered on the Indonesian version of the Club webpage (www.fcbarcelona.co.id) which was launched in 2013, when Gerard Piqué, Cesc Fàbregas and Andrés Iniesta presented the new page by speaking in Bahasa. The Club’s director in charge of new technology, Dídac Lee said then that , “Barça consider it fundamental that we reach our fans in Indonesia in their own language”.

This is one of the principal characteristics of the Indonesian web - www.fcbarcelona.co.id – which like the other sites the Club produces in other languages attempts to adapt content for the target audience, rather than simply translate it and create unique content for the millions of Barça fans around the world.

Darius, Fan d’Honor

Barça’s presence in Indonesia is also strengthened by the actor and presenter Darius Sinathrya, who is an honour fan and official Club ambassador in the country. Married to the actress Donna Agnesia, his two children are called Lionel and Diego Andrés, in honour of Messi and Iniesta.

Mingma Sherpa, the first sherpa to climb the 14 8-thousand plus mountains of the world, visited the FC Barcelona Museum and went on the Tour Experience, where he got the chance to revisit the biggest moments in FC Barcelona history and see the Camp Nou. Mingma Sherpa is a known Barça fan and he’s a big admirer of Leo Messi, so he made sure to stop by the Argentinian's four Ballons d’Or and the three Golden Boots in the FC Barcelona Museum.

“Messi is a fantastic player and he’s very well known throughout the world. He’s very lucky to play for Barça and Barça are very lucky to have him,” explained Mingma Sherpa, who was very pleased with his Museum experience: “I never could have imagined a museum like this one, not even in my dreams. Barça are a very big Club. Coming here and seeing this museum is very surprising for someone like me.”

The 14 peaks above 8,000 meters

In May 2011, Mingma Sherpa became the first sherpa to scale the 14 mountains that climb above 8,000 meters when he summited the Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), the third highest mountain in the world. On that occasion he was accompanied by the Catalan alpinist Óscar Cadiach, who was unable to complete his journey due to technical difficulties (he did summit in 2013). During the first attempt to summit Kangchenjunga, Cadiach filmed the ‘Beyond the Kumbhakarna’ documentary, a tribute to the sherpa village and the trajectory of the first Nepali to climb the 14 8-thousand meter mountains.

Cadiach defines Mingma Sherpa as a “respected man in his village. They support him and they praise him for being their hero. He’s a different kind of sherpa, intelligent ... at the age of 12, he lost his father and he started working by carrying 25 kilo packs up mountains. After that he got involved in expeditions, later he became a guide and finally he became a sherpa. His charisma is unique. I admire his simplicity and humility.”

In an interview with Sky Sports, President Josep Maria Bartomeu talked about the challenges Barça face both institutionally and athletically, and he recounted his youth as an FC Barcelona fan.

In his first interview with the British network as Barça’s president, Batromeu talked about his first visit to the Camp Nou as a child, in the 1972/73 season. It was during the era when “Carles Rexach was our greatest star.” Bartomeu revealed that he he knew that one day he would actively help the Club. That realisation came when he watched Barça lose the 1994 Athens final from the stands, along with Sandro Rosell and other members of the current Board. “We decided that we had to help, even though we were young, we had to do something for the Club and for our city, and that’s what we did.”

Bartomeu went on to say that modernising the Club and the Club’s installations is one of his highest priorities, and that these goals will be met through the Espai Barça proposal which will be submitted to a vote by Club members later this year. Bartomeu insisted that Barça must take advantage of its privileged location, given that the Club has more than 20 hectares in the center of the city. “This is something that no other club in the world has,” he said. The president added that the project will benefit the Club in part because of the “millions of tourists that visit the city each year will want to visit and enjoy the Club.”

When questioned about Neymar, the president said that the player hasn’t been affected by the ongoing discussions about his contract. “He’s doing well and he’s eager to play,” he said. On Messi’s contract renewal, Bartomeu insisted that “he’s the best and he should be compensated as such,” without divulging when the negotiations will begin.

He then went on to discuss the upcoming Champions League tie with Manchester City. “It will be a very tough match against a very competitive rival. The two teams compete to the maximum of ‘fair play,’” he concluded.

FC Barcelona will be taking advantage of the Champions League match with Manchester City next February 18 to promote Catalan culture and Catalonia as a tourist destination at two events in the English city being organised by the Club in collaboration with the Ramon Llull Institute and the Catalan Tourist Board, respectively. 

On Monday February 17, Catalonia will be presented as a tourist destination at an event being organised by FC Barcelona in association with the Catalan Tourist Board and including a lecture by the director of the FCB Economic Department, Jordi Moix. The day after, there will be a celebration of Barça and Catalan culture, the main event being a lecture by the vice-president of the FCB Institutional and International Department, Carles Vilarrubí.

Promotion of Catalan culture

Vilarrubí’s speech is titled “Barça, Sport, Culture and Education” and will be on Tuesday February 18 at 10.15 at the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at Manchester University. The FC Barcelona vice-president will be welcomed by the director of the Ramon Llull Institute, Àlex Susanna, and Professor Keith Brown, vice-president and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. The aim of “Barça, Sport, Culture and Education” will be to explain how Barça has been an instrument for recovering the Catalan identity and integrating newcomers. It will also be looking in detail at the way young people are trained and educated at La Masia not just as athletes, but also to learn to observe the social values that the Club is so famous for upholding, which include teamwork, effort, respect, humility and tolerance, and to show how Barça has been so closely associated with Catalan culture throughout its history.

This conference is yet another initiative forming part of the agreement signed by the Club and the Ramon Llull Institute in September 2012 to promote Catalan culture around the world. Previous events have been held in Amsterdam this season, and Glasgow and Paris in last season’s edition of the Champions League. There are two main purposes for doing this. First, to coordinate the respective potentialities of the two institutions as ambassadors for Catalan language and culture and the values associated with sport and the Catalan identity, and secondly, to create new bonds between the network of universities offering Catalan Studies abroad and the network of FCB supporters clubs, in order to encourage them to embark on joint initiatives.

Once the lecture is over, the same venue will be used for a series of other activities related with Catalan culture. The programme of events is as follows:

11.15. Tasting of Catalan products organised by the Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona.

12.00. Lecture on “Sporting Culture and National Consciousness through Football and the Olympic Games” by Dr Louise Johnson of the University of Sheffield.

13.00. Clara Sanabras in concert, with Harvey Brough and Antonio Romero.

14.00. Catalan Language Class by Àlex Castells, teacher of Catalan language and culture at the University of Manchester.

Tourist destination

The day before, on Monday 17 from 17.30, the 1894 Club Suite at the Etihad Stadium will be the venue for a presentation of Catalonia as a tourist destination and which is being organised by FC Barcelona in association with the Catalan Tourist Board. The first lecture will be given by Vicenç Capdevila, the director of the Catalan Tourist Board in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The presentation will also involve an institutional speech by FC Barcelona board member Jordi Moix who will be speaking to representatives of travel agents and the travel sector about the attractions of Catalonia as a tourist destination and how the international projection of FC Barcelona has helped to support this.

The FCB director of operations, Emili Sabadell, will also be presenting to agents and tour operators the different options available on the club’s own facilities.

FC Barcelona is the first sports club anywhere in the world to be able to boast more than 100 million followers on its social networks, thus consolidating its position as a global phenomenon in the digital world. Sporting and social excellence has led to leadership in the 2.0 market, where FCB is the top club on all the world’s major networks. In fact, the club is gaining about 100,000 new followers a day on its different social networks, and is the number one sports club on each of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Tencent Weibo and YouTube, the biggest platforms in the world.

On Facebook, for example, FC Barcelona’s page is one of the 25 most popular in the world. Just a few weeks ago, FCB passed the 50 million mark and is considerably ahead of the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea. On Facebook, Barça has more followers than any club in the top North American leagues, including the NBA, MLB and NFL, and more than any club in Europe’s top soccer leagues, including the FA Premiership.

New follower every second

Dídac Lee, the director of the Media and Communications Department and head of New Technologies, has said that 100 million followers “is a spectacular figure that shows how much people love our Club … Barça is a global phenomenon, we welcome a new follower to our social networks every second … FC Barcelona has more followers on social networks than there are people in the twelfth most populated country in the world (the Philippines with 87 million)”.

And it’s not only about quantity. It’s quality too. The club has been internationally recognised with the Social Star Awards that honour the most influential institutions and personalities in each sector of the global market.

Distribution of the 100 million

An analysis of the distribution of these 100 million followers clearly reflects the dominant role of Facebook, which has 64.2% of the total, almost three times more than Twitter (22.3%). But Barça is not only present on Facebook and Twitter. The club also has enormously popular accounts on Google+ (7.7%), Tencent Weibo (3.2%), Instagram (1.5%) and YouTube (1.2%).

Expanding sports and languages

Barça’s famous status as ‘more than a club’ is perfectly reflected by its 2.0 presence, where it has more than 30 official channels on the main social networks. Not only are there accounts where fans can follow the fortunes of the football team, but on Facebook and Twitter there are also generic accounts for the four other professional sports (basketball, handball, futsal and roller hockey).

Social networks are an excellent tool for interacting with fans and serving members around the world, for which reason the club also has accounts targeted at more specific markets. The club website is available in no fewer than nine different languages: Catalan, Spanish, English, Chinese, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese and Portuguese.

Be a fan! FCB Social

FC Barcelona publishes content in these languages every day and it is also distributed via its social networks, where it is frequently geolocalised for specific countries. It not just a matter of translating content, but also adapting it to different types of needs, as well as producing specific content for the different language groups that make up FC Barcelona’s worldwide community.

In 2013, there was an increase of 32 million followers on all of the club’s social networks. But more than just setting records in terms of numbers, FC Barcelona is also working hard to ensure that its supporters make the most of these platforms by receiving all the very latest news and information.

FC Barcelona is the first ever sports club to be able to boast 100 million followers on social networks and the club is organising a series of special events to celebrate the achievement. There will be some special events associated with the Barça v Rayo game, and also globally on the different social networks.

The Club has created the hashtag #FCB100M for fans to share their Barça feelings by tagging their photos on social networks. The best pictures will be used on a special website that Barça has prepared.

The players from the football and other sports teams have been photographed with the image being used to identify the campaign (#FCB100M), and have used this historic moment to send congratulatory messages on their own social networks and thus share their feelings with the fans. This record has been made possible thanks to the millions of Barça fans that have expanded support for their favourite team by means of more than 30 official FCB accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Tencent Weibo and YouTube.

The players have also appeared in a video that FC Barcelona has recorded to commemorate the achievement. It has already been published on YouTube and reflects the international and global image that is increasingly associated to Barça.

WE ARE #FCB100M

Celebrations at the Camp Nou

On Saturday at the Camp Nou there will be a host of activities aimed at all age groups. A special wall is being positioned on the stadium forecourt showing the slogan ‘We are #FCB100M’, where fans will be able to take photos and share them on the different networks using the hashtag #FCB100M. There will be a similar wall in the FCBotiga Megastore.

Before the game with Rayo, the video scoreboards will be showing the video associated with the campaign. The slogan will also be featuring in a number of advertising elements and in the traditional team picture with young supporters moments before kick-off.

100 million followers on social networks is a milestone that should be celebrated, and today the fans who came to the Camp for the Barça-Rayo game did just that. Outside the stadium two spaces were set up where members and fans could be photographed in front of a mural that read 'We are # FCB100M' with the logos of all the social networks where FC Barcelona is represented. At both the grandstand forecourt and FCBotiga lots of people took part in the celebration and published the photos on their personal profiles on social networking sites.

Inside the stadium, more than 74,000 spectators watched, on the main scoreboards, the video prepared by the Club to show it’s gratitude to the fans all over the world, who can continue to participate in the celebrations by publishing their Barça photos with the hashtag # FCB100M.

FC Barcelona surpassed the 100-million fan mark on social media last week, and on Saturday night the Club celebrated with its members and fans to commemorate the historic feat. FC Barcelona are without a doubt the leading sports club online. In addition to the 100 million fans, the following ten stats are worth keeping in mind:

1. In 2013 more than 32 million people started following FC Barcelona on social media platforms.
2. The most shared FC Barcelona related story on Facebook in 2013 was the comeback against AC Milan and the victory over Real Madrid.
3. The most popular tweet on the @fcbarcelona_es account was the announcement of the Neymar deal. It was retweeted 12,000 times. 
4. @fcbarcelona_cat is the most followed Catalan-language account in the world, with more than 4.15 million followers. It ranks as the 36th most followed sports account in the world. 
5. FC Barcelona were pioneers when they hosted the first digital hangout in Catalan, with Gerard Piqué. The Google+ hangout with Piqué is the most-watched hangout in the footballing world. 
6. FC Barcelona’s YouTube videos are watched 52 million times each month.
7. FC Barcelona's YouTube channel is the most followed out of all the teams in the Champions League.
8. Leo Messi is the FC Barcelona player with the most followers on Facebook, with 53.7 million fans. His numbers put him ahead of David Beckham and Michael Jordan. The second is Neymar Jr, with almost 18 million, third is Gerard Piqué with more than 10 million. 
9. On Twitter, Neymar Jr (9.7 million), Iniesta (7.9) and Piqué (7.8) are the most followed players on the team. Fàbregas and Puyol have more than 6 million followers apiece. 
10. FC Barcelona’s Facebook page has over 55.1 million fans and it’s in the top 25 most followed Facebook page in the world.

Taking advantage of this evening’s match between Manchester City and FC Barcelona, the Club promoted Catalan culture and Catalonia as a tourist destination during various events around the British city. The main event took place this morning at the School of Arts, Languages and Culture in Manchester; the keynote speaker was Vice-President Carles Vilarrubí.

The event, which was held at the Samuel Alexander Theatre at the University of Manchester, was introduced by director Ramon Llull, Àlex Susanna and professor Keith Brown, vice-president and deacon of the Faculty of Humanities. The event, which was titled ‘Barça, Sport, Culture and Education’, concluded with a speech from Villarrubí that detailed how Barça has been instrumental in recovering and integrating the Catalan identity . “We take advantage of FC Barcelona’s platform when the team travels in the Champions League to explain the Club, Barcelona and Catalonia to the world. What Barcelonismo means in Catalonia’s recent history from the perspective of integration.” Villarrubí also talked about the education model employed at La Masia and the values that define the Club, like teamwork, respect, humility and tolerance.

Directors Jordi Moix, Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca and Ramon Pont attended the event, as did the delegate of the Generalitat de Catalunya to the United Kingdom, Josep Suárez.

On Monday, the director responsible for the Club’s Economic Area, Jordi Moix, participated in an event organised by FC Barcelona, the Catalan Tourism Agency and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. The event was designed to present Catalonia as a tourist destination.

Head & Shoulders and FC Barcelona are teaming up to raise the spirit of local and regional Indonesian football. Head & Shoulder is a regional partner in Indonesia, and they collaborate with FC Barcelona in a program called Yakin Indonesia No.1 #FansBersatu! This program is designed to encourage Indonesian support for local and regional clubs through social media. A total of 22 clubs have been selected to participate in the program, which encourages fans to cast their vote for their favourite club on Facebook.

The club that garners the most votes will receive training from FC Barcelona coaches for three days. FC Barcelona’s aim is to empower local coaches and players through its coaching methodology and footballing philosophy. "Through this program #FansBersatu, FC Barcelona share their experience and hope to inspire coaches, clubs and players. FC Barcelona are experienced in developing, promoting and creating the world´s top players, such as Lionel Messi,” said Carles Martin, Technical Director of FC Barcelona Escola Singapore, during the launch ceremony of Yakin Indonesia No. 1 #FansBersatu! last night in Jakarta – as quoted Antara.com. The election period of supporting clubs by Facebook kicked off on 18 February and it will run through 24 April. The winner will be announced on 1 May, 2014.

Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona are taking their partnership to the skies as the airline introduces FC Barcelona’s livery for the first time on a Boeing 777. The aircraft, which features the distinctive Barça scarlet and blue, or ‘Blaugrana’ as it is known in Catalan, arrived at Doha International Airport from Bangkok this week.

Building on the concept of ‘a team that unites the world’, which was first introduced in the popular TV spot created to support the partnership, the design incorporates the colourful Barça flag draped across the fuselage of a Boeing 777.

The aircraft was sent to Dublin, Ireland, where it took a team one week to hand paint the custom-made design onto the aircraft. Using an airbrush the team produced a shading effect to help create the illusion of the Barça flag moving as the aircraft takes to the skies. Additional stenciling was used for the text as well as the football club’s crest which sits on the fuselage of the aircraft.

Qatar Airways first revealed renderings of this aircraft’s tailor-made design at a press conference in Barcelona last March.

Commitment goes beyond shirt sponsorship

The introduction of the FC Barcelona livery, alongside the Qatar Airways Oryx logo, further cements the airline’s commitment to the partnership, as well as their loyalty as Barça fans. Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona have been fostering a successful partnership since it officially commenced in July 2013.

“Our commitment to Barca goes beyond having our name on the team jerseys. We are truly fans of the team and genuinely believe that together we are ‘a team that unites the world’,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker. “We are very proud to showcase the FCB livery alongside the Qatar Airways Oryx on our aircraft. It is just one more way that we are able to demonstrate the strong partnership between our two organisations.”

In the nearly eight months since the partnership has been in effect, the airline has launched a hugely successful partnership campaign including the Land of FCB TV commercial that has garnered more than eight million views from fans all over the world; officially sponsored the FC Barcelona Asia Tour, and introduced unique tour and match packages for fans looking to visit Barcelona through Qatar Airways Holidays division.

The Boeing 777 featuring the livery will be flown to a number of destinations throughout the airline’s global network, including Bangkok, Singapore and Mumbai.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation and currently has orders worth over US $50 billion for more than 280 aircraft. The airline flies a modern fleet of 129 aircraft to 134 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

As part of its aggressive expansion programme, Qatar Airways will launch routes to eight new destinations during 2014: Sharjah (UAE) from March 1; Dubai World Central (UAE) from March 1; Philadelphia (USA) from April 2; Larnaca (Cyprus) from April 29; Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Turkey) from May 22; Edinburgh (Scotland) from May 28; Miami (USA) from June 10 and Dallas/Fort Worth (USA) from July 1.

FC Barcelona has launched the first packet of stamps (pictures to decorate) through LINE Camera for all its members and fans. LINE Camera is an application available for smart phones with Android and iOS operating systems, which allows users to touch up photos and add fun and various stamps to create unique, customized photographs. Additionally, the application allows you to share photos directly through personal contacts through social networks.

With this new initiative, the Club is offering its members and more than 100 million fans around the world the chance to share their support for Barça with all friends through social networks, decorating the best moments with funny, original and creative possibilities offered by the first set of FCB stamps on the Line Camera.

Pioneering Club

FC Barcelona, leader on Line, with over 17 million followers in the different Catalan, Spanish, English, Japanese and Portuguese accounts, is the first club to offer this personalised, entertaining experience through LINE Camera. The package of stamps, available for 150 'coins' in Android or 2.69 Euros in the App Store, allows users to make their own original, unique and fun creations.

LINE CAMERA

Following the opening of legal proceedings for alleged tax irregularities relating to the different payments made during the signing of the player Neymar da Silva Santos Jr, the Futbol Club Barcelona Board of Directors has met at the Club offices and unanimously reached the following agreements:

 1.- The Board denies the existence of any tax related crime in relation to the fiscal obligations arising from the signing of the player. Throughout the process, the Club was receiving expert advice and at every moment the Club’s auditor was informed and had access to all the documentation concerning the negotiations.

 2.- As we have done so far, the Club will continue to give maximum collaboration to the Law Courts in order to clarify the facts of the case.

 3.- The Club will present a legal defence in the case opened against it and members can be assured that the Club has always acted within the law and that the Board will defend the Club’s reputation – one of the most emblematic in our country – until the final consequences and in whatever legal context required.

 4.- We wish to make clear that FC Barcelona has always fulfilled its tax obligations, both in terms of time and method, and has enjoyed close collaboration with the Spanish Tax Authorities. FC Barcelona has no tax debts.

 5.- The Board again insists that in relation to this signing, the Club has scrupulously fulfilled its fiscal obligations in line with its awareness at the time of the contracts and agreements signed in good faith.

 6.- Given the existence of a possible divergent interpretation of the exact amount of tax responsibility arising from the signing and to defend the Club’s reputation and good name, FC Barcelona has this morning made a complementary tax declaration of a total of  13,550,830,56 Euros (thirteen million, five hundred and fifty thousand, eight hundred and thirty Euros and fifty-six cents) to cover any potential interpretation made concerning the contracts signed in the transfer process for Neymar, although we remain convinced that the original tax payment was in line with our fiscal obligations.

 7.- This voluntary contribution should not be understood as in any way affecting the Club’s right to have its tax obligations in this matter determined by the competent authorities, concerning which the Club reserves the right to further action.

The Board of Directors will meet this evening as scheduled in an ordinary session and will deal with issues arising from this question, as well as others included in its agenda.

FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu held a press conference this Monday along with Vice-Presidents Javier Faus, Manel Arroyo, and Jori Calsamiglia, coordinator of the Club’s legal team, to address the questions around Neymar’s signing and the 13.5 million euros paid to government tax authorities this morning to “cover the possible interpretations that can be given in all contracts signed” during Neymar’s signing process. Bartomeu and Faus clarified that they were advised by the Club’s legal counsel and external lawyers. “It’s an action of prudence recommended by our advisors,” said economic Vice-President Faus. “FC Barcelona worked legally in the signing of Neymar. We’ve always been advised by the best lawyers. We have always complied with our fiscal commitments and our debt is zero. We don’t owe taxes,” said President Bartomeu.

He added that he expects to recover the 13.5 million euros at the conclusion of the legal proceedings: “We are in the right. We are convinced that the money we paid to the Tax Agency, in order to avoid complicating the issue further, will be returned to the Club.”

“The fiscal operation is legitimate”

Faus went on to explain that the two firms hired by the Club – Cristóbal Martell and Cuatrecasas – concur in that “there is no criminal risk in the misappropriation” suit. “The fiscal operation is also legitimate. There is no business simulation. But our advisors noted that the Tax Agency is very aggressive when it comes to business simulation,” said Faus. The economic vice-president added: “We have been informed that the contract signed with N&N could be considered salary, and we were advised, given this possible interpretation, to make an additional statement.” Faus also noted his surprise that that “National Court accepted the complaint against Barça for tax fraud without first consulting with the Tax Agency.”

Faus confirmed that the Club “has paid 13.5 million euros in order to avoid risks. The tax is only on the 40 million euros, but we have also included the scouting and marketing contracts.” He reiterated that the 40 million sum paid to N&N “is a legal and transparent payment. We find ourselves with the paradox of having to pay taxes twice.” The vice-president then explained that the operation has been taxed twice, seeing that N&N paid its taxes in Brazil and FC Barcelona paid its taxes in Spain. “We, in defence of the Club, have had to take this route. We will have to wait for the two agencies to talk to each other and come to an agreement.”

Finally, President Bartomeu said that “if Club member Jordi Cases hadn’t brought the suit against Barça, this would not have happened.”

The new entrance to the FC Barcelona  installations, at Access gate 14, which was announced on Monday by Board Member Jordi Moix, will open the stadium up to the surrounding neighbourhood, create new public spces, ease access to the main stand and separate pedestrian and traffic access to increase safety.

The new Access 14 also allows for easier access to the social area, the Tour Experience and the FCB Botiga Megastore, with more green spaces and trees planned to link the two interior spaces.

Next to the new access  new 1,500m²  square has been created, which includes a replica of the Font de Canaletes.

The new entrance is connected to the main Boulevard by a foot bridge, ramps, stairs and lifts. The entrance has also been adapted for people with reduced mobility, or visual or hearing impediments

New ticket sales points

The Club has also increased the number of ticket sales points by six to 16, including one for people with reduced mobility. Various improvements to the ticket offices to help minimise problems for supporters have also been introduced.

The total cost of the changes, which have taken six months, is 1.5 million Euros.

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The Board approved the applications of fifteen new penyes this Monday: seven Catalan, five from the rest of the Spanish State and three international clubs – from Kenya, Australia and Indonesia.

Here is the list of new clubs:

Penya Barcelonista Indobarça Jakarta (Indonesia)

Peña Barcelonista El Triplete de Lobón (Badajoz)

Penya Barcelona Municipi de Palol (Girona)

Penya Blaugrana de Peramola i Comarca (Lleida)

Barça Supporters Clubs Melbourne (Australia)

Penya Barcelonista Montseny (Barcelona)

Penya Blaugrana Sant Salvador de Guardiola i Salelles (Barcelona)

Penya Barcelonista Mashariki (Kenya)

Peña Barcelona Perla de Arousa (Pontevedra)

Penya Barcelonista de Pasaia La Bahia (Guipuzkoa)

Penya Blaugrana Almogàvers Empordà (Girona)

Penya Barcelonista Colivenca (Alicante)

Penya Blaugrana Santa Maria de Montbui (Barcelona)

Peña Barcelonista Bronchales (Teruel)

Penya Diplomàcia Blaugrana (Madrid)

SUPPORTERS CLUB

The ‘Action Barcelona’ competition organised by Catalonia Tourism, Tencent Sport, Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona has successfully completed the first two phases of selection and 50 Chinese Barça fans have been chosen from the more than 10,000 initial participants who sent in their photos and videos and took part in a quiz to test their knowledge of Barça and Catalonia.

The finalists in the next phase will now have to make a video explaining Barça’s history, with the prize for the four winners a trip to the Camp Nou on March 26th for the game against Celta.

This is the third year running that the competition has run and since its launch this year, the ‘Action Barcelona’ website has registered 1.5 million visitors.

Special Content

A total of 10,000 Chinese fans have taken part in this year’s competition via the publication of a post on Tencent Weibo (the Chinese social network site where the Club has 3.1 million followers), with the hashtag #我 爱巴萨# (I Love Barça). Amongst the most interesting posts are one from a fan who shows he’s been a supporter since he was a child more than 20 years ago a Chinese poem titled Barça, my final Guevara  and a video in which a fan shows his own footballing skills.

20 questions about the Club

The 50 finalists were selected after the 10,000 participants had to answer 20 questions about the Club and the 3 other organisers, such as “Which team did Kubala score seven goals against in a league game to set a record for the competition?”, ¨Which players starred in the video to celebrate the Chinese New Year in 2014?” or ¨Which players starred in the Qatar Airways ad ?¨

The 20 fans chosen for the final phase will be announced this week and they will have to make a video about the history of the Club. The top three – plus a guest to travel with the winner – will win a week’s trip to Catalonia, where they will have the chance to visit some of the country’s top tourist attractions and also the league game against Celta Vigo at the Camp Nou and a complementary “Camp Nou Experience”.

Josep Maria Bartomeu stopped by the Intel stand at the Mobile World Congress this Wednesday. The FC Barcelona president said that it’s “an honour for Barça to have this agreement with Intel” and that the deal “is satisfactory for both parties.”

Bartomeu added: “We are worldwide leaders in followers on social networks, we are one of the best teams in the world and now, with this alliance with Intel, we’ll be the best Club in terms of technology. This deal is beneficial for our members and our fans.”

Intel equips La Masía

Regarding the introduction of technology into La Masía, Bartomeu said, “we’ve provided La Masía, where many of our young players live, with the best technology. This technology will help in their development in becoming adults.”

He concluded: “Barça, our fans, have welcomed this agreement with Intel. I’m sure it will be satisfactory and that, from December 2013 to 2018, it will be good for everyone.”

By virtue of the stipulations of article 13 of the Club Statutes, the Board of Directors, at its session of February 24, 2014, decided to call upon the members for a referendum on the Proposed New Espai Barça, to be held on April 5, 2014.

This referendum will be governed by the following regulations:

1.- The conditions to exercise a vote are:

a) To be an adult and legally incapacitated.

b) To have been a member for at least one year.

c) Not to have had membership status suspended.

d) To be included in the current electoral roll in accordance with article 47 of the Statutes.

These requirements must be complied with on the day of the vote.

2.- To guarantee the monitoring, control and transparency of the process, a Referendum Board will be constituted, which shall comprise five members included in the census and that shall be designated by a draw to be held on the Club premises on Friday 28 February at 10.00 am. The draw shall be held by means of the computerised procedure regulated by article 26.5 of the Statutes, and must select five delegates and twenty-five substitutes. The roles of each member of the Referendum Board are obligatory, honorary and unpaid.

3.- On Sunday 2 March at 19.00 the Referendum Board shall be constituted.

4.- The Referendum Board must meet as many times as necessary in order to carry out its duties. The chairperson of the Referendum Board will be the longest-serving member and the secretary, who shall have the right to speak but not to vote, shall be the secretary of the Club’s Board of Directors, who must take minutes of all meetings, which should reflect all of the agreements reached. The minutes must be signed by the secretary, with the approval of the chairperson. Meetings of the Referendum Board must be called by the secretary.

Meetings of the Referendum Board shall be considered validly constituted when attended by at least three of its members. Agreements must be adopted by simple majority from among those present, and in the case of a tie, the chairperson shall have the casting vote. The members’ ombudsman must assist the Referendum Board in the exercise of its functions and has the right to attend its meetings, with the right to speak but not to vote.

5.-  Functions of the Referendum Board

a) To learn of and resolve any claims presented by members with respect to the census.

b) To interpret these regulations and applicable standards.

c) To learn of and resolve any incidents or claims presented by the members.

d) To designate interveners on the day of the vote.

e) To oversee and control the voting procedure in order to facilitate the casting of votes and ensure the transparency of said procedure.

f) To designate Club employees and third parties attending the voting procedure throughout the whole election day and posterior count.

g) To oversee the commencement and procedure of the count at each ballot box and produce an overall count of votes cast in the ballot boxes.

h) To promptly resolve any incidents, queries or claims that might arise on the day of the vote.

i) To issue minutes of the voting procedure and publish the result of the vote.

6.- From Monday 3 March to Friday 7 March, both inclusive, members shall be able to view the electoral roll in the Barcelona Supporter Services Office. The times for viewing are from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm. Claims relating to omissions or incorrect inclusions or for the rectification of errors must be made in writing and presented to the office of the Members’ Ombudsman and addressed to the Referendum Board before 9.00 pm on Friday 7 March. The Referendum Board will deal with all claims made within the three following days and on March 10 shall approve the definitive electoral roll.

7- From March 5 until the day before the vote, informative, promotional or communicational actions may be conducted in order to provide information about the proposal to members. April 4 shall be a day of reflection and no informative actions may be conducted.

8.- Saturday 5 April shall be the day of the vote, on the Camp Nou forecourt, from 9.00 am to 9.00 pm. Voters may vote for or against, or abstain from voting on, the motion "DO YOU ACCEPT THE PROPOSAL FOR THE NEW CAMP NOU, ESPAI BARÇA AND NEW PALAU BLAUGRANA?". The template for voting slips shall be approved by the Referendum Board.

9.- The ballot boxes shall be positioned in alphabetical order of members’ surnames and situated on the Camp Nou forecourt in the area stipulated by the Referendum Board. There must be one employee at each voting table, who shall act as chairperson for that table, as well as one delegate member who shall be designated by the Referendum Board.

10.- In order to cast a vote, members must be included in the definitive electoral roll and be able to accredit their identity by means of their national ID document or equivalent in the case of foreign nationals, or a valid passport or driving license.

The Referendum Board shall oversee and control the voting procedure, assisted by the members’ ombudsman.

11.- Once the voting period has expired, the Referendum Board shall commence the counting procedure. For this, only the members of each table, the interveners and accredited staff, as well as the members of the Referendum Board, may be present.

12.- Any votes that include no slip, are insincere, spoiled or manipulated shall be considered invalid. Votes shall also be invalid when they contain two different voting slips. Two slips showing the same vote equate to one single vote.

13.-The proposal shall be considered accepted if the number of votes for is greater than the number of votes against, regardless of the total number of votes cast. The Referendum Board will announce the result of the count and shall issue minutes detailing the number of votes for and against, as well as abstentions and spoiled votes.

14.- The articles in Section 4 of Chapter 4 of the Statutes shall be applicable to these regulations.

15.- Informative actions conducted in the month prior to the vote shall be all those promoted by the Club, addressed to its members, and shall include the following content:

• New Camp Nou with all of the features to ensure the highest categorisation recognised by UEFA with the following parameters: maximum capacity of 105,000 covered seats, construction of a new first tier, improvements to the second tier, and completion of the third tier in the Grandstand, North Goal and South Goal zones.

• New Palau Blaugrana on the current site of the Miniestadi, with maximum capacity of 12,000 seats, and annexed sport pavilion with 2,000 seats and ice rink.

• New Miniestadi on the site of the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper meeting the requirements of the LFP to compete in Division 2A.

• Underground parking with up to 5,000 places, in accordance with municipal mobility criteria.

• Services building for the Club’s complementary activities in accordance with current and future urban plans for the city.

• Development of the non-built-up areas for public use, all integrated into the Club facilities, the neighbourhood and the city.

• Overall investment of up to 600 million euros to be financed approximately by three parts as follows: 200 million euros from the commercial exploitation of the newly generated assets, including the ‘surname’ of the Camp Nou and the name of the future Palau Blaugrana, subject to approval by the Members Assembly; 200 million euros from a new syndicated loan to be signed once the current one signed in July 2010 has been fully amortised; and 200 million euros from resources generated by the Club’s ordinary activities.

• All of the work shall be undertaken while making a priority of maintaining all of sporting and Club activities in their current locations.

The present is communicated to inform all members of Futbol Club Barcelona.

Barcelona, 26 February 2014

The Secretary of the Board of Directors

Antoni Freixa i Martín