The Camp Nou Experience selfie contest has proved a massive success, and the July winner can now be revealed. With 22,265 ‘likes’ for her picture posted on Instagram, the top entry was by @RAQUELCULEPIQUE and she takes an official Barça shirt as a reward, which can be claimed simply by sending an email to campnouexperience@gmail.com.

This was the winning photo, but there are thousands more to be enjoyed on Instagram with the hashtag #campnouexperience. The competition has gone down a storm among visitors to the stadium, with 2,300 people entering by posting a massive 3,922 selfies for a combined total of 1,530,000 'likes'.

The contest continues

As part of the 'Your best moments to share in Barcelona' campaign, the selfies contest is being run for visitors to the Camp Nou and FC Barcelona Museum, who can post their entries on Instagram. And although July’s shirt has already been claimed, there’s no need to worry. Visitors to the Camp Nou Experience can continue posting selfies as entries for the August and September editions of the same competition. 

Remember, only photos taken during the stadium tour and that have been published on Instagram with the hashtag #campnouexperience are valid entries. You can use this app to enter, and also explore the gallery of previous entries.

In an interview with “The Times”, FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has insisted that the Club will learn from its off field problems last season and move forward. In an article entitled “President vows to rebuild image”, the President tells Rory Smith that “We have learnt a lot this past year. Maybe our image has suffered, but you have to learn when things are not as good as they can be, and we have.”

"Suarez knows he did wrong"

The President admitted that the problems with FIFA over the signing of young players and the controversy surrounding Neymar’s signing had made for a difficult year, but insisted that the Club were comfortable bringing in Luis Suarez, despite his suspension following the biting incident at the World Cup: “He knows he did wrong,” he says. “That is why he apologised. Everyone knows that what he did was wrong. For us, that is enough”.

The interview with The Times

.Check out the videos

Check out the photos

FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Dailymotion, one of the largest video platforms in the world, for exclusive use of its video player on the Club’s official website. A dedicated FC Barcelona channel (http://www.dailymotion.com/fcbarcelona) will also be launched as part of the deal, providing sporting content to an expected 120 users worldwide.

The deal goes beyond the football first team, with the Club’s professional sections supplying exclusive handball, basketball, roller hockey and futsal images and content.

Daily live information via Dailymotion will be another of FC Barcelona website’s strong points, with an increase in the number of live streamings of press conferences and pre-season player presentations.

The agreement is based on already existing deals between Dailymotion and various leagues, federations and rights owners throughout the world, such as the NBA, NFL, NHL and the French Football Federation and will widen and enrich the existing Dailymotion sports catalogue including news and VOD which can be accessed via any device with an internet connection.

Dailymotion – a leading global platform

Dailymotion is one of the biggest video platforms in the world with 120 million monthly unique visitors (Comscore, 2013) generating over 2.5 billion video views every month. Using the most advanced technology for both users and content creators, Dailymotion provides HD video in a fast, easy-to-use online service. Dailymotion is available around the world in 18 different languages and 35 localised versions featuring local home pages and local content.

Dídac Lee: “The agreement consolidates the Club’s presence on all the main platforms”.

“We are very satisfied to have signed this content distribution agreement with Dailymotion, which will allow FC Barcelona to continue growing and consolidate our presence on the principal global content reproduction platforms. Thanks to this deal, we can be present in the computers and smartphones of even more of our supporters throughout the world”.

Marc Eychenne: “Dailymotion will help grow FC Barcelona’s popularity”

“FC Barcelona’s global popularity is clear to see from its presence on social networks, where it is way ahead of any other football club with 96 million followers on Facebook and Twitter. Working with Dailymotion will allow FC Barcelona to extend this popularity by improving its video strategy and improving its web content with livestreams, pay programmes, SVOD and many other features. The agreement is based on the great results Dailymotion has achieved with other leading football clubs, leagues and federations and underlines the fact that the our player is the technological support for video which the most important global sporting brands trust the most.

More Information at: www.dailymotion.com

FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, has given an extensive interview to Amanda Davies of CNN that is being shown in three different instalments. One of the biggest topics of conversation was the signing of Uruguayan Luis Suarez, but other topics covered in part one, which you can view by clicking on the link below, include the legacy of Pep Guardiola and the importance of Leo Messi for the team.

VIDEO CNN INTERVIEW

This year’s Joan Gamper Trophy is almost upon us, and there is plenty for the people coming to the stadium to look forward to. From 10.00 AM to 7.00 PM, the Camp Nou forecourt will be a hive of activity, with concerts, a 2.0 area, face paintings and much more.

On Monday August 18, the stadium doors open at around 6.30 PM, two hours before the game with Club León, meaning there will be plenty of time to get inside and savour the pre-match atmosphere. At 7.30 PM, Luis Enrique and the new-look Barça squad, including the coaching staff, will be presented to the Camp Nou faithful one-by-one, as is traditional at the start of each new campaign

It all offers the ideal opportunity to welcome the many new signings, and then sit back and watch them in action against Mexican side Club León featuring former FCB star Rafa Marquez. The game kicks off at 8.30 PM..

BUY TICKETS JOAN GAMPER TROPHY

From Tuesday 12 August, FC Barcelona members will be able to buy tickets for any game in La 2014/15 at the Camp Nou, apart from the clásico against Real Madrid. Members get a 20% discount on any game in any zone of the stadium. The day after, Wednesday 13, the same tickets will also be available for purchase by the general public.

The sales channels are the club website at www.fcbarcelona.com or the club ticket offices, which will be open from 9.15 AM to 7.30 PM.

Tickets for the game between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, on March 21 or 22, 2015 at a time to be announced, are not yet on sale, and an announcement will be made on the matter very shortly.

The new image of the bus that carries the first team was today shown off for the first time as the squad travelled from the Ciudad Esportiva to Barcelona airport before flying to Helsinki. The creative design on the outside of the bus has been inspired by the Fc Barcelona Anthem ‘el Cant del Barça’. On the sides of the bus you can see a large emblem of the Club, a large Club flag that appears to be flying, and part of the lyrics of the anthem, with the word Barça! shown very prominently.

The official coach is a Starliner from the coach company Autopullman Padrós, official partner of the  Club and provider of the official coach since 2003-04. The vehicle is 14 metres long and 3.97 high and is powered by a 12.4 litre engine at 505 hp. This bus, which is used regularly by the first team, and is also available for other professional club sections, was first used in January 2012

New Barça signing Thomas Vermaelen joins the Club with more than two million fans on social networks and his own website, www.thomasvermaelen.com

The Belgian regularly updates the three main social networks -Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with more than 1,135.195 million followers on his official Facebook page  , where, as with his Twitter account, @ThomasVermaelen, which has 943.000 followers, he shows his more personal side and writes mainly English.

Vermaelen completes his digital presence with an Instagram account that boasts 138,475 followers and now joins the Club’s players with Facebook pages, led by Leo Messi with more than 68 million fans and the Twitter  account holders led by Neymar with more than 13.7 million followers.

El Barça a les xarxes socials

The players tunnel at the Camp Nou has been given a stunning new facelift with an innovative design featuring images of the fans and messages of support representing the passion and excitement in the stands at the start of every game. The new tunnel has been painted with an equally innovative process, featuring graffiti styles and the Barça colours using more than 50 different sprays, brushes and felt tip pens.

The design is meant to be an on-going project with the paintings updated during the season to reflect the various projects at the Club, such as special games, testimonials etcetera.

The new tunnel has been decorated by AXE Colours, a top design company, well known for their graffiti work featuring  Leo Messi, Pepe Rubianes and Michael Jackson.

All visitors to the Camp Nou Experience can enjoy the new tunnel, whilst the players will get their first glimpse at the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 18.

FCBotiga Megastore at Camp Nou is celebrating. Along with the official team presentation during the Joan Gamper Trophy and the beginning of the new season, the store wants to offer all Barça fans, during this month of August, exclusive promotions, besides the opportunity to enjoy a unique experience in the best Barça store in the world.

The Barça store par excellence offers over 2,000 m2 of blaugrana experience to visitors, distributed in three stories, with unique technical products, exclusive apparel collections, footwear and accessories from both FC Barcelona and Nike Football, available exclusively at the Megastore. Furthermore, it has a spectacular 16 meter long LED screen.

But there's still more: FCBotiga Megastore is an example of technological innovation, providing a service of touchscreens distributed among all the stories, where visitors can customise their shirt for the printing service, allowing a faster and more convenient service. We also offer the service “Make it Barça”, where customers can choose any product from the Nike store and customise it with the blaugrana identity.

All in all, FCBotiga Megastore is a store tailored to blaugrana fans, where now it will be possible to enjoy a more than ever Barça experience.

Everything is ready to go at the Gamper Festival 2014, with plenty going on for all members of the family at the Camp Nou. The grounds will be open to the general public in what is always a wonderful moment of bonding between the club and its supporters.

Due to the hosting at the same time of the XXXVII World Meeting of Supporters Clubs, the build-up to Monday’s 49th Joan Gamper Trophy will take place all weekend. On August 16, 17 and 18 there will be all kinds of activities, workshops and shows in and around the Auditori 1899. On the day of the match, August 18, the whole forecourt of the Camp Nou will be a hive of activity, with all of the entrances to the grounds open from 10.00 am.

Here’s a summary of the main activities you can enjoy:

Auditori 1899 (from August 16 to 18)

• Coca-cola Futbol: Miniature football pitch where boys and girls can play.
• Tattoo workshop: Get the club crest tattooed on any part of your body.
• Sumo football: Four sumo wrestlers inside a giant ball with a protective helmet try to push their opponents into the goal.
• Fussball: Shaded area where you can take on family and friends.
• Jumping: Get as high as you can while safely strapped to elastic beds.
• Shows and concerts: Comedian Pep Plaza and ‘Havanera’ singers Mar i Vent will be onstage on the 17th. On Monday 18 there’s the Estrella Damm series of concerts, with Band The Marxa (15.15 and 16.45), la Senyoreta Descalça (15.45 and 17.15) and Oques Grasses (16.15 and 18.00).

Camp Nou Forecourt (August 18)

• Fresh football: An inflatable football pitch covered in 30 cm deep water for teams of 3 to 5 players to enjoy a peculiar kind of football.
• Flytrap: Going up in these inflatables is like being a fly trapped in a spider’s web.
• Inflatable goalie: Inflatable goalposts over a mattress where you can practice your goalkeeping skills in complete safety.
• Futbol-tennis: A great game to play with your friends.
• Zorball: Children get inside a giant inflatable ball and spin it around as they try to score.

Remember that from 18.30, the gates to the stadium itself will be open to those with tickets. At 19.30, Luis Enrique’s first team will be introduced to the crowd, the first time they will have appeared at the Camp Nou this new season.

During the  XXXV Trobada i Congrés Mundial de Penyes 2014, FC Barcelona Director Pau Vilanova  presented a new app which the Club has specifically created for the penyas movement. The app is now available for Android and an Apple version will also be released over the next few days.

The app can be downloaded free and is available for Club members, fans and particularly penya members, who can select the club they belong to and thus receive all the relevant info about their penya directly onto their ice.

The app also provides news about the Club and has a notification system for important dates such as tickets going on sale, a GPS localization service to find the nearest penya to make it easy to go and watch the team wherever you are in the world.

Josep Maria Bartomeu opened the XXXV Congrés Mundial de Penyes with an optimistic message for the future: “at the end of last season I committed myself publically to begin a profound transformation of the Club. Today we can affirm that our plans have been carried out and we are on course. The economic effort we have made allows us to be excited about our future”.

The President continued: “our most important signing this summer is Luis Enrique. He brings passion and leadership. He’s a real hard worker and we are expecting great things from him”. Reflecting on the players the Club have brought in, Sr Bartomeu stressed the importance of Luis Suarez and explained: “he’s wanted to come here for a number of years now”, whilst wishing well the players who have left and reminding the penyistas that the Club could still boast some of the best players in the world, such as Messi, Neymar , Xavi and Iniesta and continue to conserve” one of our most valuable assets – our style of play”.

The President also congratulated the professional sections on last season’s success which saw the basketball, handball and roller hockey teams winning league championships and the Futsal and roller hockey teams also winning their respective European Cups.

Healthy economic and social outlook

The President explained: “we are trying to transmit a sense of expectation and excitement through our sporting success, which is possible because of the economic efforts we’ve made”, citing the record income of €530 million Euros, €41million profit and a €44 million reduction in debt last year.

Moving to the Nou Espai Barça project which was voted for by members in a referendum in April, Sr Bartomeu expressed his belief that it would prove: “the best sporting complex to be built in the centre of a big city such as Barcelona” and also mentioned that vote as an example of the social health of the Club, along with the updating of the members census and the reforming of the Club statutes.

Finally, the President praise the role of the penyes, stressing the importance of the ‘Penyes Segle XXI’ project and the strengthening of the movement with the naming of Pau Vilanovao as a new Club director, as well as the Fundació FC Barcelona, which this year helped 400,000 children in 48 countries across four continents.

Adults who are responsible for child members under the age of 8 and who hold a child passport can now activate it to access the Camp Nou for the opening league match on Sunday at 9 pm.

Free App or Club website

In order for the child member to enter the Camp Nou, the passport must be activated before the match starts - up to six days in advance.  You can use your smart phone and the free app ‘FCB Passport Infantil’ for iOS and Android, or the club website.

You can download the app here:

Once you have activated the passport, you must request entry for each match and the system will indicate which stadium gate the child and accompanying adult must use.  Please remember that if the adult is also a member, he/she may not cede their seat via the Seient Lliure system.

Passport applications still accepted

Some 5,000 online applications for the Child Passport have been receive since it came into operation in June.  Further applications will be accepted throughout the season if made in person at the OAB offices of the Club.  Remember, you also have the option of buying a physical ticket for members under 8 from the Club website.

The Child Passport is free and is part of the Club’s policy of ensuring the Camp Nou is a safe place for young children and meets the very strictest health and safety regulations.  The passport lasts for one season and is automatically renewed every year and sent to the holder’s home address.

League, Cup and Champions League

The passport can be used for the first time on Sunday and will be valid for the whole season, including Spanish Cup and Champions League matches.  However, a number of high-risk matches will be excluded.  These are any league or Cup matches against Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid plus the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The Club reserves the right to exclude any match from the passport scheme as necessary.  Please note that holders of the passport will have priority when family places are limited.

A delegation from FC Barcelona attended the hearing this morning in the FIFA HQ in Zurich

The hearing forms part of the FIFA investigation into the signing of minors by FC Barcelona.  It lasted four hours and the process continues

Under the concept #Iwasthere, the Club is launching a new campaign to encourage members and fans to come to the Camp Nou for La Liga, Champions League, and Spanish Cup matches. The campaign, created in conjunction with the agency Doubleyou, is promoting the idea that watching a live game in the Stadium is a unique experience that is hard to forget. The new ticketing campaign is being released to coincide with the first La Liga match at the Camp Nou, Barça v Elche, on Sunday, at 9 p.m.

This initiative is following the pattern of previous campaigns, which, under the names of "We'll give our all" and "Barça Beats", were intended to remind fans of the privileges they might acquire by watching live some of the moments that will live on in Barça history.

FC Barcelona has sales channels so that those who wish to do so can easily buy their tickets. These channels are the Club's website (www.fcbarcelona.cat), the Camp Nou box office, Barcelona tourist information points, and official Barça stores in Barcelona and El Prat Airport.

As a novel idea, FC Barcelona has launched the sale of tickets via mobile devices and smartphones, which has streamlined the purchasing process

BUY YOUR TICKET

Following the resolution announced today by the FIFA Appeals Committee on violations of regulations regarding the transfer and registration of children aged under 18 years, FC Barcelona announces that it shall continue defending its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

FC Barcelona may not in any way share a resolution that is an affront to the spirit of our Masia, a world renowned example of academic, human and sporting education.

This Wednesday, FC Barcelona and Advan have officially announced the sponsorship deal by which the Indonesian mobile telephone and tablet manufacturer has become the Club’s regional sponsor. The presentation of the two-year agreement took place in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (Jakarta, Indonesia) and was attended by Xavier Asensi, Managing Director for Asia Pacific; Advan marketing director, Mr Tjandra Lianto; Advan brand strategy manager, Andy Gusena, and Darius Sinathrya, FC Barcelona’s honorary fan in Indonesia.

Through this alliance, FC Barcelona continues its partnerships with leading brands in Asia, thus bringing its closer to its supporters in a continent where its potential has recently been boosted by the opening of a new Club office in Hong Kong.

Indonesia has more followers, 7.7 million, of FC Barcelona on Facebook than any other community and Jakarta is the second city in the world in terms of followers on that social network, one of four Indonesian cities among the top 45. The Club’s Indonesian Twitter account has more than 150,000 followers, a number that has doubled in the last year. And there are also over a million followers of Barça’s LINE account in the country.

Advan, technology and communications company

Originally a technology and lifestyle brand, Advan produces a wide range of technology products such as plasma TVs, Notebook, PC Tablet, Smartphone and digital accessories.

Advan is the leader in its domestic market for telecommunications products and also seeks to use technology to educate the nation and help to construct a better Indonesia.

Lianto: “Advan forms part of Barça and that’s a big responsibility”

“The reason for this agreement is that we share characteristics with Barça: strength, resistance, speed, ability and fighting spirit. They have a very strong team, and those are the very virtues that have made Barça capable of winning so many international competitions. Advan now forms part of that team, and that’s a big responsibility”.

Gusena: “We have a similar vision of the future”

“Both Advan and FC Barcelona have a similar vision of the future with the spirit of always wanting to move forwards. Both of us always share the same target of victory and success”.