St George’s Day, or Sant Jordi in Catalan, is approaching and the Camp Nou is preparing to celebrate the occasion with fans and members. In accordance with local tradition, women give their loved ones a book on this day, while men return the gesture by giving their partners a rose. On the day of the Valencia game, a few days before the day of the patron saint of Catalonia on Thursday 23 April, the club will be distributing books and roses to people coming to the stadium. The 4.00pm CET kick-off team should mean that there will be a very family atmosphere at the match.

After the final whistle, fans and members should make their way to the Auditorium 1899, where a number of stands will be giving away roses and official FCB books until stocks run out. The 'Big Dictionary of Barça Players', which is being presented this Thursday at 1.00pm CET in the Auditorium 1899 and the 'History of Barça' by historian Jaume Sobrequés will both be on offer.

There will also be three points where former FC Barcelona players will be signing copies, and although the Auditorium will be the main focus of the event, other stands around the ground will also be giving out books and roses.

Parking restrictions

The Sant Jordi activities will affect all members that park in Zone C of the stadium, who will not be able to use their usual spaces. The club will be contacting all of these members to inform them that an alternative site has been arranged in the Barcelona Science Park. These members will be able to park their vehicles for free by showing their FC Barcelona parking cards.

Next April 28 and 29, FC Barcelona will host the International Symposium on Disability and Football organised by the club’s Specialised Services Office (OAE), to offer an arena for dialogue and reflection regarding the inclusion of disabled people in the world of sport. Different clubs have been invited to participate by sharing experiences and concerns about accessibility for this group of people.

The International Symposium will commence on April 28 at 10.00 am in the Auditorium 1899 with the official presentation by the vice-president of the Social Area, Jordi Cardoner. The first day will consist of a series of talks by renowned specialists from the world of sport and disability. Experts in the field will be attending from Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Ajax, representing clubs with adapted and accessible stadiums and which work with season ticket holders and fans with functional diversities.

Before that, Pilar Guinovart, director in chief of the Specialised Services Office (OAE) will be explaining its role and operations whereby it attends personally to all club members with disabilities or limited mobility.

The OAE's board of assessors shall also be present to talk about the different projects that it has carried out, and the director responsible for the OAE, Jordi Durà, shall be discussing sport and disability, and sport as an instrument for integration and normalisation.

Football camp at Ciutat Esportiva

As part of the Symposium, on Wednesday 29 April, the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper will be running a football camp that’s being attended by several European clubs with teams for the physically disabled. Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Everton, Only Friends-Ajax and the PB Special Barça will participate in the camp, which is being coordinated by FC Barcelona coaches. It will include training sessions on sport, football and values, activities for experiencing and learning skills, tactics and physical aspects of football, and finally there will be a tournament involving all of the participant teams.

The Board of Directors has been informed that in a meeting on Monday at the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation to organise details surrounding the upcoming Spanish Cup Final, it has been decided that each club will receive an allocation of 37,500 tickets that will be priced between 40 and 190 Euros. In the next few days the Club will announce in detail the calendar for the draw for available tickets.

In the FC Barcelona board meeting that also took place on Monday, the following agreements were also reached:

The creation of two new FCBEscoles aimed at children between the ages of six and eleven in Vancouver, Canada and Wuhan in central China. The Club now boasts 20 such schools across the world.

Official recognition for 11 new Barça supporters’ clubs, two in Morocco, one in Colombia, one in Hong Kong and another in Cuba. The rest of the new supporters’ clubs come from inside Spain in the areas of Granada, Murcia, Alicante, Cuenca, Zaragoza and the town of Esplugues in Catalonia.

The 1,038 season tickets that have been assigned for this year mean changes in the waiting list for seats, meaning that there are now 8,318 other members on the waiting list, plus eleven awaiting places in the wheelchair zone. As of Monday, the revised list is available for viewing in the Members section of the club website, following entry of the membership code and PIN number.

The new seats have been made available due to members leaving for natural causes or having their memberships cancelled due to not meeting certain criteria, particularly regarding payments, but also a result of the control procedure that has revealed cases of fraud. This is the highest number of new seats since this process was implemented four years ago, when there were 13,980 members awaiting tickets, but the system was disorderly and unregulated. This year, 24.2% of the 7,138 members on the waiting list at the start of the year now have season tickets.

To obtain a season ticket for the Camp Nou, members must first sign up in person at the OAB for a place on the waiting list. They must have already been members for at least two years and be in either the youth or adult category. This application must be ratified every season and in person between October 15 and January 7.

WAITING LIST

FC Barcelona and Fitness Time have reached a sponsorship agreement which makes the the fitness centre chain a regional Club sponsor in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the next three years. The agreement was signed on Tuesday at the Club’s offices and was attended by Fitness Time Director of Operations Fahad Al Haqbani and FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Fitness Time officially becomes FC Barcelona’s second sponsor in Saudi Arabia, together with the Samba Financial Group, and the Club’s third in the UAE, along with the telecommunications firm Etisalat and United Arab Bank.

Additionally, this agreement also calls for Fitness Time to be the promoter and sponsor of the first FCB Escola in Saudi Arabia, in the city of Riyadh, scheduled to open later this year. This is the first time the Club has signed a sponsorship agreement that includes, from the very beginning, the creation of an FCB Escola along with the sponsor. In addition to the FCB Escola in Riyadh, others are expected to be created in other cities in Saudi territory.

April 23 is a big day in many places around the world. It’s St George’s Day, or Sant Jordi as he is known in Catalonia, where the local patron saint is celebrated with particular enthusiasm. Tradition dictates that on this day, men should give their loved ones a rose and women should return the favour by giving their partners a book – a tradition that has since been exported to the world, with April 23 having been declared UNESCO World Book Day.

FC Barcelona even honours Sant Jordi by including the famous red cross on its club crest. And that’s a fitting image, for the club shares the same kind of values as the legendary knight, such as nobleness, valour and justice – and the club has prepared this commemorative video to make that point clear.

To celebrate Sant Jordi, this year the FCBotiga Megastore, the shop on the Camp Nou premises, is going to be offering its Barça-themed books to its fans and members.

Something for everyone

And there are plenty of those, aimed at all ages. For the little ones, there are We’re going to the Barça Museum and We’re going to the Camp Nou, two storybooks in which a proud grandfather explains the history of the club to his grandchildren, and then takes them to a match for the first time.

Young children can also enjoy colouring in and practicing their writing skills with Create & write we’re going to the Camp Nou, while older readers will enjoy The Thrill is back, which features images and texts from the 2013/14 season through to the start of the current 2014/15 campaign.

The illustrated history of FC Barcelona is precisely that, a wonderful journey through the many glorious years of the club’s history with some extraordinary photos of legendary players and events. On a similar note, Unforgettable images is the ideal coffee-table book, with glossy pictures of great moments in Barça history.

All of the above are available in English, while the trilingual Barça. El meu Club, mi Club, my Club is full of surprises, including a 3D pop-up of the Camp Nou and even a musical rendition of the club anthem. And the multilingual The Barça ball is a charming children’s story about a ball that wants to play with the Barça players!

So make you celebrate Sant Jordi and World Book Day by bringing your passion reading and your passion for Barça together as one!

FC Barcelona - Sant Jordi 2015 (ENG) by fcbarcelona

The International Symposium on Disability and Football organised by FC Barcelona’s Specialised Services Office (OEA) opened this Tuesday with Club Social Area Director Jordi Cardoner and President Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as the Office’s head Pilar Guinovart all making interventions.

At a round table of the Office’s assessors, the initiatives taken at the Club were outlined, although President Bartomeu insisted that the Club were aware of the need to continue to improve in this aspect, something he was sure that the Nou Espai Barça would help to do. It was then the turn of representatives form the invited European clubs - Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Ajax. to explain their experiences in the area  

Declarations from President Josep Maria Bartomeu:

“We are moving forward slowly, but we are learning. Every year we do work to improve our facilities and with the Espai Barça Projectwhich we are now focussed on, I can assure our disabled members that we will soon have a better and more appropriate space for them”.

The first day of the International Symposium on Disability and Football finished with a special photo on the Camp Nou pitch moments before the kick-off of the game against Getafe and on Wednesday the participants will be in for another memorable moment as Barça coaches take charge of a football workshop at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper which will cover tactics, skills and football and values, finishing off with a tournament involving all of the teams at the Symposium - Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Everton, Only Friends-Ajax and PB Special Barça.

FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu spoke on Thursday to the honorary body known as the Senate, which is made up of the longest serving members of the club, an important group of people who are very much able to speak and listen from experience.

The venue for the event was the Auditorium 1899, where Bartomeu presented a report on the current situation at the club – the last time he will do so before the elections in the summer.

An ordinary session of the Senate held in the second quarter of each calendar year, is a statutory requirement. All FC Barcelona senators receive certificates of their status, and 34 new ones were presented at Thursday’s meeting,

Below we highlight the most important declarations to the Senate by President Bartomeu:

A winning club on the field

"I say that we are a winning club on the field because at the moment the first team still has a chance of success in all three competitions. We are leading the league and we are awaiting what will be a passionate semi-final against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, in which we will have the chance to reacquaint ourselves with Pep Guardiola and grant him a warm reception. Furthermore, we have the Spanish Cup Final to look forward to at Camp Nou."

"Our team is really motivated and has responded in great fashion to the challenges set at the start of the season."

"A new coach, the best forward line in the world, with Messi, Suárez and Neymar, and up to 24 transfers involved in order to put together the current squad. We needed to revamp the playing staff, to build a new Barça around Leo Mess, the best player in the world, and now we are back to our best. Now we need for this path to lead us to the trophies that we all crave and that we have close at hand."

A democratic and socially aware club

"Our social commitments are channeled through the Club’s Foundation, which is now widely recognized around the world. We have made a big effort to make our members more aware of the work of our Foundation, of which we are deeply proud. Projects such as ‘FutbolNet’, ‘BarçaKids’ and ‘We are what we eat’ have reached more than 400,000 children and young people in more than 40 countries around the world."

"In the last five years we have we have almost doubled the Foundation’s budget from 5.8 million Euros to 10 million Euros. For that we are enormously grateful to the contribution made by the first team players and coaching staff and also from the four professional sections who donate 0.5% of their annual salary to the Foundation."

An economically sustainable club

"We are a club that maintains a privileged position in the world. In just four years we have moved 24^th position to second. To maintain that position we are in the midst of a institutional and sporting transformation. We have to be a solid and economically sustainable club in order to have an attractive, winning team that wins trophies and that keeps its position as leader in the world in terms of support and on social networks."

The first leg of the Champions League semi-final between FC Barcelona and FC Bayern is already under way on social media. Two days prior to the clash on the field, the respect and friendship between the two clubs can be seen in an exchange of tweets on Twitter.

Both @fcbarcelona and @FCBayernEN have swapped videos, photographs and messages ahead of a tie that has the added extra of seeing former blaugranes Pep Guardiola, Thiago and Pepe Reina return to Camp Nou. Since the day of the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, Barça and Bayern fans have been able to show their messages of support on social networks with the hashtag #FCBFCB that has mentioned more than 33,000 up to now on Twitter.

Follow the action as it happens

FC Barcelona’s digital platform will allow fans from all over the world to follow all the latest news and info about the tie both through the Club’s 23 social network profile dedicated to first team news and also through the nine different languages on the web platform which contains special content and videos. Of the four semi-finalists, Barça is the leader on social networks, both in terms of numbers (164 million fans) as in the number of channels (20). An example is how the Club’s Vine and Instagram accounts have given a teaser of the mosaic that will be unveiled on Wednesday at Camp Nou before the game.

Leyla Alyanak isn’t a football fan, but after visiting the Camp Nou Experience, she reckons she’d love to see a game: “it was a real discovery for me. I thought it would be a Tour full of big football and Barça fans, but I’ve seen it really is the chance for people like me, who nothing about the game, to come along and enjoy themselves”.

Leyla is one of a group of nine international travel and culture bloggers who visited the Camp Nou invited by Barcelona Turisme and the Club Museum for a special Camp Nou Experience Tour, which included a visit to the Presidential Box.

The writers, who are from all over the world, were most impressed by the panoramic views of the pitch. As Enzo Ferrari accompanied by his wife Silvia Reggiani, put it: “it must be a marvellous emotion which the players feel as they run out onto the pitch, with the ground full of fans”. Similarly, Cedric Lizotte, from Canada, reckoned: “you feel a magic atmosphere when you are here and I can understand why the City is so proud of this stadium”.

The Camp Nou – a big tourist attraction

“The aim of this initiative is to show the City of Barcelona to these international bloggers. More and more people use the Internet to look for holiday destinations and these writers are a reference point”, said Barcelona Tourism’s Mònica Solés, “FC Barcelona is one of the big exporters of the Catalonia and Barcelona brands and the Camp Nou is a great attraction for tourists”.

The visit was part of a three-day trip to the City for the bloggers, who, it is hoped, will go home and report on the area’s many highlights. One of those seems likely to be the Camp Nou – as Enzo Ferrari commented: “I’d urge everyone to visit the ground as it’s a real family atmosphere and a lovely experience”.

Buy your ticket Camp Nou Experience

[[DES_1]] After seeing off Real Madrid 2-6 in the Bernabeu to virtually clinch the league title the previous weekend, Barça’s morale was sky high for the trip to Stamford Bridge. The first leg had ended goalless at the Camp Nou and one goal in London would be enough to see Guardiola’s side through to the final in Rome, but it was Chelsea who took the lead when Essien fired home a bullet of a shot after just nine minutes. With away goals counting double, Barça’s job was pretty much the same though – score a goal and reach the final. Wave after wave of attacks rained down on the Chelsea goal, but as the clock ticked down, it looked as if the Londoners were going through.

Then, with three minutes of injury time already played and Chelsea fans beginning to celebrate, Messi laid the ball off to Iniesta, who fired in an unstoppable drive from outside the box which entered into the annals of the Club alongside those goals from Bakero in Kaiserslautern or Koeman at Wembley. “I put all of my soul into the shot”, Iniesta later recalled and it proved a vital piece in achieving that season’s historic treble.

Prestigious American journal Forbes, which specialises in the world of business and finance, has published its annual study, where it analyses the financial value of the biggest football clubs in the world, and where FC Barcelona’s staggering economic development is patently clear, with the club now valued at 3,163 million dollars, just 100 million short of Real Madrid, the smallest gap for the last five years.

In the last five years, FC Barcelona has risen from 5th to 2nd in the ranking of the world’s most valuable clubs after multiplying its value by three, and is poised to take over at top spot in future studies. In three years, FC Barcelona’s value has risen by 21.5% while Real Madrid’s has dropped by 1.5%.

In the 2013/14 season, FC Barcelona had an income of 530 million, its highest ever, and a profit of 41 million, the second highest in club history. In four years, its debt has been reduced by 143 million.

FC Barcelona’s financial progress as it bids to become the world’s number one club is best illustrated by the gap between itself and the club in the number one position over the last five years.

In 2010, the distance was 835 million; in 2011 it was 889; in 2012 it was 920; in 2013 it was 700; in 2014 it was 240; and this year it is just 100 million.

The ‘Forbes’ report also mentions that huge opportunities for FC Barcelona to increase its value in the forthcoming years, including the renewal of the shirt contract and its sponsorship, and the investment in the new Espai Barça, the ambitious project to redevelop the club facilities, which should both have a significantly positive impact on income.

FC Barcelona are followed by Manchester United, valued at 3,104 million; Bayern Munich, at 2,347 million; Manchester City, at 1,375; Chelsea, at 1,370; Arsenal, at 1,307; Liverpool, at 982; Juventus, at 837; and AC Milan, at 775 million.

Statement by Javier Faus, first and economic vice-president of FC Barcelona:

“We are very pleased to consolidate this second position and be even closer still to the world leadership. We are the club that has grown the most and that has the most capacity to continue growing. And that’s at a time when there is strong competition from the Premier League and the new financers and fortunes that are coming into the world of football”.

“This is a group success, the result of doing such a fine job over the last ten years, which combines the fact that the club is owned by its own members, who are so firmly rooted in the territory, and the fact that the club is so global, open and professionalised. And yet the goal in itself has never been to make money, but to be an instrument to continue investing in the football first team, the other sports teams, the Foundation, the Ciutat Esportiva, the Masia, the Espai Barça, and to continue reducing the oversized debt we had. And, in short, to continue offering a service to our members and fans”.

The ‘You write Barça's history’ competition, which formed part of the Barça museum’s 30th anniversary celebrations and began last October 7 and closed on April 30 has proved a huge success. Users had to pick their favourites photos from different periods of the club’s history.

The almost 6,000 participants picked moments like the 1992 European Cup win at Wembley and the second in Paris in 2006, the 5-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu in 1974, the long-awaited league title of 1973/74, Leo Messi’s fourth Ballon d’Or plus the Argentinian’s wonder goal in 2005 and Rivaldo’s overhead kick against Valencia at the Camp Nou in 2000/01.

For the first time in the Club’s history, FC Barcelona claimed the European Cup with a 1-0 victory after extra time over Italian side Sampdoria at Wembley Stadium. It was the third time they had reached the final following the disappointments of Berne in 1961 and Seville in 1986. In 1992 the team, coached at the time by Johan Cruyff,  ended that run of defeats in the final thanks to Ronald Koeman’s goal in the 111^th minute of the game.

His fantastic right footed drive has rightly earned its place in the Club’s history books. “Right away I realised that the ball flew from my boot with tremendous force and pace. Then I heard the explosion and saw it fly into the Italian net. It was spectacular, really, when I scored I had goosebumps,” confessed the Dutchman after the game. The year that the city of Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games, Barça brought their first European Cup back to the Club’s museum.

A report by Deloitte has analysed the economic impact of FC Barcelona on the city of Barcelona, citing it at 759 million euros in the 2013/14 season, which represents 1.2% of the city’s GDP. The study was presented onm Wednesday at the Cercle d’Economia in Barcelona and the event was attended by president Josep Maria Bartomeu, Ana Andueza, of Deloitte and Salvador Alemany, president of Abertis Infraestructures and former president of the Cercle d’Economia,

The report also calculates that following construction of the new Espai Barça, the effect on GDP and employment in the city will increase by 9% on the present figures to 826 million euros and 16,628 jobs. FC Barcelona is therefore a huge generator of wealth and has a clearly positive effect on the city’s economy, which also helps to explain the institution’s current and future financial sustainability.

 The objectives and scope of the Deloitte study has been divided into three parts: evaluating the economic impact of the club’s activity on the city in the 2013/14 season, estimating the economic impact of the construction of the Espai Barça from 2017 to 2021 and calculating the impact of the Espai Barça’s activity once it is operational.

Apart from the impact of 759 million euros of GDP in 2013/14, it is noted that the construction of the Espai Barça will increase that figure by 21%, for the activity will generate 917 million euros of GDP and 18,523 jobs a year. Every euro directly spent in the city by the club generates 2.7 million euros in GDP.

6% of city's tourism thanks to Barça

The club also boosts tourism, for 6% of visitors to the city state that FC Barcelona is their main reason for coming. The club generates 1.3 million overnight stays in the city, equivalent to 54% of what is generated by the congresses, meetings and events sector, and mobilises 2.2 million supporters and 1.5 million visits to the Museum and Camp Nou Experience. The club also generates 15,200 jobs, equivalent to 15% of unemployment in Barcelona, and that impact will be multiplied by 21% during the construction phase of the Espai Barça, to reach a total of 18,500 jobs a year thanks to the club’s activity.

Extract from speech by President Josep Maria Bartomeu:

 “The details of our impact on the city offer a broader perspective of what Barça means to the city of Barcelona. Barça is one of the economic engines of our city”.

 “But what is most surprising is the impulse that will be generated by the Espai Barça, which is not only the most ambitious patrimonial project in the world of sport, but is also a demonstration of Barcelona’s capacity to innovate, set standards, lead and progress in line with future needs”.

 “Sustainability has always been the goal of this mandate and is a permanent objective for the future of our club”.

The news of Xavi Hernández’s departure from FC Barcelona has had an impact on social media where his team mates and other figures from the world of football have already left messages for the man who has more trophies than anyone else in the Club’s history. FC Barcelona, as some first team players already have done, invite fans from around the world to put on the Barça shirt and use the hashtag #6raciesXavi as a tribute to the player who has played more games than anyone in blaugrana.

The Club’s digital platform will highlight the best tweets, posts and photos from fans who use the hashtag #6raciesXavi as well as the other usual hashtags #FCBWorld and #FCBFans.

Furthermore, the fans can pay their own tributes to Xavi on social networks downloading some of the visual material that Barça are using as a way of thanking the player for his 17 seasons with the first team.

Graphic material #6raciesXavi

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Image for Instagram

Images for Twitter

Images for Twitter (2)

Commemorative shirt

Also, the first team will wear a special commemorative shirt against Deportivo La Coruña in the game that kicks on Saturday at 6.30pm CET. The kit will bear the logo ‘Thanks Xavi – 23 May 2015’ (in Catalan) to commemorate the day of the Barça captain’s last league game at Camp Nou.

FC Barcelona and the city of Barcelona have signed a collaboration agreement to intensify relations in innovation processes and technological solutions. In this regard, the deal will allow development of the Smart Espai Barça, the upheaval and potentiation of the digital innovations on the club facilities to turn them into ‘smart’ spaces at the service of members, supporters and the people of Barcelona.

FC Barcelona continues to work for the city, integrating in a natural, quality, sustainable and environmentally friendly manner state-of-the-art technologies and the spaces around the stadium. The idea is for the Smart Espai Barça to be developed into a new technological district in the city, with 2.0 spaces and all the very latest innovations, making visits to the premises, either to watch matches or visit the stadium, a truly unique experience.

Smart strategy

FC Barcelona's smart strategy means much more than a 2.0 stadium and the implementation of Wi-Fi, for associated innovations will optimise the overall facilities. The main objectives include offering new services to members and fans, to improve the experience for people visiting the club 365 days of the year. And also to increase their loyalty by offering greater interaction with Barça. The facilities are also to be made more efficient and sustainable, thus reducing any negative impacts on the city. And this new technology will also generate extra income thanks to the sale of more personalised products.

La Masia, new Smart Lab

In the first phase, the club will be testing several technologies and services at La Masia, in the Ciutat Esportiva and the New Miniestadi. In fact, the La Masia-Oriol Tort Training Centre will in the next few months be becoming a Smart Lab to experiment with a series of latest generation solutions. For example, there will be access to contactless technologies, camera security and surveillance, the deployment of electric vehicles, new mobile apps with better services, beacons showing personalised messages and touch screens.

As the new facilities are constructed, the process will be intensified. In particular, there will be a Wi-Fi service on which work has already begun this season. And this will not require any investment from club funds, as it is all being provided by means of a sponsorship deal. There will eventually be 1,079 Wi-Fi access points, as defined by the following phases:

1. Wi-Fi is already available in the Camp Nou Boulevard, the Barcelona Supporter Services Office (OAB), the Plaça de la Font de Canaletes and the South Goal forecourt, currently in the test phase.
2. In autumn 2015 it will be extended to the Camp Nou Experience and Ice Rink.
3. In winter 2015 there will be Wi-Fi in the Palau.
4. In spring 2016 it will available inside the Camp Nou and in adjacent zones.

The outcome will be a veritable Smart Stadium that will enable users, among other things, to purchase catering product on their mobiles, personalise commercial offers, publish content on social networks and enjoy increased functionalities on their Barça apps, offering members the full 2.0 experience.

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Synergies between the city of Barcelona and FC Barcelona

Barcelona is a trendsetting city in terms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), both internally and in interaction with the local people. It is the leading sports club in the world in terms of social networks and new technologies, and is doing its bit to help the city to become a world leader in terms of Mobile and Smart technologies.

In 2011, the club helped get the Mobile World Congress (MWC) and the Smart City World Congress to be awarded to the city. Medication with GSMA, the body that runs the MWC, played a large part in ensuring that Barcelona is the Mobile World Capital until 2018. And the collaboration agreement between the Mobile World Congress and FCB has developed a number of business opportunities and helped promote the city internationally.

FC Barcelona, pioneering club for the 2.0 member

In recent years, FC Barcelona has risen to the top of the world ranking of sports clubs in terms of social networks and new technologies, with an official website in nine different languages that generates more than 170 million visits a season and is of major use to members and fans. 30% of the transactions made by fans are now made via the website, 600,000 seats in the stadium are released for sale each season, and 40% of ticket sales are made by this online method.

In recent years, the club has won Social Star Awards for the way it handles social networks, where it has more than 180 million followers, more than any other sports club in the world.

FC Barcelona apps

All of these digital apps are the result of a strategy at the service of Barça members and supporters around the globe. The club has been completely transformed in order for them to enjoy the broadest possible range of digital services, including no fewer than 12 million downloads from the app services (Seient Lliure App, Official App and Passport App); online transactions for members and supporters clubs, processes for participation with co-creation workshops to identify Smart and Mobile initiatives, thus producing completely 2.0 members

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As for Barça apps, the Members App is about to be released, which will be a fundamental tool for interacting with the club. It’s functions include the digital season ticket (to enter the stadium with one’s mobile) and the OAB chat (for direct communication with the Barcelona Supporters Services Office).

Statement by Dídac Lee, director of the Media and Communication Department and head of New Technologies:

“Technology has to serve to expand the Barça sentiment around the world and, most of all, facilitate communication and the Barça experience to all members and supporters. The implementation of Smart technologies on our facilities will allow us to improve the experience of 2.0 members and make our premises an important part of Barcelona, a smart and innovative city”.

Get ready for the Champions League and Spanish Cup finals by downloading exclusive FC Barcelona stickers with LINE. All the team’s top players -Messi, Neymar, Luis Suárez, Piqué and Rakitic, as well as Luis Enrique figure in the 3D stickers which you can share and use in  your texting conversations with fellow Barça fans.

How can I download the stickers?

The stickers are completely free of charge and available all over the world, simply install LINE on your mobile phone and once inside the app, go to Menu> More> Stickers Shop> Free> and choose Barça.

Barça fans can also receive all the latest news about the team and get exclusive content in the official FC Barcelona account on LINE, simply go to Menu> More> Official Accounts and select FC Barcelona. This pack is available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and for PC.

GET YOUR STICKERS

LINE Corporation

LINE Corporation is based in Japan and develops and operates the LINE application for smartphones. Since its launch in June 2011, the LINE app has grown into a global service which is available in 230 countries and is the leading free app in 60 of them. LINE offers free instant one-to-one and group messaging, as well as local and international calls and video calls. LINE also includes a variety of social tools, such as the stickers, a personal home page and a timeline, as well as a range of LINE apps such as games and the LINE and LINE Camera App. For more info.

In a two-period budding process in collaboration with the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya, the international tender gets under way from June for the new Camp Nou and Palau Blaugrana projects. The jury will be made up of five members of FC Barcelona, four members of the Board and an architect, plus three members of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes and one from Barcelona City Council. There will also be a nine-man technical committee made up of seven representatives of FC Barcelona and two of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes.

The first period runs until July, and is the pre-qualification stage for the different proposals, which will be required to follow a list or orders regarding regulations and criteria for selection, and which will be published on the club website on June 5. From August through to September, the second phase consists of a tender of design ideas. Each of the proposals will be reviewed by the technical committee and the jury is expected to announce the winners of the two tenders in December.