This week, FC Barcelona is opening its new Turkish language Twitter account (@fcbarcelona_tr) as part of its plan to keep in closer touch with its huge fan base in Turkey. The Twitter account is the first stage of a medium term plan, which will end with the launch of a Turkish language version of the official website. At the end of the 2015/16 season, Turkish will be added to the nine languages in which the website is already published (Catalan, Spanish, English, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Indonesian, Arabic and Japanese).

Arda Turan’s presence in the FCB squad has consolidated the interest in the team in the country and the player will be one of the main focuses of the news on the Turkish Twitter, in addition to other daily updates on events concerning Luis Enrique’s team. The announcement of the signing of the player generated more engagement than any other tweet in 2015 on the club’s accounts (42,000 RT and 36,000 likes). Arda himself has helped to promote this new communication channel by recording a video inviting fans to get the latest info on Barça in their own language.

As well as presence on Twitter, where Barça is the sports club with the largest number of followers (more than 34 million), the project will be further intensified by the publication of Turkish content on Facebook, which will be exclusively geo-located for fans in Turkey or that use the social network in Turkish. Turkey is the country that produces the 7^th highest number of likes on the FC Barcelona page, while Istanbul is the 12^th most common home city of Barça’s Facebook followers.

Turkey is a strategic market for the Club. According to a study by Repucom, a company that specialises in market research, Barça is the country’s most followed foreign football club with almost 11.5 potential fans, a number that has continuously increased in recent years. There have also been major commercial ties with the country through agreements with Turk Telecom, Beko and Lassa Tyres. The first deal was signed in 2011, when Turk Telecom (now Avea) became the Club’s telecommunications partner in Turkey. FCB Escola projects have also been developed, with the first football school in the country opening this year in Istanbul.

In 2014, the Turkish household appliance company Beko became a global premium partner of the Club and its logo is appearing on the first team shirt sleeve for three seasons.

And this season, FCB and Lassa Tyres signed a global sponsorship deal whereby this leading tyre company has become the main sponsor of the professional sports teams, and also an official football partner of the Club for the next four years.

FC Barcelona has announced that the Espai Barça jury has selected the bid by the HOK + TAC Arquitectes team as the winner of the architectural tender for the New Palau Blaugrana. The jury, formed by five members of FCB, three members of the Col•legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) and one member of Barcelona City Council, made their decision after a careful study of the different proposals, carried out by a technical commission, in accordance with specifically established regulations and the requirements of the tender process.

The bid by HOK + TAC Arquitectes is remarkably innovative with its concept of a multi-functional Palau, and is also outstanding for its permeability, flexibility and personality. With organic geometry, it offers a fine sequence between the Palau, annex court, ice rink and the FCB Escola facilities. From now, the winning team shall be working together with the Barça technical teams and the Barcelona City Council to make further specifications and work further on the integration of the new installations with the rest of the Espai Barça and the city.

HOK Architecture is one of the most important firms in the United States in terms of architecture and engineering, with experience of all kinds of project all around the world. HOK developed the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the Nationwide Arena in Ohio and the Stockton Arena in California. The team also has the experience of being the architects behind the First Direct Arena in Leeds. Locally, Eduard Gascón of TAC Arquitectes leads a solid team with extensive experience of the development of all kinds of projects in Barcelona, such as the award winning Parc del Turó de Can Mates, the Technology Centre in Manresa and different office buildings in Barcelona.

It has overcome fellow bids from Pattern Architects + Massip-Bosch Arquitectes, GMP + GCA Arquitectes, Make + BCQ Arquitectes, Francisco Mangado Arquitectos + Bach Arquitectes + R. Sanabria Arquitectes + I. Paricio and Wilkinson Eyre Architects + Alonso Balaguer Riera Arquitectes. The jury wishes to congratulate all of the entrants for the high level and quality of the different bids presented for tender.

Image of the inside of the New Palau Blaugrana

The New Palau Blaugrana

The work on the New Palau Blaugrana is expected to start in the 2017/18 season and end in the 2019/20 season. The complex on which it will stand is on the current site of the Miniestadi, next to the new Camp Nou station on Metro Line 9, and will have three areas that can operate independently. One is the huge multi-purpose pavilion, with the capacity for 10,000 spectators at sports events. The others are an auxiliary court with a capacity of 2,000 and the other is a complementary ice rink.

The capacity of 10,000 meets the requirements of the Euroleague basketball competition and the seats will be arranged to be right next to the court, thus fostering a veritable ‘wave effect’.

Spectator services

The New Palau will have wide areas that are easily accessed and conditioned for all services that spectators might require, and will be fully adapted for persons with reduced mobility.

The requirements included the need for the main and auxiliary courts to be located on the same level, with shared locker rooms and services for athletes, with each sports section having its own compact area including all necessary services, and for there to be 18 VIP boxes and two ‘skybars’ with views of the court, one of which can also function as a restaurant. It also needs to have a 200 m² pressroom with work areas and specific services, and for access to the court to be via three tunnels to assist with assembly and disassembly of operations for different matches and other events.

The presentation of the New Palau Blaugrana construction project will take place at a public event to be held over the next few weeks.

Espai Barça

The FC Barcelona members unanimously approved the New Espai Barça, the project to transform the Club’s facilities, including the Camp Nou, Palau Blaugrana and Miniestadi. 72.36% of members gave the green light to the remodelling and construction of the FC Barcelona premises at this site at a referendum held on 5 April 2014.

The tenders to select the architectonic projects for the construction of the New Camp Nou and New Palau Blaugrana, which began last June 5, entered the second phase with the selection of the shortlist of candidates, and the period for them to present their architectonic proposals for each installation.

The jury selected eight teams which were mainly made up of one international and one local studio each, to prepare their proposals for the New Camp Nou, and another six teams to do the same for the New Palau Blaugrana, in accordance with the recommendations made by the technical commission, made up of the Espai Barça team and two architects from the COAC.

A total of 45 teams took part in the first round of the tender, who had to present their credentials and experience of similar projects. The jury and the Espai Barça technical committee then selected the finalists, who were presented with guidelines showing all of the information required to put their projects together, along with the regulations and criteria for the second phase and all of the documentation compiled by the Espai Barça during the last year of work.

The New Camp Nou

Over the next few weeks, the jury is set to announce the winner of the project for the New Camp Nou. The eight candidates are as follows: AECOM + B720 Arquitectes, Arup Sport + Taller d’Arquitectura Ricardo Bofill, BIG + IDOM + BAAS Arquitectes, Gensler Sport + OAB, HKS + COX + Batlle i Roig Arquitectes, KSS + Mateo Arquitectura, Nikken Sekkei + Joan Pascual i Ramon Ausió Arquitectes and Populous + MIAS Arquitectes + RCR Arquitectes.

The New Miniestadi

The Batlle i Roig Arquitectes studio won the tender for the New Miniestadi, which ended last May, and will be built at the Ciutat Esportiva training ground for a cost of 12 million euros. The Batlle i Roig Arquitectes studio, which had already taken part in the architectonic design of the Ciutat Esportiva, has designed a New Miniestadi in keeping with the requirements of the tender. It will have the capacity for 6,000 spectators, adapted to UEFA category III, with covered terraces, 600 parking spaces and independently functioning from the Ciutat Esportiva. It is scheduled for opening in June 2017.

The Espai Barça jury met this evening at La Masia

Following news that has appeared in today’s edition of La Vanguardia newspaper, on the alleged use of false passports in Spanish basketball,  FC Barcelona wishes to express its surprise and concern about a matter that, if confirmed to be true, would suppose major adulteration of competitions.

Given the allegations published today, the Club’s Management of Professional Sports has ordered the Club’s legal services to immediately request permission for FC Barcelona to appear before the Magistrates Court that is investigating the case, as an aggrieved party as a result of these allegations.

FC Barcelona believes, should these allegations be confirmed, that this will imply a series of very serious sporting consequences. All of this is regardless of the logical actions that must be undertaken by the Spanish Association of Basketball Clubs (ACB) and other clubs that face damages due to these allegations.

After FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, its former president Sandro Rosell, and its director general Nacho Mestre made statements to the National Court (Audiencia Nacional) this morning, the Club has declared how pleased it is to have been able to explain events regarding the transfer of the player Neymar Jr.

The Club wishes to make it clear that president Josep Maria Bartomeu and former president Sandro Rosell made a statement in which they ratified, with regard to all the facts and arguments, what they had already stated to the same court regarding the same matter one year ago. They both reiterated that FC Barcelona has always acted correctly and with due diligence, and that they feel calm about the situation and have every confidence in the justice system.

In the name of FC Barcelona, director general Nacho Mestre has described, in a statement of more than three hours, how the protocols and procedures that the Club observes with regard to the signing of players is based on good practices that scrupulously respect applicable legislation, and that these criteria were strictly applied to the said transfer.

This is the first time that FC Barcelona has appeared as a legal person to make a statement at the National Court, as during the first hearing, the request by the Club’s legal representative to make a statement was denied. The Club therefore presented an appeal to the Barcelona Provincial Court, which is still pending resolution.

Faced with suggestions that FC Barcelona have been late in presenting their appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the fine of 40,000 euros imposed by UEFA concerning songs and symbols of independence during the Champions League game at Camp Nou against Bayer Leverkusen on 29 September 2015, the Club would like to assert the following:

1.- In no way has the appeal been lodged outside the period stipulated. The discrepancy with CAS comes about because the organisation considers that the original documents presented by FC Barcelona arrived physically late at CAS. The Club considers it unfair and disproportionate that such formalism, not in keeping with the Club’s intentions, may be to the detriment of its right to defend itself before the Court.

2.- That this rigorous application of the rules cannot be an distorting factor is demonstrated by the fact that CAS communicated by fax to FC Barcelona official admission that the appeal was being processed on 12 January 2016. Based on this fact, FC Barcelona urge CAS to reverse its decision.

3.- The cases opened by UEFA for the same motives concerning games against BATE Borisov and AS Roma at Camp Nou remain unresolved. FC Barcelona and UEFA continue working together to allow the latter to accept that the exhibition of Catalan Independence flags (Estelades) and songs at Camp Nou, motives for the cases, are the result of popular feeling and not political actions.

There’s a busy weekend in store at FC Barcelona with the handball and futsal teams back in action and the football team away to Levante for a Sunday lunchtime kick-off. Saturday brings Barça B at the Miniestadi and European roller hockey in the Palau Blaugrana.  

This is what you have to look forward to (all times CET):

Friday 5 February

8.30pm HANDBALL Helvetia Anaitasuna v FC Barcelona Lassa

Now that the international competitions are over, Barça continue to defend their one hundred per cent league record in Pamplona against the tem in tenth. But coach Xavi Pascual is missing all of Ruesga, Jicha and Noddesbo.

Saturday 6 February

6.00pm FOOTBALL FC Barcelona B v Olot

The reserves have moved up the table to eleventh and next up its fellow Catalan side Olot, who are five places below them.

8.00pm ROLLER HOCKEY FC Barcelona Lassa v Iserlohn

Barça are already sure to finish second in their group and are already looking forward to their quarter final in the European League. But there’s one fixture still to play, at home to the winless Germans.

Sunday 7 February

12.00pm FOOTBALL Levante v FC Barcelona

Luis Enrique’s side are three points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand, and on Sunday they have an early start against the side at the opposite end of the table.

12.00pm WOMEN’S FOOTBALL FC Barcelona v UD Granadilla Tenerife

Second meets eighth in a crunch match for the Barça ladies, who trail leaders Athletic Bilbao by six points.

12.00pm U19 FOOTBALL RCD Mallorca v FC Barcelona

After beating Zaragoza last week, Gabri’s team have the chance to narrow the gap on third placed Mallorca, who currently lead them by ten points.

12.30pm BASKETBALL FC Barcelona Lassa v Morabanc Andorra

Scond placed Barça (16-2) take on the eighth placed Andorrans (9-9) in Liga Endesa action this weekend.

7.00pm FUTSAL Santiago Futsal v FC Barcelona Lassa

Following the break, league play resumes with a trip to Galicia. FCB are second and the home side are seventh as things stand.

Following the filing of a complaint in relation to industrial espionage which the Mediapro Group filed, involving FC Barcelona, the club states that:

1. FC Barcelona is totally unaware of the events that have led to this complaint, which took place between 2009 and 2011, and will therefore act immediately on the procedure to request the file of the case which refers to the Club.

2. The Club demands respect for its ex-presidents and the presumption of innocence of two employees of the organisation who have been implicated.

3. FC Barcelona makes itself available to the judge to help clarify the events that have led to the complaint. At the same time, the Board has commissioned a report on this case to the Director General of the Club to investigate the authenticity of these facts.

4. The Club reserves the use of all legal actions that serve to preserve the prestige and image of FC Barcelona.

On 6 February 2006, FC Barcelona began a pilot phase on YouTube, due to the platform’s increasing popularity among youngsters. Ten years on, Barça is now the most followed sports team in the world, with over two million subscribers.

Below are ten facts which highlight the club’s impact on the biggest video-sharing website:

- Barca’s YouTube channel has over 2,144,200 subscribers in its ten years of life, making it the most followed sports institution worldwide.

- The Catalan club stands clear of its nearest footballing rivals such as Real Madrid (1.9million subscribers), Manchester City (559,000), Chelsea (487,000) and Liverpool (408,000).

- It is also the sports club with the most views worldwide (456 million) and fifth overall in sports, behind only the NBA, MLB, MotoGP and the Olympics.

- More than 12,600 videos have been uploaded, which would take a little over 1,600 years to watch all of them.

- If videos uploaded about Barça by other users were taken into account, the total viewing time would be around 185million hours.

- The videos have earned over three million ‘likes’.

- The five countries which account for the most views are: United States, Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Morocco.

- The victory parade of the 2015 treble remains the video with the most comments on Barça’s channel

- The day of the Neymar Jr’s presentation (4 June 2013) was the busiest day in the history of Barça’s channel, with four million views.

- The ten most viewed videos of the channel are:

1. Messi and Neymar keep-ups battle

2. Inside view of El Clásico

3. Pep Guardiola tribute

4. The highlights of the 2006 Champions League final

5. Justin Bieber training with FC Barcelona

6. Neymar's first touches for FC Barcelona

7. Ronaldinho documentary

8. Previously unpublished images of Leo Messi at La Masia

9. How Messi prepares for a game

10. A spectacular goal by Barça's youngsters

La galeria de les millors imatges blaugrana del mes de gener del 2016

FC Barcelona striker Neymar is the star of a new video released by the Club in commemoration of the Chinese New Year 2016. The Brazilian superstar was joined by his blaugrana teammates Marc-André ter Stegen, Ivan Rakitic, Aleix Vidal and Thomas Vermaelen in a production designed to help the Club reach out to its fans in China. The Chinese New Year falls on Monday, 8 February this year and will be known as the Year of the Monkey, which is a symbol of intelligence, confidence and curiosity, among other traits.

In recent years, FC Barcelona has been strengthening its bond with its fans in China through various digital platforms, like the Club's official Chinese language website www.fcbarcelona.cn, as well as social media accounts on Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo and on the messaging service WeChat.  It is through these channels that Chinese fans can not only consume exclusive content, but they can also participate in a contest to win a signed jersey — the one used in the filming of this year's New Year video. 

FC Barcelona has grown immensely in China, adding 1.7 million followers over the past year — more than any other club — more than Manchester United's 1.1 million and Bayern Munich's 800,000.

FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu will be in Paris, France on Tuesday to take part in the General Assembly of the ECA (European Club Association).

The meeting, which brings together the ECA members, is expected to deal with various issues including the relationship the clubs have with FIFA and UEFA, as well as with some of the association's other internal administrative matters. Also, during the meeting, UNESCO will present a series of proposals to the clubs to combat racism in football.

The Paris gathering is the second of two ECA General Assemblies held every season. The group met in September in Geneva. In between, the ECA Executive Committee meetings are held, which president Bartomeu has been a part of since May 2014.

The photography competition ‘Camp Nou Experience’ now has a winner for the month of January. The Instagram account that will take away the Barça shirt on offer is that of victordrija, with a total of 3,911 votes. For the winner to receive the prize they have to send an e-mail to campnouexperiencefcb@gmail.com stating their address.

The competition has been running for several months now and it consists of taking a photograph of yourself during the ‘Camp Nou Experience’ tour, imitating one of the first team players and then post it on Instagram. The hashtag #CampNouExperience must be used for the Club to award a Barça shirt to the person whose photo receives most ‘likes’.

Buy tickets for the 'Camp Nou Experience'

FC Barcelona and the Agrupació Barça Jugadors (ABJ - Barça Players Group) presented a new programme on Wednesday called FCB Legends, the idea of which is to honour the players that have worn the famous jersey in the past.

The project is all about joining forces to help globalise the Barça brand and its values, and to continue the involvement of former players in the club after their playing careers have ended.

The initiative was presented at the Camp Nou by Jordi Cardoner, first vice-president of FC Barcelona and the head of the Social Area and Foundation, along with Ramon Alfonseda, president of the ABJ and two emblematic former stars, Juliano Belletti and José Mari Bakero.

FCB Legends has arisen out of talks between the boards of both the Club and the ABJ, and seeks to promote all kinds of events around the world involving former players, including football matches and commercial activities.

Former players will also serve as ambassadors for the Club in different charity, institutional and Foundation events.

The FCB Legends programme will also broaden the experience of these players through participation as speakers and lecturers in relation to their different actions.

Statement by Jordi Cardoner

“This is an exciting, historic day for Barça. We’ve been hoping for and dreaming of a project like this for a long time, one that puts this Club in a position where no other club has been before. The players need to be the real ambassadors of Barça. This must be a cohesive project that can continue the careers of former footballers”.

Statement by Ramon Alfonseda

“We want to give back to society what society has given to former players. Elite footballers will have a future path and can also remain associated to FC Barcelona. Players can construct their own personal brands and can complete their training. Our dreams are coming true and our aim is to become ‘more than a Group’”.

Statement by Juliano Belletti

“A lot of people in Brazil ask why Barça is ‘more than a Club’ and it’s because of things like this. This Club thinks about its players and this is a way of offering them respect and we are very excited to be involved”.

Statement by José Mari Bakero

“This project is the logical continuation of the Veterans Group. This will make the Club and the members of the Group stronger.”

There’s another action-packed week in store at FC Barcelona, starting on Friday with the basketball team in the Euroleague and ending on Sunday night with Celta coming to the Camp Nou.

There’s no women’s football this weekend, although the Barça ladies did make use of the time to play a Friday friendly against Korean champions Hyundai Steel Red Angels, winning 3-0. And the Asobal handball league is also taking another week off for the European Championship, with Russia and Spain set to play the final in Belgrade on Saturday.

Here’s a rundown of what you’ve got to look forward to this weekend (all times CET):

Friday 12 February

9.00pm BASKETBALL FC Barcelona Lassa v Žalgiris Kaunas

Barça (2-4) desperately need a win to stay within reach of a Euroleague quarter finals berth, and their Lithuanian guests are in even deeper trouble (1-5).

Saturday 13 February

12.00pm U19 FOOTBALL FC Barcelona v Lleida

Fourth place Barça have the chance to make up lost ground at home to the side currently third from bottom in the Division of Honour.

9.30pm ROLLER HOCKEY Recam Laser Caldes V FC Barcelona Lassa

Barça are three points clear at the top of the OK Liga, but a trip to ninth placed Caldes is one manager Ricard Muñoz knows will not be easy.

Sunday 14 February

12.30pm BASKETBALL FC Barcelona Lassa v Baloncesto Sevilla

Just 48 hours after the European game, Barça (17-2) will be looking to put more pressure on Liga Endesa leaders Valencia as they host Sevilla (6-13) at the Palau.

5.00pm FOOTBALL Hèrcules CF v FC Barcelona B

Four consecutive wins have pulled the reserves well away from the relegation zone, but this trip to Alicante is one of the trickiest on their schedule.

5.00PM HANDBALL Montpellier HB v FCB Lassa

After a two-month break, the Champions League resumes, with Barça top of Group B but not yet guaranteed a direct berth into the quarter finals. Unlike their French hosts, however, Barça are at least guaranteed a place in the playoff round.

8.30pm FOOTBALL FC Barcelona v RC Celta de Vigo

Barça are top of the league with a game in hand, but on Sunday night they are at home to a team that beat them 4-1 when they met earlier this season at Balaídos. It won’t be an easy fixture for the cup finalists.

From Tuesday 16 February, the Camp Nou shall have a new catering area open to the public. Part of the Camp Nou Experience, it was designed by the world famous Iglesias brothers.

The Roma 2009 Gastronomic Space is located in the grandstand and was presented on Monday evening at an event attended by several members of the Board, and with speeches by Nacho Mestre, director general of FC Barcelona, Antoni Llorens, director general and president of Serunión, and Juan Carlos Iglesias, CEO of the Iglesias Group.

Mestre described this as the latest step in the development of the future Espai Barça, while Iglesias, who created the menu spoke about the “huge responsibility of setting up this project … it was designed to be financially accessible to the members.”

Llorens congratulated everyone involved for their wonderful work, calling it "a dream that we have been working on for 25 years and that is the culmination of a joint project with FCB".

The culinary service will open at the same times as the Camp Nou Experience, from 10.00am to 6.00pm, and will be available to all visitors and the general public at midday. It will be closed on match days, and also the day before in the case of Champions League fixtures.

The Iglesias brothers were also involved in such prestigious restaurants as Rías de Galicia, Espai Kru and Casa de Tapas Cañota, and they have fused the best of all three to create unique proposal in which seafood plays a very prominent role.

Book now: +34 93 290 68 78

L’aplicació oficial del teclat del FC Barcelona ja es pot descarregar a l’AppStore. Després que el passat mes d’abril estigués disponible per als usuaris d’Android, la nova app ja pot ser utilitzada per tots els usuaris amb dispositius d’Apple.

L’FCB Keyboard permet instal·lar i configurar un teclat personalitzat amb els colors blaugrana al dispositiu mòbil. L’app disposa de les funcionalitats d’un teclat normal i inclou un sistema de predicció i d’autocompletat de paraules. A través de l’app es pot accedir directament als diferents perfils oficials del Club a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram i Youtube. A més, també té un accés al lloc web del Barça i a la plataforma Barça Fans. Fins ara l’aplicació ha tingut molt bona rebuda entre els usuaris d’Android i ha registrat un total de 5,7 milions de descàrregues.

Es pot obtenir l’aplicació, per a iOS i Android, en aquests dos enllaços:

iOS

Android

FC Barcelona sponsor Lassa Tyres have launched their latest advertising campaign which features an array of the Club’s stars.

Arda Turan, Gerard Piqué, Luis Suárez, Neymar Jr, Ivan Rakitic, as well as the captains of the basketball and handball teams, Juan Carlos Navarro and Víctor Tomás respectively, are present in the Turkish brand’s global television advert.

The latest campaign which goes by the slogan of "the tyre that never tires" aims to enforce the values of the brand and, in particular, its effort to offer maximum quality tyres which can meet a range of needs in terms of performance, durability, safety and values, on different surfaces and weather conditions.

The advert shows the tyres, with their incredible performance and durability, as a reliable teammate of the FC Barcelona players on their road to success. In the advert, Lassa Tyres and the players encounter various challenges which they overcome together. The campaign launches with the slogan "Barça's Best Kept Secret".

Halit Sensoy, International Sales and Marketing Director of BRISA, says that Lassa Tyres is “committed to offering the highest possible quality in security and durability on all types of roads, in all regions of the world and at all times of the year.

“The same can be said of the FC Barcelona stars. They give their maximum effort for their supporters.”

The advert, which will initially be aired on Eurosport, will continue to be broadcast until May 2016. It will also be available on YouTube and on the social media channels of both Lassa Tyres and FC Barcelona.

Thierry Henry paid a visit to the recent NBA match between the San Antonio Spurs and the LA Lakers, where he met with FC Barcelona fan Kobe Bryant.

The Frenchman visited fellow countrymen Tony Parker and Boris Diaw ahead of the match, and, once the game was over, had a brief catch-up with Bryant.

The two exchanged jerseys: Henry handed the NBA star one of a no.14 blaugrana shirt with his name on the back due to the American’s love for the Catalan club, while Bryant gave the ex-Barça striker a no.24 Lakers top.

Bryant has made no secret of his love for Barça in recent years, and recently visited the team’s training session where he exchanged jerseys with Andres Iniesta.

Henry is now a television pundit for Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, and will have a keen eye on the Champions League clash between two of his former sides, Barça and Arsenal, on Tuesday.

[[DES_1]]In an interview to the British newspaper The Daily Mail on Sunday, FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu explained, among other things, the reasons why big players like Neymar Jr and Luis Suárez want to come FC Barcelona. "Even with better deals out there they decided to come to Barça; our club attracts players because it is "more than a club," he said, referring to the Club's well-known motto.

But what exactly does it mean? "We are not just a football club,  we do many things," he said. "We want to help the children of the world through UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the International Olympic Committee, in order to carry out projects for children."

Bartomeu says he isn't concerned about possible offers involving Barcelona players. "We are calm because our players are very happy at our club and in our city. They enjoy the sport, their profession, they are part of a group and they are not terribly moved by money." As for Messi, Bartomeu said that "he himself said Barça would be the only club he'd play for."[[CITA_1]]

In his analysis of the team, Bartomeu highlights team spirit as one of the keys to its success. "Sometimes there are two or three different groups in a locker room. On this team there is only one. They are all happy for both individual and collective success." He also praised the quality of the staff and, especially, the trident: "Never in Club history, nor perhaps in the history of football, have three players of this quality played together."

About Suárez, who still garners a lot of attention among the British media and fans after his stint at Liverpool, Bartomeu said, "He's a star, the world's best at his position. He accepts his role and plays for the team and staff before himself."[[CITA_2]]

Bartomeu also talked about how the Club's football model influenced the general model, beginning with Johan Cruyff. "Cruyff led the way; Louis Van Gaal gave confidence to young players like Valdés, Iniesta and Puyol, while Rijkaard led Barça to the Champions League title in Paris...If you look at our coaching history, they're the ones who won. Pep and Tito won a lot too, they were a fantastic team. Barça will always be grateful. Now it's Luis Enrique who's winning."

FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu told the BBC that FC Barcelona’s greatest rival is not any one club but rather the English Premier League, while being unequivocal in explaining that Barça will have to " increase our revenues and our financial situation to make the talent of our teams stay with us."

"I've always said the Premier is the best football competition in the world and is FC Barcelona‘s true rival. And the Champions League is the competition that matters most to fans worldwide."

The interview, which was broadcast by the BBC throughout the world on television, radio and online,  is expected to reach several hundred million users, according to the BBC’s own estimates.

Bartomeu delved into various issues, including how difficult it is to compete with the Premier League, FC Barcelona’s historic admiration for Arsenal, and Barça’s goal of surpassing one billion Euros in revenues in the next five years as a fundamental and strategic attempt to keep the

Club at the top of world football.

Bartomeu rejected the possibility that the Champions League is an easy competition for FC Barcelona.

"The best teams compete in it," he said, and while praising Arsenal, Tuesday’s rival in the tournament. "We have always admired them and followed them closely ... We’ve exchanged players with Arsenal and we have a similar way of approaching football."

Bartomeu believes Barça should always have top players, and commended the contribution made to the team by the trident

"We are very happy because we have the best players in the world. Messi is with us, Neymar is an incredible player of the future, but Suárez brought the balance to them. Together, this trident is incredible,” he said.  

He also is confident they’ll stick around.

"None of our players said they want to leave," he said. "Most get better economical offers, but our players are not in Barcelona for the money... they are there because of the football and the fans' commitment."

Check out the full interview, here.