FC Barcelona

The ever-present awareness that we were in the home of one of soccer’s greatest clubs was inescapable in Barcelona. Everywhere were reminders that we were in Barca territory, something that we as soccer fans appreciated. Again my North American keyboard fails me; Barca should have an accent under the ‘c’ to soften it.

Jesse had recently found an old Barca jersey at a thrift store in Ringsted and Gus had one he got from a relative as a birthday present once so they were both frequently attired in the local colours. The actual local colours are better reflected in Barca’s away jersey this year which looks a lot like a Catalan flag, Barcelona is in a region called Catalonia which is made up of parts of Northern Spain and Southern France, some within the territory are fiercely Catalonian rather than Spanish or French and the flags are hard to miss in Barcelona.

The tourist industry cashes in on Barca fever with Barca jerseys available at nearly every tourist store. Hungry for a snack? Why not grab a bag of Barca chips, or perhaps your preference is for a bag of Barca coloured popcorn. Drinking water comes from bottles and in a few restaurants we found Barca players on the label, Iniesta was in advertisements on the bank window, and tickets to games can be purchased at tourist information centers.

Sadly we were visiting during an international break so no game for us (bank account sighs with relief), but we could still go to the stadium, to the museum, and the superstore, which we did. The museum was like a really good commercial, I knew I was being manipulated but it worked. I think Gus said it best to his mom (opted out of museum and tour) ‘When we were in there I started to wonder if I liked Barcelona better than Bayern Munchen, but then I got outside and I was like, okay, Bayern’.

The first part we walked into was the story of Barcelona’s Unicef involvement, Barca was one of the clubs that did not have a sponsor (rare) until very recently when they paid Unicef to wear the name on their jersey, that is not how it usually works and it is hard to deny the power of that move. The display was all about charity work and respect and supporting others and teamwork and it made you feel warm and cozy. Unicef now finds home at the back of the jersey and the front this year has quietly changed from Qatar Foundation to Qatar Airways; slick entry into the world of sponsorship. Upstairs the emotional appeals continued with video touch screens that allowed parents and children alike to revisit great Barca moments, I watched the greats of the past while the boys watched today’s stars.

We had a good time at Camp Nou but it was a long walk back to the hotel and when we finally got back we were ready to relax and unwind while watching our favourite channel – BarcaTV.