FC Barcelona News

Well it looks like England is in a right mess, but certainly not as bad as France. Switzerland beat a Spanish side full of Barça players, so it’s hardly like they aren’t used to playing together. And what happened with Italy against New Zealand?

So far the world cup seems to have underwhelmed most people with football that lacks any kind of excitement – at least on the pitch as off the pitch there are vuvuzelas, confrontations between trespassing fans and David Beckham, players refusing to train and the advent of 3D television (BTW, is it any good?)…

Is this really world class?

But then again I think of Brazil against the Ivory Coast, which certainly lacked no passion, and it definitely was. And Argentina under Maradona – national team of Leo Messi – seem to be doing ok with  1-0 win over Nigeria and a much more convincing 4-1 victory over North Korea and tomorrow a match against Greece.

Anyway, when the circus is over we’ll be back to the domestic competitions, which of course includes La Liga. The draw will take place sometime in mid-July, although I currently don’t have a firm date for it – that’s life in Spain.

As soon as I know I’ll email everyone on the list with dates and prices.

However, FC Barcelona v Sevilla has been confirmed at the Nou Camp on 21/22 August. Matches in Spain are finalised a few days before the match so we can’t be more specific than that at the moment so if you want tickets you can order them now, but make sure you’re here for both of those dates:

Tickets for FC Barcelona v Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup

FC Barcelona’s presidential elections took place yesterday with Sandro Rosell the clear winner on 61% of the vote.

With Joan Laporta’s time in office over after a staggeringly successful time in the role, it is perhaps surprising that Rosell had such support; he was for a time Laporta’s right hand man until they spectacularly fell out.

But maybe it was because he was responsible for bringing Ronaldinho to the club; or simply because it has been clearly had his sights on the presidency for several years and was considered the natural successor.

In his victory speech he said “I want a Barça that will recapture the world’s imagination” – I’m neither pro nor anti Rosell, but that sounds like the biggest load of guff I’ve heard for a long time; Barça already capture the world’s imagination, that’s one of the reasons that we have several thousand people signed up for our mailing list and why people from all over the world buy tickets from us.

And he goes on with more guff; “one that unifies and does not separate while being committed to the country and to the causes of solidarity”.

One of Rosell’s priorities will be to ensure that Pep Guardiola stays as coach. He will also need to finalise the long expected deal with Arsenal to bring Cesc Fabregas to the club that Laporta got under way. The English press is reporting that a deal has gone on behind the scenes involving Rosell.

When he takes over on July 1st it’s at a club that is in pretty good shape. As well as winning the Spanish League he should find the club’s finances are looking much healthier than those of many; Real Madrid and Valencia spring to mind.

Just as well, since he plans on a €150 million development of the area around the Nou Camp rather than remodel the façade of the stadium. Time will tell how he gets on.

It’s a while since I sent any kind of news update on FC Barcelona, but with the Spanish League title sealed it seemed like time to take a bit of a break. Meanwhile, the wheels have continued to turn at Barça.

First thing on the agenda today is the FC Barcelona elections. Joan Laporta has overseen a spectacularly successful presidency at the club but it is now his turn to move on to pursue a career in the political arena. At least with the boardroom bust-ups he had at Barça he will be prepared for it.

The election campaigns of Agustí Benedito, Jaume Ferrer, Marc Ingla and Sandro Rosell are now in the final days, with club members voting on Sunday 13^th June.

Player news

While the presidential election going on in the background, it’s important not to forget the players. So far Barça has signed David Villa from Valencia and while the long rumoured bid for Cesc Fàbregas was formalised with a €35 million offer, Arsenal have so far rejected it. Laporta has stressed that the lines of communication with Arsenal are still open and so it may just be that they are haggling over the price.

World Cup

Meanwhile the rest of the footballing world is focused on South Africa. Victor Valdes has finally been selected for the Spanish squad along with several other Barça team mates; other national squads with Barça players include Argentina, France, Ivory Coast and Brazil.

Barça’s big signing of the season arrived in the Nou Camp yesterday to be greeted by more than 60,000 people, more than those who had turned out for Ronaldinho and Henry’s presentations combined. Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at the club yesterday morning, where he underwent medical examinations before signing his contract.

Some fans have been waiting outside the stadium all day and in the end the gates were opened early to avoid anyone being injured in the crush outside.

Ibrahimovic wore the number 9 shirt, where to the Barça anthem blaring over the tannoy he showed off his ball skills to the crowd, eventually taking the mike and finishing in Catalan, always guaranteed to set off a great response – “Gràcies a tots. Visca el Barça!” – Thanks to all. Long live Barça.

Afterwards he compared the experience with the birth of his children.

If you want to see Ibrahimovic playing for Barça at the Nou Camp, keep an eye on our homepage for availability of FC Barcelona tickets.

Barcelona played their second match at Wembley Stadium last night and notched up their first win of the pre-season.

This time they faced Egyptian Champions, Al-Ahly, in a game they eventually dominated. At first the teams were evenly matched, with Bojan scoring the first goal for Barça in the 15th minute and El Agizy equalising for Al-Ahly in minute 30. Rueda then scored in the 41st minute to put Barcelona in the lead ahead of the break.

With the team completely changed for the second half, Barça started to dominate the second 45 minutes, with Messi and Valdes on the pitch. The result was a goal from Jeffren in minute 55 from Messi and Pedro to make it 3-1; and the final goal came from Pedro, off Gudjohnsen, in minute 66.

0-1, Bojan (min 15)
1-1, El Agizy (min 30)
1-2, Rueda (min 41)
1-3, Jeffren (min 55)
1-4, Pedro (min 66)

Keep an eye on the homepage for forthcoming match details and buy your Barcelona FC tickets online. Next stop for Barça is the United States, where they play three matches including against LA Galaxy next Saturday.

According to Italian news reports today quoting his agent, Samuel Eto’o has today reached a deal with Inter Milan.

While no official announcement has been made, Josep Maria Mesalles went on to say that Eto’o’s exit agreement with Barcelona was still not finalised, but he would arrive in Milan early next week. With him goes Alexander Hleb, on loan for a year, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic will join Barça from the Italian club.

For tickets for Barcelona’s home fixtures see our homepage.

Manchester City has now been confirmed to visit the Nou Camp on August 19 to play Barcelona in the 2009 Gamper Trophy.

The invitation event takes place every August to show off the new squad and in recent years has included Juventus and Bayern Munich. The trophy is named after the founder of FC Barcelona, Swiss-born Hans Gamper, and while a friendly is often a good chance to see how the squad performs together.

If Samuel Eto’o decides to stick around at Barça he’ll also be able to check out what he missed by failing to agree terms with Man City – although it is likely he’ll be doing that from the bench.

A 28 strong Barça squad arrived in London on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their pre-season friendlies to be played at Wembley Stadium.

The squad is comprised of 17 first team players and 11 reserves, and includes such well known faces as Victor Valdes, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Bojan, as well as recent signing Maxwell, while missing from this squad are Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Piqué, Busquets, Alves and Milito.

The players are staying at the Danesfield House Hotel & Spa until Sunday and this week will be training at the Bisham Abbey Sports Centre.

Following the Wembley matches, against Spurs and Al-Ahly, the Barcelona squad heads to the States for three matches against Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders and Chivas. The first opportunity to see the new Barça lineup in Spain will be in Bilbao on August 16 in the first round of the Spanish Supercup against Athletic, while their first home match is the Gamper Trophy on August 19.

The visiting team in the Gamper is still to be decided – you can check availability of FC Barcelona tickets for all matches on the homepage.

Samuel Eto’o is reportedly furious at talks between Barcelona and Inter Milan, without him being consulted about any move to the Italian club.

The Cameroon striker will return to Barcelona next week after his holidays, with a deal agreed between Barça and Inter to sell Eto’o for €40 million plus the loan of Aleksandr Hleb in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Eto’o is reported to announce his decision later in the week once he has considered the deal fully and as the deal cannot go ahead without Eto’o’s say so, Barça are keeping their options open and are still talking about the possibility of signing David Villa from Valencia.

So far this season Barcelona have been slow to finalise any deals – their only signing to date is Brazilian left back Maxwell Scherer, also from Inter Milan.

We now have tickets for all Spanish League fixtures. You can find availability of Barcelona tickets at the Nou Camp on our homepage.

With a year left on his contract with Barcelona, the Cameroon star has every reason to be feeling unloved by the club for which he has done so much.

When Pep Guardiola first took over the coaching reigns from Frank Rijkaard he immediately announced that there was no place in his squad for Eto’o and would be sold; with no buyer in sight though, he was forced to eat his words and Eto’o became a consistent fixture in the 2009/10 squad and delivered – he was the second highest scorer in La Liga.

And now Barcelona wants him out to claw back some money in the form of a transfer fee back before his contract expires next year.

While Manchester City looked to be a dead cert for Eto’o, they finally walked away from the negotiating table. It seems that in addition to a big fat salary, Eto’o  also wants a large cut of the £18M transfer fee too, which means it looks like he’ll be in a team that doesn’t want him and he no longer wants to play for.

Is it a case if Eto’o being too greedy?

With the Spanish League fixture list now drawn, we’re still awaiting prices from FC Barcelona. Keep an eye on our home page for prices for FC Barcelona tickets. We’ll have allocations for all matches at the Nou Camp shortly.