Organizing a trip to the stadium to see the FC Barcelona game, which is one of the most famous football teams in the world, doesn’t necessarily need to be expensive or complicated. The tickets to see Barça’s league matches are available from €35.
If we want to see football stars who play for FC Barcelona during an attractive game, we should think about getting a ticket months ahead. Even though the Camp Nou stadium has a capacity of 99 thousand, the enormous interest that the Catalan and Barça’s fans from all over the world have in the team results in the most important games of the team being sold out two months in advance.
From the first championship to the huge global brand
Football Club Barcelona has been building their position and popularity for over 100 years now. It was founded at the end of 1899 by a Swiss, Hans Gamper. To commemorate its founding, Barça holds an annual tournament just before the beginning of the season. In 1910, Football Club Barcelona won the Catalan championship and the Spanish Cup. The team won its first Spanish championship in 1929, and in 1992, it won its first European Championship. So far, Barça won the UEFA Champions League five times, the Spanish Championship 23 times and won the Spanish King’s Cup (Copa del Rey) 27 times. FC Barcelona finished last season with a treble, meaning it won the Champion’s League, Spanish championship and the Spanish King’s Cup. Other divisions of the Catalan club also do very well. The basketball and handball teams from Barcelona continually compete for the highest titles in European tournaments. In the world of football it is an exceptional team, not only due to its enormous success, fame and interest of fans from nearly all continents. However, it’s also because of the unique ownership structure and managing model. The club belongs to nearly 200 thousand socios (club members), who vote in board member elections and have a say when the team is making strategic decisions.
Enticing teams and the stadium
Having a capacity of nearly 100 thousand, Camp Nou is the seventh stadium of FC Barcelona. The club’s growth had been so dynamic that the former stadiums were quickly turning out to be too small. The current stadium was built in 1957. In an opening game, FC Barcelona faced the team from Warsaw. Barça won 4:2 in a match watched by 93 thousand people. In 1982, the Barcelona stadium was one of the venues where the World Cup games were held, and in 1999 the memorable Champions League final, Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich, took place. The game ended 2:1, with two goals scored in overtime. After the most recent reconstruction, Camp Nou has a capacity of 112 thousand, however, due to the UEFA recommendation, the audience during the football matches is limited to 99 thousand.
Ticket for the Barça’s game from €35
Whenever Barcelona’s games are sold out, one can be sure of the great sport spectacle ahead. These are the kind of matches that are the hardest to get a ticket to. If we want to attend a game such as this, we need to start preparations a couple of months beforehand. The tickets for the games of the Catalan team can be purchased on the club’s website - http://www.fcbarcelona.com or through most other websites that sell tickets, such as: http://www.ticketmaster.es/es/. The tickets are also available at the stadium before the game, but please keep in mind that on game day there are bound to be big lines. The prices depend to a great extent on the competitor and the stage of the tournament. Obviously, the specific seat at the stadium is also of importance. The cheapest tickets are as little as €35, which is approximately 152 PLN (all exchange rates from 28.10.2016, source: Cinkciarz.pl). Middle tier seats, with an average view, cost about €50 (approx. 217 PLN). The best seats can be as much as €250 (approx. 1085 PLN). The most popular tickets are €60-70 (approx. 260-303 PLN). These tickets guarantee quite a nice view for the events on the field. An alternative to going by oneself and booking tickets directly, may be a trip with the Polish fan club. If we register as members and declare the will to go to a Barcelona game, the fan club will take care of the formalities, but everything has its price – a trip with a fan club will be more expensive than an independent journey.
Book the flight, book the bed
Once we have the ticket, we can talk about logistics. Cheap lines will get us from Warsaw to Barcelona and back for nearly 600 PLN, as long as the flight is booked two months prior to departure. In Barcelona, the best way to go about commuting via public transport. The subway will get us to the stadium or hotel safe and sound. A room for one in a three-star hotel, not a long way from the stadium, is about €70 (approx. 303 PLN). Hotels which are closer to Camp Nou target football fans from all around the globe, and when important games are ahead the prices increase to the level of €120 (app. 520 PLN).
We can’t go without a Barcelona football shirt…
FC Barcelona fans usually can’t imagine going to a game without sporting the club’s t-shirt or scarf. The official store with Barça’s gadgets is located at the stadium, but team kits and souvenirs can be also purchased in an online store. It is a quite comfortable facilitation that is available in Polish. The official game shirt for the 2016/17 season, with the name of our favourite player, is 388 PLN. The price of one of these official shirts with custom lettering is the same. Cheaper gadgets available are the official bidons, scarves, ticket wallets (app. 50 PLN) or sport wristbands (app. 29 PLN).
How to pay for all this?
In Spain, we will need euros and it is worth exchanging currencies before leaving Poland. The popular service, Cinkciarz.pl, offers more competitive rates than banks and traditional currency exchange offices. These can be checked in the currency converter which is available on the website. When purchasing one thousand euro, we can save up to 212 PLN when compared to the exchange rates offered by the banks.