teacherCanada

I will be escorting a group of high school students to France and Spain in March 2008. Quite a few of them would like to see a Barcelona match but I can't figure out their playing schedule. Can anyone help me find out where and when Barcelona is playing on the 15, 16 or 17 of March?

markrosy

You can thank your lucky stars that they are playing away during that period. The tickets are very expensive and Barcelona can be a heated affair for high school students.

There will be enough atmosphere in a local cafe/bar to keep your students going.

http://www.barcelona-football-ticket...n/eur/fixtures

traveller1959

Barcelona has two first-league football clubs: The FC Barcelona, which is the Catalan club, and Espanyol Barcelona, which is Castilian club.

FC Barcelona plays on 16 March in Almeria. Almeria is at the southern coast, near Granada.

See http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/

Espanyol will play on 16 March in their home stadium against Mallorca.

http://www.rcdespanyol.com/

Images2

Even if a game is scheduled for a certain date, they can move it, so you can't rely on going to a game on the date you wish. This happened it us in September with the Barcelona vs. Seville game.

teacherCanada

Thanks Markrosy, traveller1959 and Images2. I appreciate the links and the suggestions. Coming from rural Canada we know it would be a "real" experience to attend a first-league match. The Espanyol game might work for us. Nice to know they are playing at home. I'll let you know how things work out.

kenderina

Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Espanyol is as catalan as Barcelona is !! Don't be mislead by the name..it does not come from now, but from their foundation. Barcelona was founded by a swiss man , Jan Gamper and all the players then were foreigners (mostly swiss and english). Espanyol players were all from Barcelona. That is the story

jgg

We were in Barcelona last March and watched an Espanyol game as FC Barcelona was not playing home while we were there. It was a lot of fun, so I would recommend doing it, if it is in your budget. We just walked up before the game to buy the tickets.

cookiescompanion

On a semi-related note...when I was in Barcelona in January I wanted to go to a football match. Unfortunately, they were only playing away while I was there. Instead I went to Camp Nou (their homeground) which has a football musuem - bad move!! I would not recommend going. It is all about the money and the experience is not worth it (unless of course you are a diehard fan). From what I remember, you pretty much follow a piece of tape along the ground and go into totally deserted change rooms, conference rooms, different levels of the stadium and a museum at the end where everything is written in Spanish (or maybe Catalan). Pretty dodgy...

Cholmondley_Warner

What parallel world is it that has Barca tickets as expensive and the experience of a spanish football match too much for delicate little high school students?

Neither are true.

Go - you'll have a blast (unless they're playing Real Madrid which can get a bit lairy)

traveller1959

Camp Nou or not?

For an American, visiting Camp Nou may be as boring as for a European visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But for real football fans (what the American call "soccer&quot, Camp Nou is like a sanctuary. Going through the change room where Ronaldinho takes his shower is something special. Someone who doesn't have a relation to football sees just a change room.

So, let your kids decide. You take the underground train to a kind of suburban area, walk a bit, pay a handsome fee and walk self-guided through part of the stadium, land in a football museum and end in the gift shop. For millions of Europeans and South Americans, this is a kind of pilgrimage; for North Americans it may be boring, I admit.

kenderina: thank you for correcting me, you are perfectly right!

jgg

We did the Camp Nou tour and enjoyed it. Our kids both play soccer (football) and thought it was neat to see the stadium and sit in the stands (especially since we couldn't see an FC Barcelona game). Espanyol plays at the Olympic stadium). Plus, the photography exhibit in the museum was EXCELLENT!!

markrosy

audere - you prat they are playing away I think we established that!

Cholmondley_Warner

No mark they aren't. Barcelona are playing away. ESPANYOL are playing at home, in Barcelona - and that's who the OP is now planning to see. Good to see the comprehension skills are as good as ever.

In any case there's nothing dangerous about the NouCamp. I've been there loads of times (well about 6) and I've never had any grief. And I have been for the Real Madrid match (which can get a bit lairy - but nowhere as bad as say, the North London derby)

markrosy

You referred to Barca tickets!

Cholmondley_Warner

I was addressing your point about Barcelona's football matches being "too much" for delicate septic kids. It isn't. Nor is it expensive (certianly by english standards)

teacherCanada

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. Quite often, over the past 2 years I have read long threads and not known how they have ended up. I wanted everyone to know our next steps. I have polled our travelling students as to whether they would like to attend a first league football match in Barcelona while we are there. Without exception they all said YES. Through the links provided by Traveller1959 our travel agent was able to find available tickets and we will be purchasing 40 seats in the second tier for 35 Euros each. It promises to be one of many experiences the students (and teachers) won't forget on our trip to France and Spain. The Olympic stadium has a great reputation for being filled with "all good seats" and we expect to have a lot of fun. It has been suggested we wear blue and white (Espanyol colours). Any other suggestions??

jgg

Good for you guys!! It will be a lot of fun. Just one thing to note, going to the Espanyol game was the one area we found a ton of smokers. Atleast you are outside, but still a lot of smokers were seated near us. Just to be prepared. Have a wonderful time!!

traveller1959

Hi Teacher:

Good to hear that everything worked out fine.

Football can be fascinating. Yesterday I was in the stadium to see the Champions League match Schalke-Chelsea and although (or better: because) it ended with a 0-0 draw it was one the most exciting sports events I have ever seen.

You may give you student some match reports to get some understanding of the game and the tactics.

Here is yesterday's report from the Guardian:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/news/...206196,00.html

Enjoy your trip!

Doh

We are also going to be in Barcelona (and Madrid) in March 2008, and were thinking of going to a match. We are four American adults and a 4 year old who love sports, especially live, but only occasionally watch (or play) soccer. We were thinking of going to see either Real Madrid-Espanyol in Madrid on March 9, or Espanyol-Mallorca in Barcelona on March 16.

Can anyone tell me if one of or both of these is likely to sell out in advance (we'd prefer not to pay the scalper prices), or if there's a reason we should pick one game over the other (because of price, or family-friendliness, or general atmosphere)?

thanks!

Cholmondley_Warner

If I were picking I would plump for Real Madrid. They are the biggest club in the world (no matter what those northern monkeys may say).

There team is a roster of the greatest players in the world.

They are of course quite the crowd pullers but you should be able to get tickets without too many problems.