Pitchside: The Nou Camp, as viewed on the stadium tour.

Who are yer? The club

 

 

 

No doubt your club will always have a proud boast. The usual bellow from what used to be the terraces, 'it's by far the greatest team the world has ever seen', always seems a bit unlikely unless you happen to have Pele in your side.

Barcelona has a claim. It's 'more than just a club', according to its slogan. But for once such a big statement may be justified. The club is part of the fabric of the city and its region of Catalonia, and has played a focal part in its history.

It all began on November 29, 1899 when Football Club Barcelona was founded by Joan Gamper - and the Barca blue and claret were picked because they were the colours from Gamper's Swiss canton. The club logo features the red and white cross of St George - the patron saint of Catalonia.

The very first game was against a team of English ex-pats living in the city - who knows, they probably got there on Easyboat - which the visitors won 1-0. History doesn't record if they then spent the night in the nearest Irish bar.

The first Barca ground was in Industria district and from 1909 the side began winning the Catalan and Spanish championships. Barca moved into its Les Corts ground in 1922 - known as the Cathedral of Football - and this was their home for 35 years.

A fallow period followed but by post-war the club was back in the trophies. Success saw the fans flock in and the 60,000 capacity of Les Corts was too small so the Nou Camp was born and opened in 1957.

The sixties were barren times - well, for some fans a return of one Fairs Cup and two domestic cups could be poor I guess - but in the seventies the super side led by Dutchman Johan Cruyff saw Barca return to the spotlight.

The appointment of Josep Nunez saw the Barca brand continue to grow on and off the field. 'El Tel' Venables managed the side to the league in 1985 - then Cruyff landed four successive titles in the early 90s - plus the Champions League at Wembley.

Bobby Robson continued the roll of honour and the trophies have continued to fill the Barca cabinet including Champions League trophies in 2006 and 2009.

It is the only club to have qualified for European competition every year since tournaments began in 1955. Barca, incorporating basketball, hockey, handball, baseball, volleyball and much more, has more than 140,000 members. It is more than just a club.

Where do you come from? Camp Nou

The biggest stadium in Europe. A temple to football that seats 98,000 fans.

The wow factor about the Camp Nou is certainly its size. There are posher, plusher, grander, more modern - definitely more modern - stadia on the continent. But this is still one that blows your mind.

You don't necessarily grasp how vast it is from the outside. Approached from some sides it just appears to be a big concrete mass in the heart of a nondescript business neighbourhood. Amazingly it's hard to spot the ground from any of Barcelona's major vantage points.

You only begin to get a feeling that you're in the vicinity of something special when you walk around it. It takes a long, long time to circumnavigate the Camp Nou complex and frustratingly the main ways take you the longest way round to the entrance, the museum and ticket office.

But once you've found your way in, the view is awesome.

Not a bad view: The Nou Camp from the top tier.

The most striking thing you notice on a first visit is just how open it is. You don't get that on telly, particularly as most Spanish games take place after nightfall.

Only the main stand is covered, the rest of the stadium is open to the elements. Bolton and Man U are prepared for rain. You'll be stunned to know it doesn't rain quite as much  in Barca - but when the heavens do open you will get drenched.

The view of the stadium is breathtaking - although even on the middle tier you are further from the pitch than you can get at most Premiership grounds. If you're just in town to savour the atmosphere, I'd suggest taking cheaper seats and hiking up more than dozen flights of stairs to the upper tier.

It's not that steep, you can take in the whole stadium and although you're a bit detached from the action, it's great for watching the team as a whole, moves and all. The openness means the noise levels are not the loudest you'll hear but the crowd is passionate nonetheless..


Two gigantic screens, the biggest in Europe, dominate each end although these are used to show annoying adverts midgame rather than action replays. Listen out for chirpy interludes telling you of other scores in other games.

It's got a bit of the old Wembley feel about it. It's old, built in 1957, and is not particularly spacious underneath. You can pretty much wander round the concourses on each level with a food and drink kiosk at every turn. It's not beautiful. It's got more concrete than central Birmingham. But it's still vast and must be done.

Changes are on the horizon. In the autumn of 2007 the powers the revealed that they had accepted a design from no less than Sir Norman Foster to overhaul the Nou Camp. It will be encased in a giant bowl and covered for all. The capacity will go up, it will be stunning and apparently it will all be done without preventing a single game from going ahead.

And we waited seven years for Wembley.....

Bag a seat: buying a ticket

Well there's 98,000 seats so you should get in....it's the biggest ground in Europe. You can probably get a ticket on the day for all but the Real Madrid game. But there are some pitfalls to watch out for so think before you travel.

Barca has more than 90,000 season ticket holders but don't fear, many don't attend every game so a healthy number are handed back for resale.

Your first port of call may well be the Barca website where you can buy online. You can get priority if you become a member but if you're only going for one game, it's probably not worth shelling out for it. You can purchase tickets as a non-member but you are advised to get in early as very few are available, and are rarely together.

You best bet may be the Barcelona tourist office website. There, you can purchase your tickets online at face value and you can pick them up at the ground on the day of the game.

If you really want your tickets in advance it's over to the agencies but expect to pay double face value and another 20 euros to have it posted.

Many people choose to get their tickets when they arrive in Barcelona. They are on sale at the Camp Nou - the ticket office is located inside the main entrance close to the museum.

However, if you are buying on the morning of a Sunday game you are often redirected to Access 5 and it's a bit of a free for all with hundreds of people queuing at three windows. There's little information until you get to the window and the ticket office staff speak little English. The ticket office opens at around 10am on Sunday.

Barcelona rarely play at 5pm on a Sunday but if they do, a word of warning - the early kick off means a high casual turnout, particularly for families. I was at one and the crowd swelled to 91,000 and on Sunday morning be prepared for lots of tutting and shaking of heads at the ticket booths as they tell you there are single seats only. And being seated in the same sector at the Camp Nou can still mean being 50 yards apart.


If you want to avoid a journey out to the Camp Nou just for tickets, they can be bought at the tourist information centre at Placa de la Cataluyna.

Ticket offices
(Access 14) Monday to Thursday 9am to 1.30pm and 3.30pm to 6pm, Friday 9am to 2pm, Saturday (home match weekends) 9am to 1.30pm (Access 7/9): Monday to Thursday, 10am to 6pm, Sunday, 10am to 2.15pm. Matchday ticket offices are open at Gol Nord and Gol Sud from 11am until kick off.

Telephone: 902 1899 00 in Spain, 0034 93 46 3600 outside Spain

We're on our way: getting to the ground

The Camp Nou is in a largely business and residential part of the city and it's a long walk from the middle, maybe two or three miles.

The best way to get there is on the metro. The closest are Les Corts on L3 line (which runs the length of La Ramblas) and Collblanc on L5 line, which connects the Camp Nou directly with Barca's other  temple, the La Sagrada Familia.

How do you reach the ground from either metro stop? Well, if you can't find your way to the ground when 90,000 people are heading the same way you really shouldn't be out on your own. Both are a ten minute walk from the stadium but it can take another ten to 15 minutes to walk round to your entrance.

But for the record - from Les Corts head straight down Travessera and the ground looms up on the right. From Collblanc, head straight ahead out of the station and then bear left along Carrer Riera Blanca for the stadium.

A third option - and possibly worth considering for Accesses 1 to 10 - is Maria Cristina or Palau Reial on L3 on the other side of the Camp Nou. On exiting either head towards Placa de Pios XII - then turn along Avinguda Joan XXIII (on the left if you're coming from Maria Cristina, right from Palau Reial) which takes you to the club entrance.

None of these stations are a decent size and it's manic after a game. Unless you've made a dash for it early you may be better off loitering, grabbing a beer and waiting for an hour.
If all else fails, you can walk back. Head to the Travessera de les Corts (that's on the other side to the entrance and museum) and go down Carrer D'Arizala opposite the ground. Cross over Avinguda de Madrid and when you reach Carrer de Sants turn left. This road heads straight down to Placa Espanya. From there, for Placa de la Catalunya take the second left to Gran Via de les Corts.  For the southern end of La Ramblas and the harbour, take the third left turning along Avinguda del Paral-lel.

Give it an hour.

Click here for a quick look at the area around the ground, with the Metro stops marked.

Who ate all the pies? Eating and drinking

As mentioned above, you're in the  business part of town which means it's as dead as a dodo on evenings and weekend. And that means watering holes are few and far between.

Add to that the fact that the Camp Nou is alcohol free - for both domestic and European games - and you will have sussed that it's not the best of locations for a pre-match San Miguel.

There are marginally more options close to Les Corts station, a handful of small bars that could be useful staging posts afterwards if you are waiting for the queues at the station to go down, but nothing more.

Your best bet is to grab a drink at one of the many bars around La Ramblas and then catch the 15 minute metro ride from Liceu to Les Corts. One alternative is taking in the culture of La Sagrada Familia - there's also a good Irish bar, the Michael Collins, handily close by - then taking the metro straight to Collblanc.

Inside the ground each tier is ringed with a glut of small kiosks with fayre including hot dogs, snacks and soft drinks. And alcohol-free beer. Nice.

On tour, grab a souvenir: Tours and stores

When you get home it always pays to say you've soaked up a bit of culture. So tell them you've been to the most visited museum in Catalonia. It just happens to be inside a football ground. You can tell them that bit later.

The Barca museum is a cut above most, is visited by more than a million people a year and is best taken in as the closing part of the Camp Nou tour, setting you back 13 euros in all (members get in free).

Tickets are bought from a booth inside the main entrance close to the megastore and ticket office.

You can take in a 3D show too for another three euros but frankly I wouldn't bother joining the queue. It's about ten minutes long and is a victory for style and computer generated images over content and does little more than explain that Barca is a football club, famous people score goals there and the crowds cheer. I suppose you do get to leave with a pair of 3D glasses but that's not really a deal-breaker, is it?

So it's over to Porta 18 of the stadium for the tour. It's pretty impressive and you get to navigate your way round the well-walked route at your own pace. You can part with a couple of Euros for an audio guide which kicks in with commentary at 60 odd locations. It's up to you but it's not vital and annoyingly you have to walk back to the entrance to hand it in at the end.

Reporting to the world: The press box on the stadium tour

The tour begins at the bottom and soon takes you into the dressing room and then out to the dugouts and the pitch itself. For some reason the stadium doesn't seem quite as big when you stand by the side of the pitch - not as far as the turf seems from the top tier.

Onwards and upwards .. to the presidential lounge and box where they benefit from TV screens giving instant action replays.

You head right to the top, and the press area which houses around 300 journalists a game, a number swelling to 800 for the Madrid clash.

The tour concludes in the extensive, aforementioned museum which lays out the club's history, contains team photos and the many trophies. You can have your picture taken with the Champions League trophy. I didn't. But that's because my partner's an Arsenal fan and funnily enough I don't think she would have appreciated that much.

Camp Nou Tour
Opening times (museum closes one hour later): Monday to Saturday April to October 10am to 7pm, October to April 10am to 5.30pm, Sundays and public holidays 10am to 1.30pm. Tour not available on matchdays, museum only open 10am to 1pm. Closed January 1 & 6 and December 25.
Tel: 902 1899 00 inside Spain, 0034 93 496 3600 outside Spain. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

La Botiga is the Barca megastore, right at the heart of the complex inside the main entrance. You make your way in to the first floor which is dominated by replica shirts. Head downstairs and there are plenty more options where you can part with your cash - dog toys are big, and you can even have a go at Sudoku with Barca players. As a Nike club, the extensive trainer section comes as no huge surprise.

Stalls can be found outside even on non-matchdays - many with official merchandise - and if for some reason you change your mind and want to buy something once you've left there's no need to panic. You'll spot official Barca material throughout the city and at the airport too.

Outside the museum and the store you will find a better than expected outdoor cafe doing a brisk trade in baguettes for three to four Euros, burgers and chips. Yep, there are plenty of English to be found there.

 

 

You'll find more information on the Nou Camp at: www.eventguides.com