Great news I would imagine for all the Asian readers of Spanish Football Sport with the announcement by FC Barcelona that they will visit the Asian region in the pre-season. The month of August will have installed three friendly matches to delight the Asian Barça followers: China ( 3 rd of August ) Thailand ( 7 th of August ) Malaysia ( 10 th of August ) The teams that they will play against are yet to be confirmed.
Its the 5 th time that FC Barcelona travels to the Asian region in the last 10 years. The reasons are heavily swayed towards the economical as the Asian - Pacific region is the fastest economic growing space on the planet. The potential earnings from this area for Football Clubs are tremendous with merchandising, sponsorships & TV rights broadcasting all being sources of income. Not only does Barcelona regularly visit Asia but so does Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal FC & AC Milan , just to name a few. So if your Asian or you will be travelling around Asia on the mentioned dates , keep an eye out for the ticket sales for the matches.
Local press has made echo of the English Press call for a yearly match between the "All-Stars" of LA LIGA & the PREMIER LEAGUE. Something similar occurred back in 1987 when a "World Best XI" played an England Best with the latter winning 3 - 0 at the Wembley Stadium.
Apparently the FIFA/FIFPro "Best XI 2012" announcement this week with all 11 players Spanish Internationals or LIGA players has brought on some criticism & the "old rival" debate about with League is better.
The idea is great from an economic point of view, imagine the TV rights? Perhaps this is the real story behind the story. Stay tuned. Tweet
The selling around the World of Football Club Jerseys is BIG BUSINESS. According to a leading e-commerce Football Jersey distributor & seller the Top selling shirt is from FC BARCELONA. The Spanish National Team Jersey is nicely positioned in 4th place, while surprisingly REAL MADRID is 6th placed.
Top 10 selling Jerseys:
1. FC Barcelona 2012/13 home jersey 2. Manchester United 2012/13 home jersey 3. Chelsea FC 2012/13 home jersey 4. Spain 2011/13 home jersey 5. Germany 2011/13 home jersey 6. Real Madrid 2012/13 home jersey 7. USA 2012/13 8. Italy 2011/12 home jersey 9. Mexico 2011/12 home jersey 10. Liverpool FC 2012/13 home jersey Tweet
The second uniform for FC BARCELONA for season 2013 - 2014 has been "leaked" as the below image highlights. For the first time in the Clubs 113 years founded by Swiss , English & local Spaniards, the Club takes literally its "recent history objetive" of representating the "Region of Catalunya". The colours & print are the same as the "Senyera", the name given to the flag of Cataluña.
FC Barcelona
There is Marketing strategy behind this, of course, but the other reason is Political, as its an attempt to further bond desired ties between the "Region-State" & the Club. Said in another way, FC Barcelona wishes to remain & continue being synonymous with Cataluña.
Perfectly acceptable & the Club is perfectly free do choose as they wish in a democratic society, but surprisingly "village" & "small minded" ( my opinion ) for a Football Club with their dimension, their proclaimed universality ( they sponsor UNICEF ) & global reach, they have more fans outside the Catalonian region & outside Spain. In my humble opinion it is bad business mixing Politics with Sports, it has always been the case however much used & abused throughout history for propaganda purposes. This unfortunately has that smell.
Some may ask what about the other Barcelona city Club RCD ESPANYOL? Are they less Catalonian? Are the Espanyol fans less? Will this cause other Spanish Football Clubs to change their uniforms for their Region?
I take it that Barcelona has announced their intention a year early to sample the public opinion. It will give conversation for sure. Meanwhile fans prepare for another 90€-100€ to get the new uniform.
Perhaps FC Barcelona should consider giving a shirt for free for the entire Regional population, right? Doubt it, the nationalist sentiment does not go out that deep, business will always be first, "Politics" will be the instrument to keep the faithful in line with their credit cards handy & the business churning out the euros. Tweet
The e-mail account of Spanish Football Sports is almost collapsed by readers around the World asking why I am not posting on the after shock-wave effects, or stating an opinion about the FC BARCELONA - REAL MADRID brawl & Mourinho "eye-poke" incident during the Spanish Super Cup last week. Why? Because everyone has already voiced an opinion, the majority from their own "coloured" glasses perspective charged with "reptilian" like instincts where rationality is something still a 1,000,000 years down the evolutionary path.
For starters everyone is to blame, from Football Presidents, Coaches, assistant, trainers, the players, the press, fans...the ball boy, everyone. The actions of Mourinho are inexcusable & not justifiable under any circumstances, they are simply out of all order & punishable. However, just before the famous "eye poke", FC Barcelona assistant Coach Vilanova ( or Pito to his mates) had been calling out to the Real Madrid bench that they were a "bunch of son of bitches" & just after the Marcelo tackle, that same Vilanova was racing out blind & firing "F*C+ing B*as*rd, Y++ Cun^" ( + or - understood but never verified) out of his month until Guardiola had to pull his assistant back to save a potential box up. Said this, maybe , just maybe, I to would stick my finger in the eye of someone who had just called me & my team everything under the sun. But there is more, according to Spanish paper "El Mundo" , Guardiola himself shouted "your all a bunch of *******", yes that some Guardiola that grabbed the neck of the Danish Coach a while back. As far as I can judge, all (everyone) have a part in this disgusting & embarrassing spectacle.
Heated moments, emotional, tense , charged & there was the whole World watching the two best Football teams in the World turn themselves into Baboons with shorts - with no offence to the Baboons, of course. But this part does not bother me at all, the veterans of Spanish Football will look back the last 30 - 40 years & remember events between Barça-Real Madrid, At.Madrid-Real Madrid, Betis-Sevilla, Sporting-Oviedo, At.Bilbao- Barça ...etc that would make your eyes turn. What occured at the "Camp Nou" last week was children stuff.
But here is the serious part that makes me wonder what is this player/s (personalities) on about & is perhaps more serious than Mou sticking the finger - in & Vilanova telling someone to go & F**k off; the post match comments of Mr. Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandez, & numerous out of the wood works Barça directives .
Allow me to get out of Spain, in case you think I´m playing on home turf, & focus on the out of bounds, exaggerated & totally unnecessary comments from the "Rhodes Scholar" Gerard Pique. This alarming World circulating headline is from the UK paper the Guardian:
Who is this guy? What is he on about? Who made him king for the day? The official self proclaimed institutional spokesman for FC Barcelona?
Allow me to diverge & use another story not related to Football but about character & credibility that drives my thoughts on the above. A New York Court has just let of the "hook" (jail) ex IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) charged with "allegedly" rapping a hotel maid on the only ground that the maid was of "dubious" character. Now I have my thoughts on who is "dubious", but have to follow ( like it or not ) judgement by a justice institution ( in agreement or not). Now back to Mr. Pique & his charge that "Mourinho is destroying Spanish Football" ....that its all Madrid ...bla, bla, bla". Here is the true character of Mr.Pique:
Apart from being pissed as a fart ,representing his country ( or we think it is) , the character is dubious to say the least, in fact its disgusting &offensive. Perhaps spitting on a Spanish Football Directive behind his back for some great laughs with his "Barça" mates has credibilty. According to some Courts of Law, the dubious character of Mr.Pique is sufficient to let off the hook people who allegedly are destroying Football.
The fact is that no one is destroying Spanish Football at all, that this has occurred since the time someone thought about kicking a ball around without touching it & that the Football Business machine realized ( as the Romans) the apart from bread, the masses need circus. Yes, this will continue being headlines & people will continue talking about it while they swing from their Football trees. The real truth is the following: if the Spanish Super Cup was seen on TV around the World by 500,000,000 viewers the next "clasico" will be watched by 2 billion & that means $$$$$ plenty of $$$$$ loads of $$$$$.
So lets get this episode out of the mainstream, back into the past & think before we take note of some of the "characters" statements as holy truths - those same who throw a stone & then hide the hand - as wise opinion. Lets talk & continue marvelling at the unprecedented & spectacular level of Football played during the last 2 legs of the Spanish Super Cup. With Barça & Real Madrid playing at that level, I don´t see at all Spanish Football in danger, in fact I see it as the envy of the planet.
So, you are a REAL MADRID fan & are proud to wear the latest gear around town & with your mates. You just forked out around 80 - 90 € this season on the latest Football Shirt ( or uniform ) & are now looking sharp as hell. Well, get ready for another 80-90€ because your current shirt is about to become "old fashion" & now out of date
New Real Madrid 2010-2011 shirt
Spanish Sports daily (AS) has revealed today that Real Madrid players will show off the NEW shirt for next season later on at the "Santiago Bernabeu Stadium", & have placed this image to give us a preview. What do you you think? A REAL Killer look?
One thing is for sure, the marketing machine keeps churning & the killer effect is in the side pocket. As usual the Club & the Sportswear multinational will be laughing all the way to the bank. Business is business.
Putting my grain of sand to help contribute in expanding Spanish Football - Soccer | Sports abroad. An ex-amateur Footballer long ago - alias Striker - is now a fan that has the game embedded in his Football - Soccer Sports heart.
