Barcelona Online | Sport in Barcelona

FC Barcelona
Barça
The official site of one of the world's top clubs, sorry, the world's top club. Full details on the squad, and all the latest news from the Nou Camp. Our what's on page also gives you the latest on this season.

The Barça shop figures prominently so if you must have a Barça shirt you may be interested in the third strip retailing at €59.99...? Barça carry the UNICEF logo on their shirts -- a cynical way to sell more football shirts, if ever there was one. The Barça dog harness might look nice on Rover, though...

•We liked: All the gory details... Real anorak country, this!
•Not so hot: No tickets on sale online. And, er, can we believe all this stuff, or is it just a tweeny-weeny bit biased?
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese and Chinese

Espanyol Spanish Cup Winners, 2006
The other Barcelona football club
The other professional first division football club in Barcelona, Español, are minnows alongside their big city rivals, Barça... Here at Barcelona Online, we nevertheless confess to being fans. Founded in 1900, and starting the 2009/10 in their new stadium in nearby Cornellà, the Budgies (Perriquitos), as they are known, won the Spanish Cup in 2006 and were unlucky losers in the 2007 UEFA Cup Final.

To get to the new stadium, take the FGC train line from Plaza Espanya, stopping at either Cornellà-Riera or Almeda.

The neatly designed website gives you the basic information you'd expect on any first division football club site. If you like football and are visiting Barcelona, check out what games might be on... Tickets are easier to get, and cheaper, than for Barça.

•We liked: The 1988 UEFA Cup semi-final against Brugge, most thrilling game of my life
•Not so hot: What happened against Bayer Leverkusen in the final (3-nil up at half-time... but we'd rather not remember that)
•Languages: Spanish, Catalan

Catalan Association of Button-Football
Button Football
To judge from the media, Spain is utterly obsessed with professional football, an obsession only momentarily eclipsed by Fernando Alonso becoming F1 World Champion. Here at Barcelona-Online we think it only healthy that other sports get a mention, too - and so we bring you Button-Football.

In case you wondered, Button-Football is played with, er, buttons, on a 1.20m by 0.90m pitch, in two halves of 15 mins each. The first European Championship is this October and, according to a report in El Periódico, they are hoping to organise a Button-Football World Cup.

•We enjoyed: Placing this site on our sports page above Formula 1!
•Not so hot: He's cheating!
•Languages: International

Formula 1
Spanish Grand Prix
The official Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix site (May 10, 2009; June 8 for bikers).

The site has full information on the Montmeló circuit (about 20 km outside Barcelona) and how to get there (train) but is a bit of a disappointment if you are looking for Formula 1 news or anything other than this particular Grand Prix.

•We liked: The map of the circuit (that's Flash!)
•Not so hot: Er... Can't you give us our daily dose of Formula 1 engine noise as the site downloads (only kidding!)?
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan, French

 

Professional Cycling (19 October 2008, date to be confirmed)
Escalada de Montjuic
If you are interested in professional cycling head for Montjuic for this end-of-season event around a spectacular course on the hill - Montjuic - overlooking the city.

Previous winners of this two-stage one-day event (first raced in 1963) include Merckx (only six times), Rominger, Chiappucci, Jalabert and Beloki.

Rally driving
Rally Catalunya
The Rally Catalunya (that's the "Rally RACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada" to give it its full name) takes place 21-24 October 2010 and is run by the RACC, the Catalan Royal Automobile Club.

The site contains full information on the rally, maps and other information… "Nice, technical section with 90º angle with hard braking at the crossroads and long twisty section with downhill hairpins"

Previous winners include Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen.

•We liked: The way Tommi Makinen took that long twisty section!
•Not so hot: The prats out on Sunday afternoon who think they can do the same
•Languages: (Rally information) English, Spanish, Catalan