Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Sports

Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches from the 1982 Football World Cup. It has also been host to the X FINA World Championships and, in two occasions, of the Eurobasket.

FC Barcelona is a sports club best known for its football team, one of the biggest in Europe and the 2006 champion of both the Spanish league and the UEFA Champions League. FC Barcelona also has teams in the Spanish basketball ACB league (Winterthur FCB), the handball ASOBAL league (FC Barcelona-Cifec), and the roller hockey league. The basketball team's stadium is the Palau Blaugrana, which is just across from the Nou Camp footbal stadium. It also has amateur teams in several other sports. The club also has a museum, the second most visited museum in Catalonia. RCD Espanyol is the city's other Liga football team and the 2006 holder of the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona has two UEFA 5-star rated football stadiums: FC Barcelona's Nou Camp and the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, used for the 1992 Olympics and the current home of RCD Espanyol, pending completion of the club's new stadium. The Nou Camp is located in the Les Corts section of Barcelona, while Espanyol's Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is located in the Sants-Montjuïc part of Barcelona.

The Open Seat Godó, a 50-year-old ATP Tour International Series Gold tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Reial Club de Tenis Barcelona (Barcelona Royal Tennis Club). Several popular running competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona: Cursa del Corte Inglés (with about 60,000 participants each year), Cursa de la Mercè, Cursa Jean Bouin, Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre. Also, each Christmas, a swimming race across the port is organized. Near Barcelona, in Montmeló, the 131,000 capacity Circuit de Catalunya racetrack hosts the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix and Moto GP races. Barcelona has also become very popular with skateboarders, which has led to a new anti-skateboarding law, which came into effect in 2006.

No comments: