Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper

Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper

Main entrance, with the multi-sport pavilion at the right side
Location	Sant Joan Despí Barcelona
Coordinates	41°22′33″N 02°03′08″E / 41.37583°N 2.05222°E / 41.37583; 2.05222Coordinates: 41°22′33″N 02°03′08″E / 41.37583°N 2.05222°E / 41.37583; 2.05222
Type	Sports facility
Opened	2006
Owner	FC Barcelona
Construction cost	€77.5 million
Website	C.E. Joan Gamper

The Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper (Catalan pronunciation: [siwˈtat əspurˈtiβə ʒuˈaŋ gəmˈpe]) is the training ground and academy base of Catalan football club, FC Barcelona, it was officially opened on June 1, 2006, and was named in honor of Joan Gamper, founder of the club.

Located in Sant Joan Despí and covering 136.839 m2 it is used since 2006 for youth team training and matches and since january 2009 for the first team training. It is also used by many of the other sports teams at the club including Basketball, Handball and Futsal who use facilities such as the multi-sports pavilion. Now that this facility is fully operational, all the youth teams that previously used the Camp Nou facilities, mainly the Mini Estadi and the Palau Blaugrana, train there.

The new Masia, residence opened in 2011 on the site.

FC Barcelona's football first team moved to this facility on the 19th January 2009.^[1] This brought to an end a 30 year history that the first team had of training on the small pitch (known as the La Masia pitch) annexed to the Camp Nou. The first team facilities are the same as those at the Camp Nou and at the start of the 2009/2010 season it included a full pool and saunas for player recuperation.

By 2011 a new residence^[2] was opened on site, housing the FC Barcelona's youth players who previously boarded at La Masia. This will include living space for around 85 players.

The land occupied by the Ciutat Esportiva was purchased by the club in 1989 and is just 4.5 km away from the Camp Nou and is directly connected by the road between Barcelona and Sant Joan Despí.

The Ciutat Esportiva eventually cost 68 million euros, of which 25.6 corresponded to urbanization and 42.5 to the total construction costs. The club sold two plots of land, the first on June 21, 2002 and the second on February 20, 2003, for values of 29.7 and 15.9 million euros, respectively to cover part of the costs of the operation. The rest of the money was invested directly by the club, an amount of 22.5 million euros.

Facilities

Grass pitch, number 4

• 5 grass pitches.
• 4 artificial grass pitches.
• 1 multi-sport pavilion.
• 1 grandstand building by pitch 1.
• 1 service building (including team catering areas).
• 3 Gymnasiums.
• 2 Press Areas.
• 4 First Aid areas.
• 1 dressing room building.
• Different training areas for goalkeepers and technical aspects.
• 2011 saw the construction of the new La Masia building to house all of FC Barcelona's youth teams, it can also be used by first team and national teams for training camps.
• A pool and saunas area built for recuperation of injuries.^[3]

References

1. ^ "First team moves into new Ciudad Deportiva training venue". http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/01/n090119106790.html. 
2. ^ "The Masia of the 21st century". http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/club/temporada08-09/10/n081010103141.html. 
3. ^ "Training ground improvements". http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada09-10/07/n090705105793.html. 

External links

• Official website
• The new La Masia at Inside Spanish Football