Camp Nou Tour – FC Barcelona

Whatever sport you follow, there is that one stadium you crave to visit. An experience that you see on television and simply say “one day.” It’s on your bucket list to visit the grounds. You close your eyes and picture yourself in the stands, smiling, cheering along with the rest of the supporters.

For some of you, that stadium may be Wrigley field, Fenway Park, Lambeau Field, Madison Square Gardens, Wimbley Field, or any others on that bucket list of yours. As FC Barcelona supporters in La Liga, the opportunity to visit Camp Nou truly was everything we wanted and much, much more.

To put things into perspective, this was a museum/stadium tour of Camp Nou, not an actual soccer/football match. I believe I can say for all soccer fans who have toured the stadium, you will learn so much about the club that you never knew. Upon walking through the gates, we made our way to the beginning of the tour. We were immediately greeted by friendly staff members who encouraged us to take photos with Messi. As Courtney remembers it, I grinned from ear to ear like an idiot and started jumping up and down when he heard they’d take a picture with Messi…only to realize it was in front of a green screen – slight disappointment haha

Now I will note, if you are a lover for museums and are someone who enjoys truly being educated while at museums, Camp Nou is the perfect experience for you. As soon as we walked into the first main room, I could not stop starring at every little detail (or close my mouth from awe). The room was filled with memorabilia, accomplishments and history of the club. The museum has trophies, kits and photos from the club’s beginnings, all the way through current day. Yes, this includes breaking up hardware into era’s by coaches and players. So if you are like me, you would expect to spend quiet some time in this room viewing each UEFA Champion League Cup won by the club, Ballon d’Or won by Messi and European Golden Shoe won by Messi. You would be star struck, stopping at every picture and video that has a player that you remember watching growing up as a child, immolating their playing style…dreaming of one being exactly like them. For me, those players were Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Maradona and Brazilian Ronaldo (to name a few).

No kidding, it was like a child in a toy store, running around to look at every toy they had. We were 100% in soccer geek mode. That room alone, we spent almost one hour. As if things could not get better, our next step in the museum was the stadium experience. I am trying to put into words how unbelievable that portion of the museum was. All we can come up with was that it was…well…as legendary color football commentator would say “magisterial.”

 I’m not entirely sure if that’s the right word now, but I know Ray says the word every time Messi scores…so we’ll roll with it.

Talk about an opportunity to walk out and see the pitch, sit in the seats and soak in what it might be like to be in that seat on a match day with 99,000 other soccer fans. There are no words to explain that feeling. The only other time my breath was taken away from a stadium that beautiful, was in his trip to Estadio Azteca, but we’ll write a story on that another time. Not only did you get to see the pitch and sit in the seats, but you were able to access the broadcast booth while they played famous broadcast goals from Barcelona, as well as go field side.

Ever wonder what it is like to be suited up, lined up in the tunnel, waiting to go on the pitch for a match? You will get as close to that as you will in your life. Seriously. You will be in the tunnel, see the prayer room that players stop in before they go on the field and walk up onto the pitch. At that moment, it hits you. How incredible of a feeling it must be for each starting player when they can wear their team’s colors and take the field in front of 99,000 fans, with pride?

Now, the tour is far from over. However, we don’t feel it’s fair to reveal the ENTIRE tour. There needs to be some form of excitement for those who go and tour the museum. However, as we sat outside the Camp Nou drinking an Estrella Damm, we were trying to decide what our favorite part of the museum was. It would have been easy to pick “seeing the pitch” or “seeing Messi’s Ballon d’Or.” Our answer may surprise you.

At the end of the day, we learned so much about the club that we may never have learned unless we truly took time to do a quick Google search. Personally, we had no idea that FC Barcelona was one of the few clubs in the world to be owned by club members themselves. There are an estimated 140,000 members who form the governing body (not bad as they we recently Forbes #4 most valuable club in the world as of 2018). How about the fact that FC Barcelona is not just a soccer team? They have sports from Basketball, all the way to roller hockey? Yes, you will see their accomplishments in the museum as well. What about their renovation that they plan to put Camp Nou under? Or the Academy program they have instilled. What about their constant commitment to be involved in the community?

At the end of the day, we were blown away by just how educated we felt leaving the museum. Not to mention, just how passionate football supporters are…and how FC Barcelona capitalize on it from a revenue side of the business. Want to own a piece of the Camp Nou pitch? You can buy it! Want to own a piece of a goal post? It is yours for a small fee! Anything you’d ever want FC Barcelona branded? I’m sure you can find it at the team store (I had to put his head down and walk straight through or else he’d be handing over his wallet to the cashier).

GQ Tips for this visit:

All in, our visit was a little over two hours, and we felt as if we went through everything at a normal pace. However, if you are a diehard fan, I could see you spending three or more hours.

You can pick up an audio translation device at the front for roughly 5 euros. Unless you truly want to know every single little detail of every piece in the museum, I’d say forgo and do the tour on your own.

If hunger or thirst strikes, they have restaurants and stands on sight.

Fun fact: I (Gabriel) am the same height as Messi.

We will absolutely be back for an actual FC Barcelona match soon, that is still on our bucket list. However, the trip left us holding hands and smiling. It was one of the highlights of our entire Spain trip.

FC Barcelona’s motto is Mes que un club. We are all for it, with the mind set of Mas que un deporte.