FCBEScola Chartlotte Squads Travel to Tournament in Barcelona
FCBEscola youth soccer squads representing Charlotte, NC will head to Barcelona to compete in the Cataluña club’s annual grassroot International Tournament. Teams from 17 other nations will compete in the tournament scheduled for the second week for April.
Youth Soccer News: The teams participating in the 6th FCBEscola Tournament in Barcelona come from a selection of players from the FCBESCOLA US camps (5 teams) and the FC Barcelona Escola Charlotte (2 teams).
FC Barcelona organized the tournament and selected FCBEscola teams from around the world to compete during Easter Week in FCB facilities.
Marc Segarra, Co-Founder of ISL Futbol, along with his partner Alex Isern, are one of the few approved to bring FCBEScola to America. Responsible to lead expansion worldwide, the organization relies on authenticity and high level of professionalism and execution. ISL Futbol manages the largest FCBEscola program in North America and they may be launching a FCBEScola on the West Coast soon.
FCB is more than a club.
Is this authentic FC Barcelona training?
So often, the youth soccer market is flooded with slick marketing materials with prestigious logos and little actual substance. Segarra finds this misleading advertising damaging to the market. “What we do — the execution always overwhelms the marketing because what really matters is what happens on the field,” says twenty-seven year old Segarra who is proud of his heritage.
With the last name of Segarra, his entire family has been involved with FC Barcelona for decades.
Joan Segarra (15 November 1927 – 3 September 2008) was captain of the “Barça of the Five Trophies”, one of the best teams that FC Barcelona have had in their history.
“People come with expectations, and want to know if this is the real thing — the only way to prove this is not just with a flyer but by bringing the coaches from FC Barcelona and training kids and teaching the values of the club,” says Segarra.
Aware of the power of the Barca name, Segarra is working to consolidate all the camp activities under one umbrella for quality control and to avoid confusion in the market. Click here for a current listing of FCB’s camps in the USA.
Overall, FC Barcelona wants to enhance the club’s presences — and develop commercial brand awareness. Yes, this will obviously result in selling more FC Barcelona jerseys, but the expansion is more focused on sharing the Barca philosophy and training youth soccer players with the well-proven FC Barcelona methodology.
The camps, academies and the very real opportunities for the top players and coaches to actually visit FC Barcelona’s La Masia — the Academy training ground for La Liga’s famous Spanish club. Also referred to as the ‘Farmhouse’, La Masia is a private, walled training complex in Catalonia, Spain — where Lionel Messi trained.
More than thirty other youth soccer players have graduated from La Masia to the FC Barcelona first-team including Guardiola, Sergi, De la Peña, Puyol, Xavi, Reina, Víctor Valdés, and Gabri.
“The best youth players in our program can be selected to train at the FC Barcelona’s La Masia headquarters and have a real soccer experience,” said Segarra.
At FCBESCOLA – Training in the Barça style – What is happening now?
A total of 7 teams from America — U8 and U12 squads — will compete against affiliate FCBEscola teams representing Singapore, China, Perú, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and India.
And, there will be 6 teams competing in the 17th annual Mediterranean International Cup (MIC) which takes place on the northeast coast of Spain.
FC Barcelona has a unique style of play — different from the rest of the world. Learn how players like Messi, Xavi, or Iniesta — the Barça way.
In other news, Charlotte FCB Escola will be hosting tryouts beginning April 30th for the upcoming season. There will also be tryouts in Austin on the 30th of April.
Photo Credit: FCBEscola Charlotte
