The Beautiful FCBarcelona Story Continues…



A little over a year ago I was in Spain with 27 young Delhi NCR based Conscient Football participants experiencing Barcelona football, culture and history.http://liveindia-lovesoccer.blogspot.in/2011/06/barcelona.html   During those days, we were just happy to have the opportunity to be in the same city as the magical FCBarcelona and the only real relationship we had with the club was through their museum, gift shops and watching them play from the highest possible row in Camp Nou. At that time none of us had any idea how much this club would become a part of our lives over the next year.

Soon after our exposure trip to Spain, the Director of Conscient Football, Anu Jain, communicated that she wants to bring FCBarcelona to India. It started with a few trips to Spain to discuss a possible partnership between Conscient Football and FCBarcelona. Then on October 19, 2011, we hosted a press conference in Delhi announcing the partnership and future plans to host FCBCamps throughout India with the intention to train 10,000 youth over the next 3 years.  Soon after that, successful camps were hosted in Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore and coaches from Barcelona came and stayed in India for a total of 30 days.
Antonio is on the far left
Given the success of the first few rounds of FCBCamps, FCBarcelona and Conscient Football have chosen to take the next step in the pathway and establish a permanent FCBEscola soccer school in Delhi NCR. On May 16, 2012 at the Oberoi Hotel in Delhi in front of 130 media members from all over the world, Conscient Football announced that one of the FCBarcelona coaches, Antonio Claveria, will be moving to India permanently and overseeing operations for FCBarcelona’s official school. 
   
This past year working with FCBarcelona has been incredible. They are professional, experienced and strategic, all qualities I value in a working a relationship. However, I’m most impressed with their passion, compassion and commitment.  The marketing, administrative and coaching staffs from their club are extraordinary individuals who recognize the immense opportunity they have to positively impact India through football.

This story is only a year old and has already produced countless memories, dreams, aligned visions, global media attention, hundreds of trained players, trained coaches and a case study for how a grassroots organization can successfully partner with one of the world’s biggest brands.  This story, which started with an exposure trip to Spain, is far from over and you can expect a few miracles to be added to the list of results produced from this wonderful marriage between Conscient Football and FCBarcelona.
  

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