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The contract signed by Qatar Sports Investment and FC Barcelona foresaw the possibility of including a new sponsor on the shirt of the club’s football first team from the third season of the agreement. FC Barcelona’s President Sandro Rosell has welcomed Qatar Airways, “an ambitious brand with global aspirations, always commitment to the utmost excellence in its field.” The Qatar Foundation now becomes FC Barcelona’s Official Human Development Partner, which “will allow them to continue promoting their shared values”, states the Catalan club.

The Catalan sports club has signed an agreement with the Catalan Tourism Agency to collaborate in the promotion of Catalonia as a global tourist reference point. The deal, which runs through till June 2013, means that FC Barcelona will help promote the Catalan tourist industry via its official communication channels

Beyond awards, individual or otherwise, for Leo Messi the “most important thing is that I continue to grow at Barça and I’d like to continue growing until the end”. The world’ number one player received this Monday in Barcelona his second Golden Boot, recognising him as last season’s top scorer in European leagues. Besides, 5 FC Barcelona players – Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Piqué and Busquets – are among the 23 candidates for the next FIFA Ballon d’Or award.

The new official account completes this summer’s launch of www.fcbarab.com, the newest addition to Barça's online platform that can be enjoyed in seven languages. FC Barcelona launches @fcbarcelona_ara, its official Twitter account in Arabic, reinforcing its leadership worldwide on social networks. The new account joins the sports club’s accounts in Catalan, Spanish, English and French.

The Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, states that the claim for Catalonia’s independence during the last FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Clásico football game “damages Spain’s brand”. On the contrary, the Catalan President, Artur Mas, praised the demonstration for its peaceful and democratic nature, and for “projecting our identity to the world”. Furthermore, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, considered García-Margallo’s statements to be “undemocratic” for not accepting “the free and democratic expression of the people at Camp Nou”. Thousands of Catalan independence flags were shown at the match – many more than in any other game ever. Furthermore, on several occasions, a large part of the stadium shouted pro-independence chants.

FC Barcelona’s director for economic affairs, Jordi Moix, and the director responsible for Barça Regal, Joan Bladé, announced that the Catalan sports club will build a new Palau Blaugrana within the next eight years. The construction of the new arena, which is tied to the referendum on the Camp Nou stadium, is subject to FC Barcelona's debt levels. The location of the new arena has not been announced.

FC Barcelona and the European Commission join forces to help millions of Europeans to give up smoking. The campaign aims at helping 28 million people giving up tobacco. “With this joint action, we aim to help football fans all over Europe to retake control over their health and their lives, encouraging them to be as passionate and committed to their own health as they are to good football” explained FC Barcelona’s President, Sandro Rosell.

Board member Toni Freixa announced that FC Barcelona has forecast income of €470 million and outgoings of €427.9 million for the coming year. Therefore, the Catalan club would end the current season with a profit of €35.9 million. The 2011/12 season closed with record profits of €48.8 million against a forecast of €21 million. Besides, the Board will ask the members’ delegates at the club’s assembly to authorise the calling of a referendum on the project relating to the future of the Camp Nou.

A study by the University of Navarra has revealed that Barça is the football club that received most media coverage worldwide for the fourth year on the run, this time ahead of Real Madrid and Chelsea in second and third spots. The study also found that Leo Messi was the player who received most media coverage, also for the fourth successive year, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba.

FC Barcelona and Nike have presented the new first team shirt, with the brand new feature of the famous stripes being blurred. The new Barça second kit for the 2012/13 is orange and yellow, a veritable array of vibrant colours to celebrate the team’s dazzling football.

The substitute of Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, who will be FC Barcelona’s 2012/13 manager, has shown that he’s more than capable of managing the team after five seasons as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. As a footballer, Vilanova was at La Masía and he played in first division with Celta de Vigo.

RCD Espanyol is the smaller of the two main football clubs in the capital of Catalonia. FC Barcelona’s La Masía football school is famous worldwide, and is where players such as Leo Messi have grown up. However, RCD Espanyol has also its own football school, and traditionally their junior teams were the most promising in the city.

FC Barcelona celebrated their 157th goal so far this season on Tuesday, which leaves Barça just one goal short of the record for a season under Guardiola, in the 2008/09 campaign. Messi, with 58 goals is the leading scorer, averaging 1.18 goals a game.

Dídac Lee is on the FC Barcelona Board of Directors, charged with managing New Technologies. In an exclusive interview with CNA, Lee considers that it is vital for FC Barcelona to be close to the fans, and social networks are the key to reaching this goal. Thanks to Lee, Barça is now the leading sports club in the field. Lee is a renowned Catalan entrepreneur and the Chinese work culture ethos has influenced him both in his life and work.

On World Rare Disease Day the FC Barcelona Foundation showed solidarity with all patients who have any of these conditions, and their families. Both in the Palau Blaugrana, with the collaboration of Barça Regal players, and social networks, the Foundation raised its voice about these diseases.