Dundee United, Barcelona, Auckland City & Joan Vila Bosch

When I started this blog I intended to write about NZ & Scottish football, in particular my team Dundee United. However I have only managed one post on them (See Ivan Golac's Magic) The main reason for this is because this season is terrible, we are bottom of the league, 11 points behind Kilmarnock, the team directly above us (although we did beat them 5-1 on Saturday) and it is just too depressing to write about.

So what do we do, well going off my Dundee United related Facebook groups, we look back at the good times and celebrate that March 2016 marks the 19^th anniversary of the beating of Barcelona home and away in the UEFA Cup.

Although this wasn't the first time we had done it, in fact 50 years ago in 1966 we beat them 4-1 on aggerate in the Fairs Cup (unfortuently there isn't any footage of these games). So our record against the mighty Barcelona in European competition is 

Played 4 Won 4

But what is it about Barcelona? We have beaten other teams in Europe such as Monaco, Borussia Mochengladbach, PSV Eindhoven, & Roma (OK we lost to them in the 2^nd leg but they did cheat by bribing the ref!), but none have the mystique and romance of Barcelona.

Formed in 1899 by Hans Kamper (later known as Joan Gamper) a Swiss footballing pioneer who had already founded FC Basel & FC Zurich in Switzerland. 

Barcelona have grown to be one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the world, but as their motto “Mes Que un Club” states they are more than a club. 

The club is a symbol of Catalonia, Catalanism and Catalan Culture. 

Owned by their supporters, FC Barcelona have won 23 La Liga titles, 27 Copa Del Rey (Spanish Cup), 11 Supercopa de Espana, 5 European Champions League's, 4 European Cup Winner's Cup's, 3 Fairs Cup's, 5 European Super Cups and 3 Club World Cup's.

But it's not just the success that makes Barcelona great, the club has a philosophy on how they play as Xavi Herdanez says “It about doing something extra, not just winning”

If only Dundee United had learned from them, they may not be bottom of the league now!!!

One club that is learning from them is New Zealand's Auckland City FC. The club with the record appearances at the Club World Cup have used these opportunities to build relations with the club whose 3 Club World Cup Titles are also a record. Also helped by the fact that their head coach, Ramon Tribulietx, is a native of Barcelona.

As part of this growing relationship, FC Barcelona's Director of Methodology, Joan Vila Bosch in currently in NZ to run a couple of clinic's as a guest of Auckland City.

Joan Vila Bosch played for Barcelona B & C and also made 7 appearances for the first team and winning the Copa Del Rey and European Cup Winners Cup in the late 70's. In 1985 he started a coaching career at EC Granollers before Barcelona recruited him in 1987 to train the youth players. In hs time he has coached among others Andres Iniesta, Xavi Herdandez and Cesc Fabregas. He has also been Technical Director for the Catalan Football Federation.

There are 2 coaching clinics being run by him when he is here. 

The first is at Auckland City's Kiwitea Street on Thursday 28^th January

 (before the Auckland City v Team Wellington game)

The second is in Christchurch at ASB Football Park on Saturday 30th January 

(before the Wellington Phoenix A-League game)

If you are interested in going contact Kerry@maritimeevents.co.nz