FC Barcelona Asian Tour 2013 – Reigning World
Club Champions to play against Malaysian XI at National Stadium Bukit Jalil
Kuala Lumpur on 10th August 2013.
KUALA LUMPUR,
August 8, 2013 – It is with great
pleasure that we announce the forthcoming visit by FC Barcelona to Kuala
Lumpur. This is the most exciting event on Malaysian Football Calendar. After
intense bidding and lobbying by several countries, FC Barcelona chose Malaysia –
along with Thailand – to be among two countries to make up their Asian Tour
2013. This is a significant honour for both our football fans and for Malaysia.
The visit by FC Barcelona will boost the promotion of Visit Malaysia
Year 2014 as this year is designated the preparatory year for the Visit
Malaysia Year 2014 campaign. The unique and historical event is supported by
Malaysia Major Events, a division of Malaysia Convention & Exhibition
Bureau (MyCEB) an agency under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia.
We are pleased to announced that, this event is presented by the title
sponsor, CIMB Bank Berhad. CIMB Bank Berhad are overwhelmed to collaborate with
FC Barcelona Asia Tour 2013 as this is their first time presenting a football
event.
FC Barcelona, or Barca, has a wide international fan base and it is
expected to draw 80,000 spectators including 8,000 international fans who will
watch the game in Kuala Lumpur. The event is expected to bring in more than RM
115 million to the national economy.
The magnificent track record of FC Barcelona has made it among the
iconic football clubs globally. Among the unique achievements which FC
Barcelona has won include: 2 Club World Cups; 4 Champion Leagues; 4 European
Super Cups; 22 Spanish Leagues; 26 Spanish Cups. In addition, it is the first
team in history to win 6 titles in the same season (2009) and the club most
times first in the IFFHS World Ranking as well as World, European and Spain
Champions in 2011.
FC Barcelona is also unique in that it’s more than 175,000 members are
also owners of the club and its Camp Nou is the biggest stadium in Europe with
99,534 seats. FC Barcelona will thus be bringing to Malaysia a unique football
experience and hopefully make a positive input to our sporting culture overall.
The FC Barcelona TV global audience reached a record 1 billion in the
2010-2011 season and continues to grow. Barca has been involved in social
issues like no other sports organization; not surprisingly the team carries the
UNICEF logo on its jersey.
The club’s mission of providing healthy entertainment to the people
through the values of respect, team work, humility, effort and ambition are the
very values we would like to inculcate in our youth.
Though football remains the most popular sport in Malaysia, as it has
been for decades, we aspire to reach the glory days of decades past when
Malaysia could outplay South Korea and Japan and qualify for the Olympics.
Now there is a chance for our current Super Stars like Mahalli Jasuli,
Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Mohamad Aidil Zafuan Abd Razak
and Safiq bin Rahim to showcase their skills against the top stars of the world
and probably learn a couple of tricks from them. Our team will be represented
mainly from the team which won the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 and Sea Games Gold Medal
2011. Our National Coach, Dato’ K Rajagopal will have his hands full planning
the downfall of FC Barcelona in Kuala Lumpur.
The appearance of FC Barcelona in Kuala Lumpur and the opportunity to
play against them will no doubt be an inspiration for our national team,
particularly to learn from their values of respect, teamwork, humility and the
other positive attributes they bring with them.
Hereby we would like to announce FC Barcelona players who would be
attending the friendly match. The players’ names are as listed below:
Valdes, Pinto, Oier, Alves, Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis, Messi,
Neymar, Dos Santos, Mascherano, Bartra, Sergio, Pedro, Jordi Alba, Montoya,
Adriano, Song, Tello, Sergi Roberto, Bagnack, Dongou.
Hopefully this event will be a great success and a historical memory for
all Malaysian and FC Barcelona!
