Ole-le, Ola-la, ser del Barça és el millor que hi ha! In a wave of red and blue, 50 thousand fans cheer together with smiles on their faces and fists in the air, beaming with pride for their team. As someone who has never been to a European football game, I was in awe of the FC Barcelona community, as well as the cultural experience of attending a game. Going into the game with no preparation except knowing that the FC Barcelona women’s team is one of the best in the world, I was captivated by the whole experience. Here is a recap of what it was like for me, as someone from the US, a place where football involves quarterbacks and helmets, to attend an FC Barcelona women’s game.
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Navigating Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona stadium
I am not going to lie, when I first arrived, I was underwhelmed by the “stadium,” or at least what I thought was the Camp Nou stadium. Turns out, the huge building we walked into off the metro was just the FC Barcelona Museum. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I realized the huge crowd of people formed the line I needed to join to even enter the stadium grounds. And here I thought we were so early, so my friend and I went for a hotdog. In the US, especially at baseball games, hot dogs are the traditional food I associate with sports. I was so surprised that they also sell hotdogs at the FC Barcelona games. I am not sure if this is due to tourism or if it is also a common snack for football-goers in Barcelona, but it set the tone as a pre-game snack.
When we got in line to enter the Camp Nou stadium, I finally understood what all of the hype was about. The massive stadium seemed to never end. And, believe me, I would know. When my friend and I reached the doors, we ended up at gate 5 but needed to be at 100. I do not know what we were thinking, but we decided to walk counting up instead of just backtracking. This resulted in us walking the entire circumference of the stadium. While we were not intending to get our steps in this way, it was so impressive to see how large the stadium is, and what better way than walking the entire circumference?
When we arrived at our entrance and made it inside, you would think we would be set, but of course, the even and odd seating threw us off. We did not realize all of the even seats were together on one side and odd seats on the other. In a scramble to not make a ruckus since the game had started, we sat down at two open seats in our row and managed to not have any issues. Right as we walked in, the FC Barcelona women scored their first goal of the game, setting the tone for a spectacular match to watch, if you are a Barcelona fan at least.
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Experiencing the FC Barcelona women's chants and traditions
One of the most interesting aspects of the FC Barcelona women’s game was watching the crowd chant and clap together for almost every single play. This is so different from the US where if a home-team player messes up, the crowds will not cheer, in fact, sometimes they will even boo their own team. There is less of a sense of collective camaraderie, but rather a sense of competition and aggression. I am not saying that either is right or wrong, but I appreciate the feeling of support from the stands, creating an overall positive, uplifting environment. I should preface that this was a very successful game for Barcelona, so the energy could be different depending on the score, but I could truly felt the pride radiating off of the crowd.
A funny anecdote I want to note is that although the cheers are in Catalan, the audience wave speaks across cultures and languages. A common game-day custom in the US, crowds gather to jump up together at the right time to form a wave across the stadium. Turns out the wave carries over internationally, as I stood alongside Catalans, waving our arms through the air to express our excitement.
With respect to the cheers, I think it is incredible that everything is in Catalan, but it made me wonder, since Catalan is not a very well-known language across the world, are there players on the FC Barcelona women’s team who do not even know the chants? Or possibly not able to communicate with other players due to language barriers? Obviously, they make it work somehow because the team is so successful - one of the best women’s teams in the world. However, this is such a fascinating concept, to me, how players can communicate through the shared language of football. It was absolutely beautiful seeing it all unfold on the field.
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Watching the FC Barcelona women’s team take home the win against Rome
When it came to actually watching the game, my eyes could not leave the field. I was captivated. The closest thing I have seen to professional football is “Ted Lasso,” so it was wild watching it unfold in front of my face. The FC Barcelona women had such sharp and precise techniques, leaving Rome in the dust. Although the game was so mesmerizing, I got distracted by the other women who were warming up to the sidelines, preparing to sub in. It was so engaging watching the exercise drills because each movement was so intentional, and done with so much effort to build up knee strength. This was a nice behind-the-scenes look at all of the constant work that goes into becoming a professional athlete. Aside from the training exercises, something else caught my attention. All of the players looked so young that they could be my age. My friend and I then conducted some research, noting that many of the women are our age or even as young as 17. This blew my mind because when I think back to age 17, I was worried about what dress I was going to wear to the school dance or if I did my algebra homework correctly. It really is spectacular that these women have so much talent and determination at such a young age. I have so much respect for them and the effort they put into something they are so passionate about.
In the end, Barcelona beat Rome with a score of 6 to 1. A fantastic match to watch. Witnessing this game between the FC Barcelona women’s team and Roma was truly a thrilling experience I will never forget.