Barca to wear Anna Vives Font Shirts for Gamper Trophy tonight

Both Lionel Messi and Neymar is expected to start and play along with each other in the Joan Gamper trophy match against Santos at Camp Nou tonight. This match also will feature Barca players wearing special shirts with Anna Vives Font on it. The player's name and shirt number will be done in the Anna Vives font; whereas the shirt sponsorship done by Qatar Foundation and UNICEF will feature in usual font. This is done as a result of an agreement between FCB foundation and Fundació Itinerarium. Anna Vives font is designed by Anna Vives, a girl with Down syndrome who has dedicated the year 2012 to approach the world of the letter, working on reading and writing. Andres Iniesta has been associated with this foundation earlier and will give away his shirt for auction after the match. He will also try to rope in as many of his colleagues to donate shirts, so that they could also be auctioned on eBay after the match.

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Jonathan Dos Santos made it Happen; He Stays at Barca!

Perseverance is a big word. An online dictionary defines it as "steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement." or may be more philosophically as "continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.". You still didn't get it, then Look at Jonathan Dos Santos. Yes, the same guy who was told in unequivocal terms last season that he was a surplus to the requirement; one who was referred to by club management as the one who refuses to leave; one whom the then coach Tito Vilanova refused to look up as an option even when injuries were mounting; one who in many Barca fans' opinions was destroying his career by staying at the club against the club wishes; also one who was eating club's money and doing nothing! Oh, yes! I have heard that many times. To be honest Jonathan Dos Santos was not responsible for people arriving at conclusions about him. He wanted to succeed at the club and he wanted to do it on his own terms. So he stayed back, waiting for a call which never arrived; hoping for a chance which went to everyone else. There were instances where Sergi Roberto made it into the squad but Jonathan stayed in the player's box. That was intended to send a firm message to him; he refused to accept. And now at the end, against all odds Jonathan Dos Santos stays. Jesus! it just happened.

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Has UEFA's much fancied Financial Fair Play (FFP) Crash Landed Before it took Off?

UEFA Financial Fair Play(FFP) Regulations, was the much touted idea of UEFA President, Michael Platini to sort out the precarious financial situations in which most of the clubs in Europe find fully immersed in. When introduced as an idea, one have to admit there were a genuine fear about the regulations and many clubs started taking steps to be compliant with the regulations. What are these regulations? Simply put(quoting from Wikipedia), "Only a club’s outgoings in transfers and employee benefits (including wages) will be counted over income from gate receipts, TV revenue, advertising, merchandising, sales of players and prize money is included in the assessment. Any money spent on infrastructure, training facilities or youth development will not be included." Like many football fans, I also believed wrongly that this will get the entire European League back on financial stability. Even though, I did have some reservations about smaller clubs being at a disadvantage. I did write about the same earlier in two of my post which can be found here - and Spending Cap, Is it Fair?.

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FC Barcelona Friendly Highlights: Barca - 2, Lechia Gdansk - 2

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Why on Earth would Chelsea sell David Luiz to Barca?

Or, more appropraitely put, Why on earth would Chelsea sell David Luiz to any team? Isn't that an interesting question. In one of my previous post which detailed about Barca's transfer targets, I did indeed raise the same question, about the need for Chelsea to sell a player so integral to them. But none of those reasoning has stopped the Barca press in building this up. Today SPORT has broken a new development in the never ending saga - Bayern is no more interested in the player. Now was Bayern ever interested in the player, one needs to ask the Daily Mail correspondent who created that rumour. SPORT is not to be left behind. So they have reported to day that the negotiations with Chelsea is in advanced stage and an important development will happen this week itself. If that interesting development ends up as an official declaration by Chelsea that the player will not be sold, don't get surprised then. SPORT some days back has put Thiago and Villa in the same boat to Manchester in anticipation of the ship carrying His Highness Wayne Rooney; only to see David Villa jump out and hit the shores at Madrid.

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