Record attendence for the 5th Member Solidarity Day

The Members Solidarity Day at the Camp Nou on occasion of the Copa del Rey round of 32 second leg between FC Barcelona and CF Villanovense drew 67,703 spectators to the stadium, the best attendance in the five years that the scheme has been running. Today’s success consolidates an initiative of important social value, and that is now a firm fixture on the Barça calendar, which offers different groups the chance to watch a game live at the Camp Nou, all thanks to the generosity of the season ticket holders.

The wonderful response has much to do with the efforts of 200 collaborating organisations, who distributed invitations to the game to 1,500 different groups of beneficiaries – making the day a wonderful celebration of solidarity, with a host of adults and children able to experience a night out watching their team in action at the Camp Nou.

Another factor that helped to boost attendance was the earlier kick-off at 8.00pm local time, which is much more convenient, especially for people that have to travel from outside the city.

The attendances for the first five editions of the Solidarity Day are as follows:

• 2011 L’Hospitalet (Thursday 22 December, 22.00) 56,480 spectators

• 2012 Alavés (Wednesday 28 November, 21.30) 57,655 spectators

• 2013 Cartagena (Wednesday 18 December, 22.00) 47,280 spectators

• 2014 Huesca (Tuesday 16 December, 22.00) 44,844 spectators

• 2015 Villanovense (Wednesday 2 December. 20.00) 67,703 spectators

The big change this year was to the procedure by which season ticket holders released their seats. Once a period had expired in which members were able to fill in a form on the club website declaring that they intended to attend the match, all of the unclaimed seats in the Camp Nou were released.

The new system meant that a lot more tickets were available, and much earlier, and could then be delivered in good time by the collaborators to the beneficiaries.

This week, and all day today, season ticket holders wishing to come to see the game have been able to do so by collecting an alternative premium ticket from the offices on the club premises.

More than 100 places for wheelchair users

For the first time ever, more than 100 places were made available to wheelchair users and their guides. This increase was made possible by installing a platform in the first tier of the lateral zone with 55 additional places, in addition to 48 behind the goals, making a total of 103 places, all of which were used this evening.

Before the match kicked off, a group of children from the Catalan Down Syndrome Association posed for a picture on the pitch with the FC Barcelona players.