Barça Innovation Hub and CAR de Sant Cugat to organise the 2019 International Forum on Elite Sport

FC Barcelona, through its platform for investigation, development, education and innovation called Barça Innovation Hub, and CAR de Sant Cugat will jointly organise ASPC’s International Forum on Elite Sport in 2019. The Association of Sports Performance Centres hosts this Forum once every two years in order to bring together prominent figures in elite sport from around the world. The joint hosting of the event in 2019 was decided on at the Board of Directors meeting prior to the start of the 2017 Forum in Durban, South Africa.

FC Barcelona was represented by Francesc Cos, responsible for Barça Innovation Hub’s Area of Sporting Performance. Barça has been a part of ASPC since 2015. Sílvia Matesanz, ASPC’s secretary, and Pep Escoda, ASPC’s general secretary, attended on behalf of CAR. They are founding members of ASPC and they have been a part of the Board of Directors from the foundation of the organisation in 2006.

FC Barcelona and CAR collaborate regularly on topics such as research and applied sciences. Both institutions have presented their candidacy in Durban for the next Forum in 2019 in Barcelona and Sant Cugat. FC Barcelona’s installations will be the venue for the Forum and CAR will host all the ASPC Board of Directors’ meetings.

The ASPC’s main objective is to construct a global collaboration between entities to share knowledge and apply it to sporting excellence at all levels. This goal is closely linked to Barça Innovation Hub’s ambition to transform the world of sporting excellence through knowledge and innovation. In fact, Barça will host the Forum at the same time as its annual congress on sport performance to create a globally important event in Elite Sport Performance.

The joint hosting of the Forum is supported by the Government figures such as the President and General Secretary of Sport; the Spanish Olympic Committee; as well as universities, such as the Catalan INEF; the Catalan Foundation for Sport; and the Col•legi de Graduats i Llicenciats en Ciències de l’Activitat Física i l’Esport.

The Forum in Durban

The International Forum on Elite Sport is the ASPC’s biennial forum which is being hosted in Durban from the 23 August to 27 August 2017. This is the tenth edition of the event and over 140 participants from 40 countries have attended. There are also various workshops happening alongside the Forum and this means there are a total of 500 participants.