Alexia and Ansu Fati, the star ambassadors at the tenth Barça Academy World Cup

The international tournament, Barça Academy World Cup presented by Allianz, now in its tenth edition in 2023, is once again the most important date of the year for every Barça Academy around the world. Having returned last Easter for the first time since the pandemic, the 2023 edition will see attendance back to normal levels, with 50% more boys and girls aged 6 to 14 years old from across four continents participating at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper from 3 to 6 April.

Edition 10 of the tournament couldn’t have better ambassadors for the 1,660 boys and girls taking part. The honour this time goes to the twice-crowned world’s best female footballer, Alexia Putellas, along with the current wearer of the number 10 jersey for the FC Barcelona men’s team, Ansu Fati. They will both participate and interact with the young footballers from around the world at different times throughout the competition. 

A total of 152 teams from 19 different countries are set to take part, with 553 games being played across the four days of competition. This 2023 edition will see teams representing 34 Barça Academies and Barça Academy Camps from around the world. 

The first edition with fully female teams
After nine editions in which the four categories of competition were played with mixed gender teams, this 2023 edition will see fully female teams participating. 102 girls are scheduled to play in this Barça Academy World Cup presented by Allianz, attempting to win the inaugural Under-12 and Under-14 trophies. They will represent ten teams, four Under-12s and six Under-14s, and will come from Barça Escola Barcelona, Barça Academy Perfeccionament Catalunya, Italy, Mexico, and Japan. 

Two Barça Academies will be making their début for this tenth edition, namely the Barça Academy Pune (India) and the Barça Academy Hiroshima (Japan), along with sportspeople from the Barça Academy Camps in Puerto Rico. It will also see the return of a number of Barça Academies that couldn’t attend last year due to the harsh effects of the pandemic in their home countries, such as the academies in India and Singapore. 

The Barça Academy World Cup presented by Allianz will start with the opening ceremony at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on Monday 3 April at 10.30am CEST. This will be followed by games from 12pm CEST onwards for the six categories, namely the male Under-8s, Under-10s, Under-12s, and Under-14s, and the female Under-12s and Under-14s. The tournament finals will be on Thursday 6 April from 10.00am CEST onwards on pitch 7 at the Ciutat Esportiva, before the female Under-14s final and the trophy ceremony at the Estadi Johan Cruyff (1.00pm CEST). 

Once again, the competition can be followed via the official tournament app, available for both Android and IOS, with over 15 hours of different matches broadcast on Barça TV, and via the Barça Academy social networks, which will also broadcast worldwide.