More than 500 boys and girls from the Barça Academy meet in Delhi for the first edition of the Barça Academy Cup APAC

From Thursday 24 January to Sunday 27, FC Barcelona's football schools around the Asia Pacific region will be enjoying the first edition of the Barça Academy Cup APAC on the Barça Academy Delhi NCR's grounds at the Gurgaon Heritage School. This first edition features more than 500 players from 7 to 15 years of age from 6 different countries: Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, India and two teams at the Barça Escola Barcelona.

The APAC Barça Academy Cup will bring together half a thousand athletes of major cultural diversity, which is sure to offer a highly enriching experience on both a personal and competitive level for the participants, as it involves teams from the four Barça Academy schools in Japan (Shinagawa Oimachi, Fukuoka, Katsushika and Nara); the three from India (Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore); four from China (Chengdu, Qingdao, Kunming and Lijiang); the two from Australia (Sydney and Brisbane), and the ones in Singapore and Barcelona.

Apart from the games, the young players will participate in various workshops where they will discover the typical traditions of India. Also, they will visit some of the most iconic places of the country, such as the Taj Mahal, considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Today Wednesday, the players from the Japanese Barça Academy were able to go to Agra to take a guided tour of the Taj Mahal, joined by FC Barcelona board member Pau Vilanova and former first team player and current Barça Legend Luis García, who is attending as patron of the first edition of the tournament.

The competition will be played in four categories, each with its own regulations and specific duration. The U9 teams are playing 5-a-side in 30-minute games, while the U11s and U13s are playing 7-a-side with 40-minute matches and the U15s are also playing 7-a-side but with 50-minute games.

The opening ceremony of the tournament is being held on Thursday 24 at 4.30pm (local time, 12.00pm CET), and is being attended by Barça director Pau Vilanova, Luis García and the global director of the Barça Academy project, Carles Martín. The games get going on Friday 25 at 10.00am, and the results can be followed on the official Barça Academy social networks:

www.facebook.com/barcaacademy

www.twitter.com/barcaacademy

www.instagram.com/barcaacademy

While in India, both Pau Vilanova and Luis García will also be holding meetings with different Barça groups in the country, such as the members of the Penya Barcelonista FC Barcelona Fan Club India, who Vilanova met on Tuesday afternoon and who on Friday will be enjoying a football masterclass with Luis García.