How to Get FC Barcelona Tickets
A Guide to Gaining Entrance to the Greatest Football Show on Earth
Sep 28, 2009
FC Barcelona, like many football clubs in Spain, is run on a “socio” system, by which the club is actually owned collectively by its socios, or members. Naturally, socios are given preferential ticketing; and with the highest membership in Spanish football at nearly 180,000, that means there is a very long queue before non-members can even get a chance at Barcelona tickets.
Thankfully, three factors ensure this is not necessarily a barrier to securing entrance to a match at the fabled Camp Nou stadium, even without having to resort to expensive ticket agencies.
The first, and crucial, factor is the stadium itself: at nearly 98,000 capacity, it is the largest in Europe, and only on rare occasion completely sells out. (The vaunted superclasico between Barcelona and arch-rivals Real Madrid, arguably the holy grail of world soccer tickets, is one of these occasions; hotly contested knockout-stage Champions League fixtures may be others.)
Retail and Online Ticket Sales
Second, a block of tickets are released to the general public via Servi-Caixa one month prior to the match. Servi-Caixa is an official FC Barcelona bank-allied ticketing service. Once available, tickets may be booked online and then collected either at the stadium ticket office or, ingeniously, from one of the special Servi-Caixa ATMs scattered throughout the city, simply by inserting the credit card on which the tickets were reserved. Non-European credit card holders, however, will need to collect the tickets in person at the stadium, either in advance (stadium ticket offices are open regular office hours during the week) or just prior to the match.
And finally, the club holds back a certain number of tickets for last-minute release in two stages: at the stadium a few days before the match (usually on a Thursday for weekend matches), and then again at the stadium and at their official retail stores in Barcelona on the day of the match, a few hours before kick-off. While this method can seem risky and will almost certainly entail a certain amount of waiting in line, it is an entirely reliable way to secure tickets without having to commit a month in advance or pay over the odds. Tickets can usually even be bought from the stadium ticket offices just before kick-off, though obviously seat choice will be limited.
Stadium Ticket Sellers
If, however, it is one of those very rare occasions when paying over the odds is the only surefire way to see Barça take on Real Madrid, Manchester United or AC Milan in a crucial contest of top-notch soccer, the Camp Nou has no shortage of that time-tested figure: the stadium tout. But it is always well worth first exploring the official channels. Remember, even for a once-in-a-lifetime footballing experience, 98,000 is an awful lot of seats to fill.
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