17th February 2011
Barcelona are to open an academy in Surrey, placing them in direct competition with Chelsea.
Camp Nou: Barca's home
The Catalan giants have struck a deal which will see them set up their first training camp outside of Spain.
Barca will begin staging coaching classes for 300 hopefuls between the ages of six and 16 from April at ACS school in Cobham.
The school, which is less than two miles from Chelsea's training ground, is attended by the children of Didier Drogba and Yossi Benayoun.
Passion
Barca appreciate that they will be competing for promising talent with the reigning Premier League champions, but believe both sides will benefit from the initiative.
Academy coach Xevi Marce said: "We are not coming here to be in competition with Chelsea.
"We are going to start slowly but surely to build a team here, train all the kids and get that passion.
"In the future we might lose a player or two to Chelsea or the other way around. It is not a problem."
Barcelona are to open an academy in Surrey, placing them in direct competition with Chelsea.
Camp Nou: Barca's home
The Catalan giants have struck a deal which will see them set up their first training camp outside of Spain.
Barca will begin staging coaching classes for 300 hopefuls between the ages of six and 16 from April at ACS school in Cobham.
The school, which is less than two miles from Chelsea's training ground, is attended by the children of Didier Drogba and Yossi Benayoun.
Passion
Barca appreciate that they will be competing for promising talent with the reigning Premier League champions, but believe both sides will benefit from the initiative.
Academy coach Xevi Marce said: "We are not coming here to be in competition with Chelsea.
"We are going to start slowly but surely to build a team here, train all the kids and get that passion.
"In the future we might lose a player or two to Chelsea or the other way around. It is not a problem."