Just 34,568 fans watched Barcelona against Atletico Madrid on Sunday evening, a La Liga match between two giants fighting for the title.
Both teams were packed with stars in a game filled with intrigue. How would Barca's on-loan Joao Felix do against the team who pushed him away last term (he scored the winner), or Memphis Depay do for Atletico on loan from Barcelona (the substitute didn’t do much)?
More people watched two games in England’s second tier at Leeds United and Sunderland last week. The attendance against Atletico was Barcelona’s lowest of the season so far, way down from the equivalent fixtures last term which attracted 80, 965.
There are numerous reasons why. The main one is that Barcelona are playing games at the city’s Olympic Stadium while Camp Nou is being rebuilt and expanded to hold 105,000. But even the Olympic Stadium, located high on Montjuic overlooking Barcelona, was well short of its 51,000 capacity on Sunday.
The stadium may be as beautiful as the views you get over Barcelona, accessible via a series of escalators climbing 150 metres above the city, but it wasn’t built for football and the views from thousands of seats are really poor. The stands are separated from the pitch by the athletics track which staged the 1992 Olympic Games. And there’s plenty of space around the track.
As a result, the seats behind the goals, especially on the upper tier, are so far from the pitch that it’s almost impossible to watch the game. Lower down, it’s difficult to judge the distances. Barcelona keep the first 15 rows empty, creating a poor image on television, though not as poor as for those fans who would have to sit in those low seats far from the pitch.
The tickets in this section were €55 each, plus a €3.50 booking fee. There are no discounts for children. Tickets along the side of the pitch for this weekend’s Catalan derby against Girona cost between €139 and €169, plus a booking fee. Ticket prices are far higher to watch games in Spain than in England or Germany, where average wages are far higher than in Spain.
Barcelona have vast support capable of attracting over 90,000 to see their stellar women’s side when they played at Camp Nou, but not at the prices being asked by the club for the men’s team.
Attendances are likely to go down in the winter especially for games played at unsociable hours (Sunday’s was with a 9pm kick off). Games are switched to suit television, so don’t be surprised when match-going fans stay away.
Those Barca fans who do go to games try their best to create an atmosphere in their cold, exposed, temporary home where the temperature is often a couple of degrees colder than in the city below. But while Camp Nou is surrounded by night life, the Olympic Stadium stands in near isolation.
There are more factors. Barcelona market themselves heavily to the football tourists. They have had considerable success in doing so and charge tourists far more for tickets, but there are far fewer tourists in Barcelona in December than in the summer. The clasico against Real Madrid saw the only sell-out of the season, but that’s a global event.
Barcelona ratings v Atletico Madrid
Barcelona got it wrong with their regulars, too. They increased prices sharply for this season – and most fans decided it was too much to pay. Only 8,000 members paid up. Barca were forced to halve their prices; now, the most expensive regular season ticket is €870 while fans in the most vocal section behind the goal pay only €175.
Yet, even so, Barcelona had sold only 17,500 once the season got under way. Second division Espanyol have 22,000 season ticket holders, third tier Deportivo La Coruna 25,556.
The initial pricing policy annoyed fans, many of whom then took the option of a year’s pause from their season tickets. Barcelona optimistically hope to be back in Camp Nou a year from now.
Barcelona are currently emailing members with offers as they try to shift tickets for a team that’s doing well enough in the league but whose club is well short of their aim to fill their temporary home for every game.
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
MATCH INFO
Delhi Daredevils 174-4 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians 163 (19.3 ovs)
Delhi won the match by 11 runs
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
4pm Maratha Arabians v Northern Warriors
6.15pm Deccan Gladiators v Pune Devils
8.30pm Delhi Bulls v Bangla Tigers
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m, Winner: ES Rubban, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Al Mobher, Sczcepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: Jabalini, Tadhg O’Shea, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: AF Abahe, Tadgh O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: AF Makerah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: Law Of Peace, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
More from Neighbourhood Watch
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
