Football fans in Thailand will get their share of fun and excitement just before the 2013-14 season starts when the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Gerard Pique will come to town for a pre-season friendly against the Thai national team in August.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol receives a souvenir from ThaiBev executives.
Arguably the best team in the world in recent years, the Spanish La Liga leaders and Champions League semi-finalists will return to Thailand for the first time since they visited over a decade ago, when they beat BEC Tero Sasana 4-3 on May 26, 2002. This time around they are scheduled to play against Thailand at Rajamangala National Stadium on Aug 7.
The match, dubbed the "Chang Champion Cup - FC Barcelona Asian Tour 2013", was confirmed last week during a contract signing ceremony between Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubi, Marut Buranasetkul, executive chairman and managing director of Thai Beverage Marketing Co Ltd, and Sorrakrit Lathitham, the company's senior marketing manager at the Spanish club's Camp Nou stadium.
Thai Beverage, which produces Chang beer, signed a sponsorship deal with Barcelona last year. It is also a sponsor of their arch-rivals Real Madrid.
After the ceremony, Vilarrubi confirmed the Catalan club will bring all their superstar players to Thailand.
"It's not an easy task to convince a team of this stature to play outside of their country. But Chang has proved that we can do it and we've done it," Marut said.
"This success will strengthen our leadership in sports marketing in the drink industry in Thailand.
"Thailand was among the first countries that Barcelona had expressed their interest in visiting. Chang hopes this visit will help inspire our younger consumers to live their life at the fullest, to match the brand's slogan 'Live Like You Mean It!"'
Vilarrubi said: "Chang has become our most important partner from Southeast Asia. Chang has developed from a partner to a promoter for Barcelona. This is our return to Thailand for the first time in 11 years after our last visit back in 2002."
Tickets for the match will be available at Thai Ticket Major outlets from May 11. There will also be several promotional activities to build up anticipation during the days leading up to the match.
The pre-season friendly in Thailand is part of Barcelona's Asian tour which also includes stops in China (Shanghai, Aug 4) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Aug 10).
Visiting La Masia
A group of Thai Journalists were invited to the signing ceremony between ThaiBev and the club's representatives in Barcelona last week. After attending the La Liga match against Real Mallorca at the Camp Nou last Saturday, easily won 5-0 by Barcelona, the group also had an opportunity to watch the players practice at their La Masia training centre on Sunday.
All the players, except for Messi, who skipped the session because of a thigh injury he suffered during a Champions League quarter-final first-leg match against Paris Saint-Germain on April 2, were present and very co-operative as they happily posed for pictures before leaving to start their training session.
The match last Saturday also held great significance for Barcelona as defender Eric Abidal, who had a liver transplant a year ago, returned to the pitch for the first time in 14 months towards the end of the game, replacing centre-back Gerard Pique.
The Messi factor
There's no denying who was the most popular figure among the current crop of Barcelona players. The one question raised by every Thai journalist in the group was whether the four-time world player of the year Messi would come to the Kingdom.
A few days later, Messi justified the group's enthusiasm after he once again rode to Barcelona's rescue as they squeezed past PSG on away goals to qualify for an unprecedented sixth consecutive Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.
The mercurial Argentine was called upon for the final half-hour with his team trailing to Javier Pastore's goal on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.
Just nine minutes later the clearly ailing Messi sparked the move which proved decisive in the tie. He skipped past PSG's defensive midfield shield of Marco Veratti and Thiago Motta to release David Villa inside the area and his layoff was smashed into the far corner by Pedro.
Expanding fanbase
There are probably about 150 million reasons why Barcelona will travel all the way to Asia to play three pre-season matches this year. That's how big a following the club reportedly has in the continent.
The matches against Thailand, Malaysia and China won't count in the season standings, but they're far from meaningless. Expanding the club's fanbase has always been Barcelona's goal and Asia is definitely a fast-growing market.
"We've gained something like 500,000 fans from Thailand through our social media outlets in just the last year," said Vilarrubi. "We know we have a big following in Thailand and Asia and that's why we want to visit those places."
Interest in Barcelona has always been there because of the kind of football that they play but the club's popularity has certainly reached new heights in recent years thanks to Messi and Co.
The Aug 7 match should be a memorable experience for any football fanatics. Whether you are a Barcelona fan or not you wouldn't want to miss out.
Fans who wish to rub their shoulders with the Barcelona players, please keep updated with Chang at www.facebook.com/ChangWorld.
The players train at the club’s La Masia training centre.