Institutional tributes to Chapecoense, 1992 Olympic medallists and Joan Gamper

The Joan Gamper Trophy is the traditional start to the football season at Camp Nou. The event honours the memory of the founder of the club, but today it was also about honouring Chapecoense, the Brazilian club that suffered such a horrific air accident en route to the Copa Sudamericana final in Colombia last November.

Emotional tribute

The preseason friendly was arranged in special tribute to the 71 people that died that day and their families – and also to express solidarity with the survivors.

Following the annual presentation of the Barça first team squad, the stadium also announced a special welcome for Alan Ruschel, Jakson Follman and Helio Hermito Neto, the only three Chapecoense players to survive the crash.

The presidents of both clubs, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Plinio de Nes Filho, also exchanged gifts before kick-off.

Class of 92

But that was not the only tribute at the Camp Nou on a very special Monday. On the 25th anniversdary of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the club also wanted to pay homage to the Spanish Olympians and Paralympians that won medals in a summer that changed the city forever.

The guests in the presidential box included Daniel Plaza, Magdalena Amo and Javier Salmerón (athletics), Natalia Via-Dufresne (sailing), Marc Antoni González and Sergi Pedrerol (water polo), Celia Corres, Anna Maiques, Elisabeth Maragall and Núria Olivé (field hockey); Josep Benito and Joan Carles Colàs (roller hockey), and Tània Cerdà, Joan Carles Castañé, Jesús Iglesias, Jordi Marí, Daniel Llambrich, Anna Martín, Laura Tramuns and Sílvia Vives (swimming).

And not forgetting FC Barcelona icon Juan Antonio San Epifanio, the basketball player who carried the Olympic toruch in its final leg into the stadium.

The awards were presented by Emma, Manel, Xavier and Marisa Gamper, the grandchildren of the founder of the club in 1899, who also left the traditional floral offering before his bust.