Barça Innovation Hub sets up online courses to raise funds for the fight against Covid-19

The Barça Innovation Hub, BIHUB, FC Barcelona’s sports innovation and knowledge laboratory, has launched today on its digital training platform, Barça Universitas, a series of online courses with the dual purpose of raising money for the fight against Covid-19 and at the same time helping professionals from different areas of sport to expand their knowledge in a period marked by changes to their working routines due to confinement. These courses are being offered at a 50% discount on the usual price set for the different subjects and all proceeds will go to the Barça Foundation to support efforts to combat the Covid-19 health crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a radical change to people’s lives and their professional fields. The education and sports sectors have also been affected, and as a result, the BIHUB, through its digital training platform, Barça Universitas, has sought to respond by launching eleven online courses aimed at professionals and people who want to continue working on different aspects related to sports during this crisis period. 

These Take Part #LearnAtHome online programmes will last a month and have been developed from the different courses and contents that are usually offered on the Barça Universitas platform. A wide variety of subjects are on offer, including training methodologies, nutrition, psychology and sports performance, leadership, and sports communication and marketing, among others. All of them will offer students permanent accessibility to an active, virtual community of professionals in the sector. The courses will be available in three languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese.

The purpose of this bespoke training programme is to support the fight against the pandemic. The entire proceeds from these courses will be donated to the Barça Foundation for allocation to different projects to alleviate this health emergency and to combat the impact of Covid-19.

The director of the BIHUB, Marta Plana, emphasised that: "the club are working in different ways to help alleviate the effects of this crisis, and at the Barça Innovation Hub it has been decided that it could be useful for us to offer these courses online. Staying at home is the best way to help fight the coronavirus, and we want to share our knowledge -whilst at the same time enabling the funds that are raised to go to social emergency projects, all channelled through the Barça Foundation."

Barça plays against coronavirus

This programme is part of a series of actions launched by FC Barcelona to support, through its Social Area and the Barça Foundation, the fight against this health crisis that is enforcing social distancing and is leading to such unprecedentedly severe social consequences on a worldwide level.

Since the very beginning of the crisis, the Club has made all its facilities available to the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Health. The Social Area launched the “We’ll accompany you at home” programme to contact members over the age of 80 to inform, assist and monitor them during the crisis. The World Confederation of Supporters Clubs has made its member federations and clubs available to the various local authorities to offer personal assistance and make their facilities and other resources available for use. Through the supporters’ movement, 800kg of baby food for children between 1 and 3 years old has also been donated to the Food Bank.

As for the Barça Foundation, an awareness campaign is about to be launched to reinforce the message to “Stay at Home” in collaboration with the Hospital Sant de Déu featuring children who, because of their illness, are staying at the centre for long periods. The Foundation has also been in touch with the club’s global and regional sponsors to channel donations for medical equipment and supplies. One of the club’s sponsors in China, Taiping Life Insurance, has sent 30,000 masks that will be used in old people’s homes. The Barça Foundation’s usual programmes to find ways to support the most at-risk groups are also continuing to run.

About Barça Innovation Hub

The Barça Innovation Hub is the knowledge and innovation platform whose main mission is to turn the Club into the benchmark sports innovation center in the world. Its activity is divided into 3 fundamental pillars: scientific research, innovation in collaboration with start-ups and corporations, and the training and dissemination of knowledge.

Link to website about online programmes:

https://barcainnovationhub.com/take-part/