Barça releases Camí dels Somnis, the documentary about the Estadi Johan Cruyff, one year after its inauguration

FC Barcelona is releasing a new documentary serial with the Espai Barça project at its central theme, giving viewers the chance to get a close-up look, through exclusive images, at the construction process of each of the new facilities. On Thursday 27 August, both Barça TV (at 10.00pm CEST) and the new on-demand Barça TV+ digital service, on the occasion of the anniversary of the opening of the Estadi Johan Cruyff, is launching Camí dels Somnis (The Road to Dreams), the first episode of a series to which new episodes will be added as each of the sites are completed: the future Camp Nou, the new Palau Blaugrana and the Campus Barça. But these are not simply documentaries about architecture. They are stories of blaugrana passion and sentiment that take the club facilities as their setting. The subtitled version in English is due out on Friday 28.

The series will consist of four episodes centred on each part of the project, with the first focusing on the first part of Espai Barça to be completed and the most iconic part of the Ciutat Esportiva. The stadium bearing the name of club legend Johan Cruyff is the new home of Barça B, the Barça women’s team and also the U19 team for UEFA Youth League fixtures, genuinely making it a place where dreams really are built. The documentary depicts the whole process, from the inspiration behind the project to its opening day.

The 50 minute debut episode includes testimonies from the people who were involved in different stages of the project and who are very much part of the Barça family. These include members of the Board of Directors, such as president Josep Maria Bartomeu, and Jordi Moix, the current vice-president for finance and real estate and head of Espai Barça. It also includes players who grew up at the Miniestadi, like Garcia Pimienta, now coach of Barça B, and Andrés Iniesta, who take an emotional look back at what the stadium meant to them as part of their journeys towards the senior team. Marta Torrejón of the women’s team discusses the importance of women’s football at the club and the indescribable moments she enjoyed in the old stadium in Les Corts neighbourhood.

Johan Cruyff’s legacy becomes more are more noticeable as the documentary advances, and it ends up being a tribute to the Barça legend and everything he did for the club to create a new style of play and way of understanding football that has played such a key role in recent FC Barcelona history. From the personal experiences of Jordi and Susila Cruyff, viewers learn more about the personal side of their father and some of the many anecdotes from their childhood, and family life together with his wife, Danny Coster.

There are also scenes that tie in more closely with the ground itself, such as the demolishing of the old Miniestadi, the laying of the first stone at the Ciutat Esportiva and the way the Batlle i Roig studio sought inspiration from the old Carrer de la Indústria ground. And now that the stadium is complete, the documentary looks back at the reactions on the day when Cruyff’s children saw it for the first time, including the opening ceremony and the game between the Barça and Ajax youth teams. And it ends with footage of the women’s team enjoying their new home while surrounded by fans.

A Barça Studios production

This new documentary series was produced by Barça Studios, which centralises the creation, production and marketing of all of the audiovisual productions that come out of FC Barcelona. New episodes will be released as each of the new sites is completed, and will all be screened both on Barça TV and Barça TV+, the club’s new digital streaming digital service for its in-house productions.

The Road to Dreams was directed by Xavier Bosch and Josep Badell, written by Marc Amorós and produced by Gemma Prat and Darío Bellet.