661 Polish penya members headed to Allianz Arena to support FC Barcelona

A total of 1,407 official FC Barcelona supporters and members will be in the stadium for the Champions League clash at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday.

1,111 of those are from the penya movement, of whom a massive 661 will be travelling from the four official supporters clubs in Poland. There are also 296 travelling members, 60 of whom are using the travel package organised by the club.

Barça's excellent early form has sparked added interest, not to mention the Robert Lewandowski factor, particularly with regard to the Polish fans. The Penya Barcelonista de Poznan is sending a staggering 560 of its members, who will be joined in Germany by the PB de Lodz (70), Fans Club Barça Polska (27) and PB Warsaw (4).

Barça has always had an amazing faithful set of fans in Poland whenever games are played in that part of the continent, but with national hero Lewandowski added to the mix, the interest is now bigger than ever. Since the striker signed for Barça, there have been 548 new recruits to the moment in Poland.

Lech Poznan, Lewandowski's team

The Penya Blaugrana de Poznan was formed in 2016 and already has 1,533 members. The especially mammoth interest from that club is clearly connected to the fact that Lewandowski played for local club Lech Poznan, and helped them to the league title before leaving for Borussia Dortmund.

Polish fans have also benefited from the somewhat larger quota of tickets made available for this game. The Poles are the majority, but there will be Barça fans from other places closing in on Munich in the next 24 hours. The 58 penyas being represented on Tuesday include contingents from Stuttgart (161), Budapest (45), the 'two tailed lions' from the Czech Republic (40), Liege (35) and the Bayerischer club from Munich itself (34).

The latter is organising a supporters gathering from 3pm to 6pm in the Löwenbräukeller Beer Garden (Nymphenburger Straße 2 Stiglmaierplatz), where any Barça fans travelling to Munich for the game are heartily invited to go and enjoy the pre-game festivities.