Barça Academy World Cup starts on Monday

This year's Barça Academy World Cup presented by Allianz is the eleventh edition of the international tournament. The five continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania will be represented via the Barça Academy Camps, which will bring a blaugrana feel from every corner of the world. The ambassadors for this year's edition will be none other than Pau Cubarsí and Mariona Caldentey, men's and women's football first team players respectively.

The event will see almost 2,000 boys and girls travel once again to FC Barcelona's installations, ​numbers that will come close to the record for the World Cup. The eleventh edition will take place on the football pitches at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, at Escuela Pia Sarrià, Colegio Sant Ignasi and at the Campo Municipal del Barri Centre de Sant Joan Despí.

175 teams

A total of 175 teams from 22 countries are taking part, with 638 games set to be played over the four days of competition. The teams in this edition will represent 36 Barça Academy and Barça Academy Camps worldwide and will be a record in terms of participation across every edition of the World Cup so far.

Second edition for girls

This year's edition will see the 18 teams representing the different Barça Academies worldwide take part in the second edition of the girls tournament. They will play in two categories, Under-12 and Under-14, and participation has risen from 10 teams, 100 female players and six Academies, to 18 teams, with over 190 participants representing 13 Barça Academies.

11-a-side for the first time

New to this edition is the inclusion of 11-a-side in the Under-16 category for the first time. As such, nearly 150 boys from nine teams will strive to become the inaugural winners of the 11-a-side tournament.

Recognition for loyalty

The Barça Academy World Cup presented by Allianz will also see projects with over ten years of history in their respective countries recognised. As such, the Barça Academies from Singapore and República Dominicana will be honoured during the competition's opening ceremony for the loyalty over the last 10 years.