Sports

Barça’s Argentine star is hugely grateful to the Catalan club for extending his contract until June 30, 2016. Mascherano will be 32 years old when his contract ends and feels that seeing out his career as a Barça player is in his own hands. “It depends on me and how I perform as a footballer” he said. The buyout clause has been raised to 100 million euros.

FCB Escola unveiled its new Campus in the Beijing Olympic Center. The two-week camp, FCB Escola’s first in China, will serve to bring Barça’s values and training methodology to aspiring Chinese footballers.

The Catalan defender has been at FC Barcelona’s offices the day before he signed his new contract with the Catalan club. The visit is the first step in a busy 36 hours for Barça’s latest signing and recent Euro 2012 winner.

6 of the 8 Barça players that won the EURO title with Spain were named to the best team of the EURO. Valdés, Pedro and the Dutchman Afellay are the only Barça players that did not make the all-star team.

The FC Barcelona midfielder wins the award that his fellow Barça teammate, Xavi Hernández, won in the 2008 EURO. Iniesta was named man of the match against Italy (Group Stage), Croatia and in the final against the Azzurri.

FC Barcelona Alusport has won the Liga after beating El Pozo Murcia (3-6). El Pozo took charge until the final minutes of the game when Barça then tied. In the 5 minutes of extra time, the blaugrana team demonstrated its best side and scored the winning goals.

Barça Regal win the Liga title in the last match of the Liga Endesa Finals at an at-capacity Palau Blaugrana. The game against Real Madrid was won in the last seconds of the fourth quarter. Pete Mickeal,with 17 points and 9 rebounds, was the best player of the match. Fran Vázquez also had a brilliant performance. Erazem Lorbek was named MVP of the Liga Endesa Final playoff series.

FC Barcelona’s new manager gives his first press conference. “It's an honour. I'm eager and excited”, said Tito Vilanova. He is aware he's taking on “a very big challenge” but that “we won't give up on any match or any titles. We'll try to win them all”. "I accept this challenge because I know how football is understood here and, furthermore, I feel that I’ve been part of the successes of these past four years," says the new manager. Furthermore Vilanova emphasised: “I lose in any comparisons [with Guardiola], I didn’t come here to compete with anyone. I’ll try to do a good job, I’ll dedicate as many hours to the job as I have in the past”.

Barça Regal beat Real Madrid on Wednesday evening thereby forcing a fifth and final game in the Liga Endesa Finals. Lorbek, with 24 points, was the best Barça Regal player on the court. Saturday, at 19:00, the champions of the 2011/12 Liga Endesa will be decided at the Palau Blaugrana

FC Barcelona have come to an agreement with Francesc ‘Tito’ Vilanova. This season's first team assistant manager will be the head coach of FC Barcelona for two seasons, through June 30th, 2014. Barça’s new manager will sign his new contract this Friday, at noon.

Spain is once again the favourite team going into Euro 2012. After breaking an international jinx of 44 years in 2008, they have not looked back since and possess a squad oozing with quality. Of the 23-man squad Vicente del Bosque is taking to the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine six are Catalan players. Their first match of the tournament is against Italy on June 10th.

Barça Regal took the first game in the Final play off series of the Spanish basketball league with an astonishing comeback in the last quarter, crowned by a three pointer from inside his own half by Marcelinho Huertas. Barça Regal were 17 points down in the third and 12 the beginning of the fourth quarter. Navarro (21 points), Lorbek (18) and Mickeal (17) outstanding for the hosts.

A study by the University of Navarra has revealed that Barça is the football club that received most media coverage worldwide for the fourth year on the run, this time ahead of Real Madrid and Chelsea in second and third spots. The study also found that Leo Messi was the player who received most media coverage, also for the fourth successive year, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba.

In MotoGP the victory of Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo and Catalan rider Dani Pedrosa’s second spot on the podium riveted the thousands of fans that came to the Catalunya Circuit at Montmeló, as did the victory of Catalan promise Maverick Viñales in the Moto3 category. However, in Moto2 local favourites Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró clashed leaving Espargaró out of the race and Márquez in 3rd position. Victory in the Moto2 category was for Italian Andrea Ianone.

After 13 years, the Constitutional Court has denied the appeal presented by the Spanish Government in 1999 against a Catalan Parliament Law that allowed the Catalan sports federation to compete internationally. However, the Court states that Catalan teams cannot compete “in sports where no Spanish federation exists”. According to the Catalan Government, this sentence is “a first step” on the road to the international recognition of “all sports federations”. In addition, the Platform for Catalan said that Spanish legislation does not apply internationally and that International Federations are private organisations; it is thus their decision, as the CAS confirmed in 2008. They also mentioned the case of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.