the best

The Catalan capital hosts the largest and most modern container terminal of the Mediterranean Sea, a true gate for cargo ships, linking Europe with the Middle East, Northern Africa and Asia. BEST, which stands for Barcelona Europe South Terminal, represents a €515 million investment by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH). This week it has unveiled the first part of the project: 100 hectares to store containers, 1.5 kilometres of docking space for cargo ships, 98 cranes and a provisional international-width railway connection to compete with northern European harbours. However, the Spanish Government has not started the definitive railway connection yet, despite many promises.

FC Barcelona midfielder and Real Madrid keeper, who were nominated together, win the prestigious 2012 Príncipe de Asturias Award for Sport. International Paralympic Committee were also nominated.

FC Barcelona’s midfielder edged out team-mate Leo Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the award that distinguishes him as the best player in Europe.

Valdés, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Alexis and Messi have all been named in the shortlist of 60 candidates named by French magazine ‘Onze Mondial’. Fans have until June 7th to make their choices. Messi has been named best footballer in the last three editions.

FC Barcelona was named ‘The World’s Club of the 1st Decade’ by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) this Monday evening. Barça won a total of seven awards during the IFFHS' World Football Gala, which took place in the W Hotel in Barcelona’s Barceloneta beach. Xavi, Messi and Guardiola also won awards.

The substitute of Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, who will be FC Barcelona’s 2012/13 manager, has shown that he’s more than capable of managing the team after five seasons as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. As a footballer, Vilanova was at La Masía and he played in first division with Celta de Vigo.

Tito Vilanova, Guardiola’s assistant, will take over and become Barça’s next Manager. Pep Guardiola has announced to FC Barcelona’s President and the squad that he will not be staying at FC Barcelona after June 30, when his present contract ends. Guardiola justified his decision is “worn out and empty” after 4 years being the coach of the best team in the world. He emphasised that Barça’s Manager needs to be full of energy and therefore, the best for the club is he stepping down. The club’s President expressed his “eternal gratitude” to Guardiola’s job.

With his three goals against Granada, Leo Messi surpasses César’s record and became the all-time top goalscorer in the history of FC Barcelona in official matches with 234 goals.

Lionel Messi is the first player in the history of the Champions League to score five goals in one game. The Barça player has scored 29 goals in the European competition. Messi, despite his sublime display, was humble after the match: “The most important thing is that we won, that’s what we wanted.”

The Argentinean star is named by FIFA as the best player of 2011. This is Messi’s third straight Ballon d’Or Award. Messi equals Platini, Cruyff and Van Basten, the only players to ever win three Ballon d’Or titles. The Barça boss, who won 5 titles with FC Barcelona in 12 months, beat last year's winner, José Mourinho, and Sir Alex Ferguson. Guardiola dedicated the title to his assistant coach, Tito Vilanova. Besides, 5 Barça players are in the FIFA's Best Eleven of the Year: Alves, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi. Two of them are Catalan and four are home grown players.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics has named the FC Barcelona midfielder the best playmaker in the world for the fourth year in a row. Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta are second and third behind Xavi.

No team has more candidates than FC Barcelona at the FIFA FIFPro World XI 2011. The association of professional footballers announced the final list of 55 players who are candidates for the best eleven of 2011. 20% of them are from the FC Barcelona. In 2010, Barça already had six players in the winning team.

The Argentinian, who topped the goalscoring charts in the last edition of the Champions League has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi to win the award. In the same event, FC Barcelona was paired with AC Milan, Bate Borisov and Viktoria Plzen in the group H of this season’s Champions League.