FC Barcelona’s Board of Directors took advantage of the Penyes Festival to present its new project for official supporters’ clubs, which reaffirms its commitment to the movement and its desire to maintain a closer relationship with supporters and supporters’ clubs around the world. entire. world.
The fundamental objective of this new project is to revitalize and foster a more modern movement that reaches more than 160,000 people and brings benefits to the club. The idea is to move from “What Barça can do for the Penyes to what the Penyes can do for Barça”, applying a new model of management and relationship without intermediaries between the Penyes and the club, guaranteeing a more transparent and fairer model.
In order to develop all the changes that will enrich the relationship between the club and its supporters, as well as allowing the Penyes to become true ambassadors of FC Barcelona in their regions, three key areas, or “levers”, have been taken into account, that will guide the whole project: Belonging, Recognition and Community.
Belonging
The first of these is that of belonging, where the objective is to achieve a more integrated fan movement with FC Barcelona and its members, moving from a pyramidal form to a circular form of communication between the club, members and Penyes, thus promoting a more direct dialogue between all. involved.
To do this, it will be essential for FC Barcelona to prepare a census of the members of Pneya, just as there has traditionally been a census of its official Penyes, which has enabled them to obtain so many advantages from the club.
During the 2022/2023 season, FC Barcelona will launch a new platform to prepare for this census, where supporters’ club members will be able to enter their contact details directly, which will ensure proper processing and use. This census will serve to reduce fraud, provide benefits to all Penya members (discounts on official products, tickets for matches, participation in Barça events, etc.) and also ensure standardized communication with all members. of the Penya community. But it will always be the club that will confirm who is part of the group and who is not, that is to say which Penyes are officially recognized, and which will validate the various requests received from its members, thus ensuring a more fluid without losing any of the key component assets.
Recognition and community
The main raison d’être of the Penyes is to promote the club throughout the world and the club wants to recognize and reward this commitment. To do this, FC Barcelona has changed the requirements to become an official Penya by applying certain standards. All Penyes must have a clubhouse at street level, a minimum number of members, a television screen to show FC Barcelona matches, etc. Official supporter clubs will receive a certificate from the club attesting to their official status, which must be displayed in a visible location so that FC Barcelona members and fans can recognize it as such.
In order to obtain this certificate, Penyes will be assigned credentials based on the number of Barça members registered in the system, the actions and activities they perform, their attendance at matches and, ultimately, of their involvement with Barça and its teams. the maximum distinction a club can achieve is that of a 5-star Penya.
Through this recognition, the club will be able to reward certain Penyes with more visibility on its official channels and offer it greater advantages. In other words, the more a Penya is committed to FC Barcelona, the more FC Barcelona will be committed to the Penya.
The third lever, Community, aims to take the movement around the world, to develop it internationally and for the clubs closest to Barcelona to have an impact outside their local communities as well. FC Barcelona will also encourage interrelations between its Penyes so that they become a real community of supporters that is more connected, more united and stronger.
