No doubt about it: FC Barcelona's Tour 2006 to Mexico and the USA has been a great success for the club, players and all of Catalonia. Nearly 300,000 people watched the 4 matches played in Monterrey, Los Angeles, Houston and New York. The average gate for the four games was 71,300. 52,000 fans attended various training sessions.


The huge level of interest in FC Barcelona was also shown by the media attention. More than 800 journalists from 20 different countries followed Barça in Los Angeles, Houston and New York. excluding the large number of international journalist present for the game in Monterrey, Mexico.


Of course, there are always doubts, when a team goes on a long, tiring pre-season trip to prepare for a long, difficult season, but looking back, the trip was definetely worth it. The reception the team received from the overseas fans, a lot of Hispanic origin, must have been inspirational for the players. Barca supporters in Mexico and the United States were able to see their star players "live". On the football pitch, the Barca players were able to prove why they are so popular: Like usual, they showed "sexy" football and lived up to the expectation of all the supporters. Ronaldinho proved again that he is unique and the world´s best footballer. Also Messi showed that he is back at his best.
The final match, especially the second half, showed what we can expect from our team in the upcoming season. Barca will be the team to beat to win any trophy, in Spain, Europe and FIFA Club´s World Championship!


Economically, a Tour to the USA always makes sense but this time, Barca made 4 times the revenues compared to their last trip to the United States. For promotional aspects, the Tour is invaluable.


FC Barcelona broke some attendance records on the Tour 2006:


92,216 spectators saw FC Barcelona draw 1-1 with Chivas in Los Angeles. this was the highest gate ever at the Coliseum stadium, but it was also the highest ever attendance at a football match in the United States.


70,550 fans watched the match between FC Barcelona and Club América (4-4) in Houston, the highest crowd for a match in the State of Texas.


The open training sessions that were held in each of the four cities were also incredibly popular. Over 50,000 fans watched Barca during their training. Unfortunately, on some occassions, the Barca fans had to pay to see their stars "live" in training. This is probably down to the organizer of the tour and not to the club but it definetely should be free entry for all fans at training.