FCBARCELONA.CAT

13.06.2007 13:03

Barça to end season in South Africa

www.fcbarcelona.cat

FC Barcelona will play a friendly match in Pretoria, South Africa on Wednesday, June 20 against Mamelodi Sundowns, the league champions of the country.

The Blaugrana first team will close the 2006-07 campaign with a the game in South Africa to help the Sundowns celebrate their title win. The game will kick off at 20:00, the same time as in Catalunya as there is not time difference.

Frank Rijkaard's side will play the encounter in the Loftus Stadium, which has a 51,000 capacity, and will be one of the key stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals, which are being held in South Africa.

Fourth country

South Africa will be the fourth country on the continent that has hosted the Barça first team. The first game that the Blaugrana played on African soil was back in 1932 when they took part in a series of games in Algeria, when it was still a French colony, that saw them take on five teams, including the national side and France's Sochaux. In 1961, Barça travelled to Egypt to play Al-Ahly. Then, in 1969, FC Barcelona took part in the Mohamed V Trophy in Morocco.

Eight wins and two defeats

Of the ten games that Barça have played in Africa, they have won eight and lost only two. Both defeats came in the 1932 tour of Algeria when they were beaten by French teams, Seté and Sochauz, 1-0 and 4-2 respectively. One close victory came against Bayern Munich in Morocco when Barça won on penalties after drawing 2-2 with the Bundesliga giants.

Second visit of the year

FC Barcelona have already played one game in Africa this year. On April 24, the Blaugrana met Egyptian side Al-Ahly and won 4-0 thanks to goals from Bojan Krkic, Javier Saviola and Samuel Eto'o (2).