16.07.2009 10:39
Jesús Carrillo
The players are not back yet, but work has already started on preparing for the preseason. The people in charge of the team’s equipment are getting everything ready for the trip to London and the US tour.
The shirts for the five games to be played in London and the United States, the materials
required for the training sessions, the boots the players will wear, towels, tracksuits, anoraks,
training kit for players and staff – there is a lot to be considered by two men who have been
in charge of the first team equipment for many years: José Antonio Ibars and Josep Maria Corbella.
Everything new
This morning much of the equipment the players will be
taking to London and then to the west coast of the USA arrived from London. Josep Maria Corbella
explained that “we get new material every year and replace everything after a certain period.
Apart from the kit used in games, we also have to think about what the weather will be like in
London, whether it’ll be cold and wet, or whether it’ll be very hot. We have to think
about these days many days in advance”.
Training gear
The kitmen don’t only look after work clothes, sportswear and casual gear, but also all
the things the players use on the pitch, such as “cones, four different coloured sets of
bibs, a pair of boots for each player, things for cleaning them and for mending them if they break.
We have to be on top of all these things”.
Match shirts
Barça have two games in London, against Tottenham and Egypt’s
Al-Ahly. For those games “we will take different kits for each game. One will be the normal
home kit and the other will be the new away kit, which was worn for the first time against
Deportivo in the last game of last season. Then there are the shorts and socks, and everything else
we need for the games. The only difference regarding the shirts is that they have numbers but not
the names of the players wearing them. They’ll be numbered from 1 to 30”.
55 people
As well as the footballers, the party heading for the British capital will also be Corbella
and Ibars’ responsibility. “There will be about 55 people, including players, coaches,
doctors, physiotherapists, treatment specialists, press officers and others. So we also have to
make sure that their work clothes are taken as well”.