Palau Blaugrana

Palau Blaugrana (, meaning in English "Blue and deep red Palace") is an arena in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain), belonging to FC Barcelona (FCB). The 7,585 seating capacity arena is home to the basketball, handball, roller hockey, and futsal divisions of FC Barcelona. Palau Blaugrana is located between Mini Estadi and the Camp Nou.

History

Built in 1971, the stadium originally held 5,696 spectators, but the facility was remodeled in 1994 to fit the current capacity of 7,585. During the 1992 Summer Olympics, the arena hosted several events, including roller hockey, taekwondo and judo.

Several basketball and handball players have had their jerseys retired:<br>4 Andrés Jiménez, 7 Nacho Solozábal and 15 Epi for basketball and 2 Òscar Grau, 7 Iñaki Urdangarin, 14 Joan Sagalés, and 16 David Barrufet for handball.

The future

Under Sandro Rosell's presidency, the club announced that by 2013 it plans to build a new Palau Blaugrana for the basketball team, with a capacity of 12,000 seats. Also included in the plan, is a smaller campus with a capacity of 3,000 seats, plus for hotel partners (operated by a specialist company...
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