title: Sydney

text: Healthcare gained recognition as a citizen's right in the early 1900s and Sydney's public hospitals came under the oversight of the Government of New South Wales. The administration of healthcare across Sydney is handled by eight local health districts: Central Coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Sydney, Nepean Blue Mountains, Northern Sydney, South Eastern Sydney, South Western Sydney, and Western Sydney. The Prince of Wales Hospital was established in 1852 and became the first of several major hospitals to be opened in the coming decades. St Vincent's Hospital was founded in 1857, followed by Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in 1880, the Prince Henry Hospital in 1881, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1882, the Royal North Shore Hospital in 1885, the St George Hospital in 1894, and the Nepean Hospital in 1895. Westmead Hospital in 1978 was the last major facility to open.


title: Sydney

text: The motor vehicle, more than any other factor, has determined the pattern of Sydney's urban development since World War II. The growth of low density housing in the city's outer suburbs has made car ownership necessary for hundreds of thousands of households. The percentage of trips taken by car has increased from 13% in 1947 to 50% in 1960 and to 70% in 1971. The most important roads in Sydney were the nine Metroads, including the Sydney Orbital Network. Widespread criticism over Sydney's reliance on sprawling road networks, as well as the motor vehicle, have stemmed largely from proponents of mass public transport and high density housing. The Light Horse Interchange in western Sydney is the largest in the southern hemisphere.


title: Sydney

text: There can be up to 350,000 cars using Sydney's roads simultaneously during peak hour, leading to significant traffic congestion. 84.9% of Sydney households own a motor vehicle and 46.5% own two or more. Car dependency is an ongoing issue in Sydney–of people who travel to work, 58.4% use a car, 9.1% catch a train, 5.2% take a bus, and 4.1% walk. In contrast, only 25.2% of working residents in the City of Sydney use a car, whilst 15.8% take a train, 13.3% use a bus, and 25.3% walk. With a rate of 26.3%, Sydney has the highest utilisation of public transport for travel to work of any Australian capital city. The CBD features a series of alleyways and lanes that provide off-street vehicular access to city buildings and as well as pedestrian routes through city buildings.


title: Sydney

text: Bus services today are conducted by private operators under contract to Transport for NSW. Integrated tickets called Opal cards operate on bus routes. In total, nearly 225 million boardings were recorded across the bus network NightRide is a nightly bus service that operate between midnight and 5am, also replacing trains for most of this period.


title: Sydney

text: Sydney once had one of the largest tram networks in the British Empire after London. It served routes covering . The internal combustion engine made buses more flexible than trams and consequently more popular, leading to the progressive closure of the tram network with the final tram operating in 1961. From 1930 there were 612 buses across Sydney carrying 90 million passengers per annum.


title: Sydney

text: In 1997, the Inner West Light Rail (also known as the Dulwich Hill Line) opened between Central station and Wentworth Park. It was extended to Lilyfield in 2000 and then Dulwich Hill in 2014. It links the Inner West and Darling Harbour with Central station and facilitated 9.1 million journeys in the 2016–17 financial year. A second, the CBD and South East Light Rail line serving the CBD and south-eastern suburbs opened partially in December 2019 and the remainder in April 2020. A light rail line serving Western Sydney has also been announced, due to open in 2023.


title: Sydney

text: Established in 1906, Central station is the largest and busiest railway station in the state and is the main hub of the city's rail network. Sydney Trains is the suburban rail service. Its tracks form part of the New South Wales railway network. It serves 175 stations across the city and had an annual ridership of 359 million passenger journeys in 2017–18. Sydney's railway was first constructed in 1854 with progressive extension to the network to serve both freight and passengers across the city, suburbs, and beyond to rural New South Wales. The main station is the Central railway station in the southern part of the CBD. In the 1850s and 1860s, the railway reached areas that are now outer suburbs of Sydney.


title: Sydney

text: Sydney Metro, a driverless rapid transit system separate from the suburban commuter network, commenced operation in May 2019 and will be extended into the city and down southwest by 2024 and through the inner west to Parramatta by 2030. It currently serves 13 stations. A line to serve the greater west is planned for 2026 and will include a station for the second international airport.


title: Sydney

text: At the time the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, the city's ferry service was the largest in the world. Patronage declined from 37 million passengers in 1945 to 11 million in 1963 but has recovered somewhat in recent years. From its hub at Circular Quay, the ferry network extends from Manly to Parramatta.


title: Sydney

text: Sydney Airport, officially "Sydney Kingsford-Smith Airport", is located in the inner southern suburb of Mascot with two of the runways going into Botany Bay. It services 46 international and 23 domestic destinations. As the busiest airport in Australia it handled 37.9 million passengers in 2013 and 530,000 tonnes of freight in 2011.


title: Sydney

text: It has been announced that a new facility named Western Sydney Airport will be constructed at Badgerys Creek from 2016 at a cost of $2.5 billion. Bankstown Airport is Sydney's second busiest airport, and serves general aviation, charter and some scheduled cargo flights. Bankstown is also the fourth busiest airport in Australia by the number of aircraft movements. Port Botany has surpassed Port Jackson as the city's major shipping port. Cruise ship terminals are located at Sydney Cove and White Bay.


title: Sydney

text: As climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution have become a major issue for Australia, Sydney has in the past been criticised for its lack of focus on reducing pollution, cutting back on emissions and maintaining water quality. Since 1995, there have been significant developments in the analysis of air pollution in the Sydney metropolitan region. The development led to the release of the Metropolitan Air Quality Scheme (MAQS), which led to a broader understanding of the causation of pollution in Sydney, allowing the government to form appropriate responses to the pollution. The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season significantly impacted outer Sydney, and consequently dramatically reduced the air quality of the Sydney metropolitan area leading to a smoky haze that lingered for many days throughout December. The air quality was 11 times the hazardous level in some days, even making it worse than New Delhi's, where it was also compared to "smoking 32 cigarettes" by Associate Professor Brian Oliver, a respiratory diseases scientist at the University of Technology Sydney.


title: Sydney

text: Australian cities are some of the most car-dependent cities in the world, especially by world city standards, although Sydney's is the lowest of Australia's major cities at 66%. Furthermore, the city also has the highest usage of public transport in an Australian city, at 27%–making it comparable with New York City, Shanghai and Berlin. Despite its high ranking for an Australian city, Sydney has a low level of mass-transit services, with a historically low-density layout and significant urban sprawl, thus increasing the likelihood of car dependency. Strategies have been implemented to reduce private vehicle pollution by encouraging mass and public transit, initiating the development of high density housing and introducing a fleet of 10 new Nissan LEAF electric cars, the largest order of the pollution-free vehicle in Australia. Electric cars do not produce carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide, gases which contribute to climate change. Cycling trips have increased by 113% across Sydney's inner-city since March 2010, with about 2,000 bikes passing through top peak-hour intersections on an average weekday. Transport developments in the north-west and east of the city have been designed to encourage the use of Sydney's expanding public transportation system.


title: Sydney

text: The City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008. The city has reduced its 2007 carbon emissions by 6% and since 2006 has reduced carbon emissions from city buildings by up to 20%. The City of Sydney introduced a "Sustainable Sydney 2030" program, with various targets planned and a comprehensive guide on how to reduce energy in homes and offices within Sydney by 30%. Reductions in energy consumption have slashed energy bills by $30 million a year. Solar panels have been established on many CBD buildings in an effort to minimise carbon pollution by around 3,000 tonnes a year.


title: Sydney

text: The city also has an "urban forest growth strategy", in which it aims to regular increase the tree coverage in the city by frequently planting trees with strong leaf density and vegetation to provide cleaner air and create moisture during hot weather, thus lowering city temperatures. Sydney has also become a leader in the development of green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient. The One Central Park development, completed in 2013, is an example of this implementation and design.


title: Sydney

text: Obtaining sufficient fresh water was difficult during early colonial times. A catchment called the Tank Stream sourced water from what is now the CBD but was little more than an open sewer by the end of the 1700s. The Botany Swamps Scheme was one of several ventures during the mid-1800s that saw the construction of wells, tunnels, steam pumping stations, and small dams to service Sydney's growing population.


title: Sydney

text: The first genuine solution to Sydney's water demands was the Upper Nepean Scheme which came into operation in 1886 and cost over £2 million. It transports water from the Nepean, Cataract, and Cordeaux rivers and continues to service about 15% of Sydney's total water needs. Dams were built on these three rivers between 1907 and 1935. In 1977 the Shoalhaven Scheme brought several more dams into service.


title: Sydney

text: The state-owned corporation WaterNSW now manages eleven major dams: Warragamba one of the largest domestic water supply dams in the world, Woronora, Cataract, Cordeaux, Nepean, Avon, Wingecarribee Reservoir, Fitzroy Falls Reservoir, Tallowa, the Blue Mountains Dams, and Prospect Reservoir. Water is collected from five catchment areas covering and total storage amounts to . The Sydney Desalination Plant came into operation in 2010. WaterNSW supplies bulk water to Sydney Water, a state-owned corporation that operates water distribution, sewerage and storm water management services across greater Sydney.


title: Sydney

text: The two distributors which maintain Sydney's electricity infrastructure are Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy. Their combined networks include over 815,000 power poles and of electricity cables.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The club have won eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, one UEFA Champions League, one Intercontinental Cup, and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund, the football team is part of a large membership-based sports club with more than 145,000 members, making Borussia Dortmund the second largest sports club by membership in Germany. The club has active departments in other sports, namely in women's handball. Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion; the stadium is the largest in Germany, and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund's colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname "die Schwarzgelben". They hold a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, with whom they contest the Revierderby. They also contest Der Klassiker with Bayern Munich.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In terms of Deloitte's annual Football Money League, Dortmund was in 2021 ranked as the second richest sports club in Germany, and the 12th richest football team in the world. Moreover, under the directorship of Michael Zorc in the 2010s, Dortmund have cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system. They have also received plaudits for generally adhering to an attacking footballing philosophy.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The club was founded on 19 December 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with the Catholic church-sponsored "Trinity Youth", where they played football under the stern and unsympathetic eye of the local parish priest. The priest, Father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organising meeting being held in a room of the local pub, "Zum Wildschütz". The founders were Franz and Paul Braun, Henry Cleve, Hans Debest, Paul Dziendzielle, Franz, Julius and Wilhelm Jacobi, Hans Kahn, Gustav Müller, Franz Risse, Fritz Schulte, Hans Siebold, August Tönnesmann, Heinrich and Robert Unger, Fritz Weber and Franz Wendt. The name "Borussia" is Latin for Prussia but was taken from Borussia beer from the nearby Borussia brewery in Dortmund. The team began playing in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripes so familiar today.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the club's fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and left the team deep in debt. They survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the team's shortfall out of his own pocket.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The 1930s saw the rise of the Third Reich, which restructured sports and football organisations throughout the nation to suit the regime's goals. "Borussia"'s president was replaced when he refused to join the Nazi Party, and a couple of members who surreptitiously used the club's offices to produce anti-Nazi pamphlets were executed in the last days of the war. The club did have greater success in the newly established Gauliga Westfalen, but would have to wait until after World War II to make a breakthrough. It was during this time that Borussia developed its intense rivalry with Schalke 04 of suburban Gelsenkirchen, the most successful side of the era (see "Revierderby"). Like every other organisation in Germany, Borussia was dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities after the war in an attempt to distance the country's institutions from its so-recent Nazi past. There was a short-lived attempt to merge the club with two others – "Werksportgemeinschaft Hoesch" and "Freier Sportverein 98" – as "Sportgemeinschaft Borussia von 1898", but it was as "Ballspiel-Verein Borussia" ("BVB") that they made their first appearance in the national league final in 1949, where they lost 2–3 to VfR Mannheim.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Between 1946 and 1963, Borussia featured in the Oberliga West, a first division league which dominated German football through the late 1950s. In 1949, Borussia reached the final in Stuttgart against VfR Mannheim, which they lost 2–3 after extra time. The club claimed its first national title in 1956 with a 4–2 win against Karlsruher SC. One year later, Borussia defeated Hamburger SV 4–1 to win their second national title. After this coup, the three Alfredos (Alfred Preißler, Alfred Kelbassa and Alfred Niepieklo) were legends in Dortmund. In 1963, Borussia won the last edition of the German Football Championship (before the introduction of the new Bundesliga) to secure their third national title.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 1962, the DFB met in Dortmund and voted to establish a professional football league in Germany, to begin play in August 1963 as the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund earned its place among the first sixteen clubs to play in the league by winning the last pre-Bundesliga national championship. Runners-up 1. FC Köln also earned an automatic berth. Dortmund's Friedhelm Konietzka scored the first-ever Bundesliga goal a minute into the match, which they would eventually lose 2–3 to Werder Bremen.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 1965, Dortmund captured its first DFB-Pokal. In 1966, Dortmund won the European Cup Winners' Cup 2–1 against Liverpool in extra time, with the goals coming from Sigfried Held and Reinhard Libuda. In the same year, however, the team surrendered a commanding position atop the Bundesliga by losing four of their last five league games and finishing second, three points behind champions 1860 München. Ironically, much of 1860 München's success came on the strength of the play of Konietzka, recently transferred from Dortmund.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The 1970s were characterised by financial problems, relegation from the Bundesliga in 1972, and the opening of the Westfalenstadion, named after its home region Westphalia in 1974. The club earned its return to Bundesliga in 1976.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund continued to have financial problems through the 1980s. "BVB" avoided being relegated in 1986 by winning a third decisive playoff game against Fortuna Köln after finishing the regular season in 16th place. Dortmund did not enjoy any significant success again until a 4–1 DFB-Pokal win in 1989 against Werder Bremen. It was Horst Köppel's first trophy as a manager. Dortmund then won the 1989 DFL-Supercup 4–3 against rivals Bayern Munich.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: After a tenth-place finish in the Bundesliga in 1991, manager Horst Köppel was let go and manager Ottmar Hitzfeld was hired.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 1992, Hitzfeld led Borussia Dortmund to a second-place finish in the Bundesliga and would have won the title had VfB Stuttgart not won their last game to become champions instead.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Along with a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga, Dortmund made it to the 1993 UEFA Cup final, which they lost 6–1 on aggregate to Juventus. In spite of this result, Borussia walked away with DM25 million under the prize money pool system in place at the time for German sides participating in the Cup. Cash flush, Dortmund was able to sign players who later brought them numerous honours in the 1990s.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Under the captaincy of 1996 European Footballer of the Year Matthias Sammer, Borussia Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996. Dortmund also won the DFL-Supercup against Mönchengladbach in 1995 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1996.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 1996–97 the team reached its first European Cup final. In a memorable match at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Dortmund faced the holders Juventus. Karl-Heinz Riedle put Dortmund ahead, shooting under goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi from a cross by Paul Lambert. Riedle then made it two with a bullet header from a corner kick. In the second half, Alessandro Del Piero pulled one back for Juventus with a back heel. Then 20-year-old substitute and local boy Lars Ricken latched onto a through pass by Andreas Möller. Only 16 seconds after coming on to the pitch, Ricken chipped Peruzzi in the Juventus goal from over 20 yards out with his first touch of the ball. With Zinedine Zidane unable to make an impression for Juventus against the close marking of Lambert, Dortmund lifted the trophy with a 3–1 victory.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund then went on to beat Brazilian club Cruzeiro 2–0 in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup Final to become world club champions. Borussia Dortmund were the second German club to win the Intercontinental Cup, after Bayern Munich in 1976.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: As defending champions Dortmund reached the Champions League semi-final in 1998. The team was missing key players from the start of the season when they played Real Madrid in the '98 semi. Sammer's career was cut short by injury and only played three first team games after the Champions League win. Lambert had left in November to return to play in Scotland. Möller missed the first leg as did Kohler who missed both games in the tie. Real won the first leg 2–0 at home. Dortmund played better in the second leg but failed to take their chances. Dortmund went out 2–0 on aggregate.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 2002, Borussia Dortmund won their third Bundesliga title. Dortmund had a remarkable run at the end of the season to overtake Bayer Leverkusen, securing the title on the final day. Manager Matthias Sammer became the first person in Borussia Dortmund history to win the Bundesliga as both a player and manager. In the same season, Borussia lost the final of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup to Dutch side Feyenoord.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund's fortunes then steadily declined for a number of years. Poor financial management led to a heavy debt load and the sale of their Westfalenstadion grounds. The situation was compounded by failure to advance in the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, when the team was eliminated on penalties in the qualifying rounds by Club Brugge. In 2003, Bayern Munich loaned €2 million to Dortmund for several months to pay their payroll. Borussia was again driven to the brink of bankruptcy in 2005, the original €11 value of its shares having plummeted by over 80% on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: At this time Hans-Joachim Watzke was appointed CEO and streamlined the club. The response to the crisis included a 20% pay cut for all players. In 2006, in order to reduce debt, the Westfalenstadion was renamed "Signal Iduna Park" after a local insurance company. The naming rights agreement runs until 2021.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund suffered a miserable start to the 2005–06 season, but rallied to finish seventh. The club failed to gain a place in the UEFA Cup via the Fair Play draw. The club's management recently indicated that the club again showed a profit; this was largely related to the sale of David Odonkor to Real Betis and Tomáš Rosický to Arsenal.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the 2006–07 season, Dortmund unexpectedly faced serious relegation trouble for the first time in years. Dortmund went through three coaches and appointed Thomas Doll on 13 March 2007 after dropping to just one point above the relegation zone. Christoph Metzelder also left Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the 2007–08 season, Dortmund lost to many smaller Bundesliga clubs. Despite finishing 13th in the Bundesliga table, Dortmund reached the DFB-Pokal Final against Bayern Munich, where they lost 2–1 in extra time. The final appearance qualified Dortmund for the UEFA Cup because Bayern already qualified for the Champions League. Thomas Doll resigned on 19 May 2008 and was replaced by Jürgen Klopp.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the 2009–10 season, Klopp's Dortmund improved on the season before finishing fifth in the Bundesliga to qualify for the UEFA Europa League. The team missed an opportunity to qualify for the Champions League by failing to beat eighth-place VfL Wolfsburg and 14th-place SC Freiburg in the final two matches of the campaign.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Entering the 2010–11 season, Dortmund fielded a young and vibrant roster. On 4 December 2010, Borussia became "Herbstmeister" ("Autumn Champion"), an unofficial accolade going to the league leader at the winter break. They did this three matches before the break, sharing the record for having achieved this earliest with Eintracht Frankfurt (1993–94) and 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1997–98). On 30 April 2011, the club beat 1. FC Nürnberg 2–0 at home, while second-place Bayer Leverkusen lost, leaving Dortmund eight points clear with two games to play. This championship equalled the seven national titles held by rivals Schalke 04, and guaranteed a spot in the 2011–12 Champions League group stages.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: One year later, Dortmund made a successful defence of its Bundesliga title with a win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, again on the 32nd match day. By the 34th and final match day, Dortmund set a new record with the most points—81—ever gained by a club in one Bundesliga season. This was surpassed the following season by Bayern Munich's 91 points. The club's eighth championship places it third in total national titles, and players will now wear two stars over their uniform crest in recognition of the team's five Bundesliga titles. Notable names from the winning roster include Lucas Barrios, Mario Götze, Neven Subotić, Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Łukasz Piszczek, Jakub Błaszczykowski, Kevin Großkreutz, Ivan Perišić and İlkay Gündoğan. The club capped its successful 2011–12 season by winning the double for the first time by beating Bayern 5–2 in the final of the DFB-Pokal. Borussia Dortmund are one of four German clubs to win the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double, along with Bayern Munich, 1. FC Köln and Werder Bremen. The club was voted Team of the Year 2011 at the annual "Sportler des Jahres" (German Sports Personality of the Year) awards.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund ended the 2012–13 season in second place in the Bundesliga. Dortmund played in their second UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich in the first ever all-German club final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2013, which they lost 2–1.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the 2013–14 season, Borussia Dortmund won the 2013 DFL-Supercup 4–2 against rivals Bayern Munich. The 2013–14 season started with a five-game winning streak for Dortmund, their best start to a season. Despite such a promising start, however, their season was hampered by injuries to several key players, seeing them stoop as low as fourth place in the table, and with a depleted squad could go only as far as the quarter-finals of the Champions League, losing 3–2 on aggregate to Real Madrid. Nevertheless, Dortmund managed to end their season on a high note by finishing second in the Bundesliga and reaching the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final, losing 0–2 to Bayern in extra time. They then began their 2014–15 season by defeating Bayern in the 2014 DFL-Supercup 2–0. However, this victory would not be enough to inspire the squad to a solid performance at the start of the ensuing season, with Dortmund recording various results such as a 0–1 loss to Hamburger SV and two 2–2 draws against VfB Stuttgart and Bundesliga newcomers Paderborn 07. During the winter, Dortmund fell to the bottom of the table on multiple occasions, but managed to escape the relegation zone after four consecutive wins in February. On 15 April 2015, Jürgen Klopp announced that after seven years, he would be leaving Dortmund. Four days later, Dortmund announced that Thomas Tuchel would replace Klopp at the end of the season. Klopp's final season, however, ended on high note, rising and finishing seventh after facing relegation, gaining a DFB-Pokal final with VfL Wolfsburg and qualifying for the 2015–16 Europa League.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the 2015–16 season, Dortmund started off on a high, winning 4–0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach on the opening day, followed by five-straight wins which took them to the top of the Bundesliga. After the eighth matchday, they were surpassed by Bayern Munich following an unlucky draw with 1899 Hoffenheim. Dortmund kept their performances up, winning 24 out of 34 league games and becoming the best Bundesliga runner-up team of all time. In the Europa League, they advanced to the quarter-finals, getting knocked out by a Jürgen Klopp-led Liverpool in a dramatic comeback at Anfield, where defender Dejan Lovren scored a late goal to make it 4–3 to the Reds and 5–4 on aggregate. In the 2015–16 DFB-Pokal, for the third-straight year Dortmund made it to the competition final, but lost to Bayern Munich on penalties.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: On 11 April 2017, three explosions occurred near the team's bus on its way to a Champions League match against AS Monaco at the Signal Iduna Park. Defender Marc Bartra was injured, and taken to hospital. Dortmund went on to lose the game 2–3 to AS Monaco. Dortmund's manager, Thomas Tuchel, blamed the loss as a result of an ignorant decision by UEFA. UEFA went on to say that the team made no objection to playing, and that the decision was made in compliance with the club and local law enforcement. In the second leg, Dortmund went on to lose 1–3, leaving the aggregate score at 3–6, and seeing them eliminated from that year's UEFA Champions League. On 26 April, Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich 3–2 in Munich to advance to the 2017 DFB-Pokal Final, Dortmund's fourth consecutive final and fifth in six seasons. On 27 May, Dortmund won the 2016–17 DFB-Pokal 2–1 over Eintracht Frankfurt with the winner coming from a penalty converted by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Thomas Tuchel stepped down as manager. The Dortmund board made a decision to hire Peter Bosz as the new manager and head coach. Although Bosz got off to a record-breaking start in the team's first 7 games, what followed was 20 games without a win, after which he was relieved of his staff role. Peter Stöger was announced as the interim coach. During the January window of the same season, Aubameyang and Bartra both left the club. Stöger bought Manuel Akanji of FC Basel for a fee of €21.5 million and Michy Batshuayi on a six-month loan from Chelsea. Stöger coached Dortmund for the rest of the season, granting them a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga before stepping down at the end of the season. Michy Batshuayi also returned to Chelsea.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the summer of 2018, Dortmund appointed former OGC Nice coach, Lucien Favre as their manager/head coach. After a very busy transfer window for the team, seeing eight new players arrive at the club for the first team squad, Dortmund performed strongly, chasing Bayern Munich for the title race down to the last matchday, narrowly missing out on the league title by two points and earning Lucien Favre a contract extension. A four-part Amazon Prime Video documentary series was created, about the same season, named "Inside Borussia Dortmund".


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The next season, Dortmund pulled off a few big-name signings with the intent of winning the Bundesliga title. Although they won the DFL Supercup, this was their only silverware this season. After a scrappy first half of the season, they changed their tactics and made a few more transfers in the January Window. They were eliminated in both the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Champions League as well. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, the season stopped abruptly. Once the restart occurred, Dortmund looked better but their performances were not enough to stop a dominant Bayern Munich side from grasping the Bundesliga title. They finished the 2019–20 season in second place after beating RB Leipzig in matchweek 33 due to a brace from Erling Haaland.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund got off to a rather shaky start in the 2020–21 season. They lost the DFL-Supercup and had an inconsistent set of results in the Champions League and the Bundesliga. After a humiliating 5–1 defeat to Stuttgart in Matchday 11, Lucien Favre was relieved of his managerial duties. Assistant manager Edin Terzić was placed as the caretaker for the rest of the season. Under Terzić, Dortmund finished third on the final matchday of the Bundesliga and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in a clash against Manchester City. The team then managed to win the DFB-Pokal, defeating RB Leipzig 4–1 in the final. Marco Rose was appointed manager for the 2021–22 season with Terzić being appointed as the club's new technical director.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The Westfalenstadion is the home stadium of Borussia Dortmund, Germany's largest stadium and the seventh-largest in Europe. The stadium is officially named "Signal Iduna Park" after insurance company Signal Iduna purchased the rights to name the stadium until 2021. This name, however, cannot be used when hosting FIFA and UEFA events, since these governing bodies have policies forbidding corporate sponsorship from companies that are not official tournament partners. During the 2006 World Cup, the stadium was referred to as "FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund", while in UEFA club matches, it is known as "BVB Stadion Dortmund". The stadium currently hosts up to 81,359 spectators (standing and seated) for league matches and 65,829 seated spectators for international matches. For these, the characteristic southern grandstand is re-equipped with seats to conform to FIFA regulations.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In 1974, the Westfalenstadion replaced the Stadion Rote Erde, which is located next door and serves now as the stadium of Borussia Dortmund II. After the increasing popularity of Borussia Dortmund in the 1960s, it became obvious that the traditional ground was too small for the increasing number of Borussia Dortmund supporters. The city of Dortmund, however, was not able to finance a new stadium and federal institutions were unwilling to help. But in 1971, Dortmund was selected to replace the city of Cologne, which was forced to withdraw its plans to host games in the 1974 World Cup. The funds originally set aside for the projected stadium in Cologne were thus re-allocated to Dortmund, and a new stadium became reality.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The Westfalenstadion has undergone several renovations throughout the years to increase the size of the stadium, including an expansion of the stadium for the 2006 World Cup. In 2008, the "Borusseum", a museum about Borussia Dortmund, opened in the stadium. In 2011, Borussia Dortmund agreed to a partnership with Q-Cells. The company installed 8,768 solar cells on the roof of the Westfalenstadion to generate up to 860,000 kWh per year.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any football club worldwide. In 2014, it was estimated that each of the club's home games is attended by around 1,000 British spectators, drawn to the team by its low ticket prices compared to the Premier League.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund's training ground and Academy base "Hohenbuschei" is located in Brackel, a district of Dortmund. Inside the complex, there are physical exercise training for physical fitness and rehabilitation robotics areas, physiotherapy and massage rooms, and remedial and hydrotherapy pools. There are also sauna rooms, steam rooms and weight rooms, classrooms, conference halls, offices for the BVB front office, a restaurant, and a TV studio to interview the BVB professional footballers and coaching staff for "BVB total!", the channel owned by the club. On the grounds, there are five grass pitches, two of which have under-soil heating, one artificial grass field, three small grass pitches and a multi-functional sports arena. The site covers a total area of . In addition, the club owns a "Footbonaut", a training robot which is effectively a training cage.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The training complex and youth performance centre, located in Hohenbuschei, will be expanded in stages until 2021. In addition, the "Sports Business Office" will be entirely rebuilt from scratch. The planned construction, which will cost up to 20 million euros, will make BVB the best-equipped football club in the country with regards to infrastructure.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In the "Strobelallee Training Centre", the BVB Evonik Football Academy has an outstanding training venue exclusively at its disposal. Among others, the Bundesliga-team used to prepare for their matches on the club's former training ground.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund e.V. is represented by its management board and a board of directors consisting of president Dr. Reinhard Rauball, his proxy and vice-president Gerd Pieper, and treasurer Dr. Reinhold Lunow.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Professional football at Dortmund is run by the organisation Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA. This corporation model has two types of participators: at least one partner with unlimited liability and at least one partner with limited liability. The investment of the latter is divided into stocks. The organisation Borussia Dortmund GmbH is the partner with unlimited liability and is responsible for the management and representation of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA. Borussia Dortmund GmbH is fully owned by the sports club, Borussia Dortmund e.V. This organizational structure was designed to ensure that the sports club has full control over the professional squad.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The stock of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA was floated on the stock market in October 2000 and is listed in the General Standard of Deutsche Börse AG. Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA became the first and so far the only publicly traded sports club on the German stock market. 5.53% of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA is owned by the sports club, Borussia Dortmund e.V.; 9.33% by Bernd Geske; and 59.93% widely spread shareholdings. Hans-Joachim Watzke is the CEO and Thomas Treß is the CFO of the GmbH & Co. KGaA. Michael Zorc as sporting director is responsible for the first team, the coaching staff, the youth and junior section, and scouting. The supervisory board consists, among others, of politicians Werner Müller and Peer Steinbrück.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund e.V. and Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA's economic indicators reveal that BVB will be generating revenue of €305 million (US$408 million) from September 2012 to August 2013.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: According to the 2015 Deloitte's annual Football Money League, BVB generated revenues of €262 million during the 2013–14 season. This figure excludes player transfer fees, VAT and other sales-related taxes.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Dortmund's main advertising partner and current shirt sponsor is Evonik. The insurance company Signal Iduna purchased the rights to name the Westfalenstadion "Signal Iduna Park" until 2021. The main equipment supplier is Puma since the 2012–13 season. The contract is currently valid. The club announced a deal with Opel to be the first-ever sleeve sponsor from the 2017–18 season.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In addition, there are three different levels of partners: "BVBChampionPartner" includes among others Opel, bwin, Brinkhoff's, Wilo, Hankook and EA Sports; "BVBPartner" includes among others MAN, Eurowings, Coca-Cola, Ruhr Nachrichten, REWE and Aral; and "BVBProduktPartner" includes among others ofo, Westfalenhallen and TEDi.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Since 2012, Brixental in the Kitzbühel Alps in Austria is a BVB sponsor as well; furthermore, the region is host of one of the annual summer training camps.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Borussia Dortmund has raised money for charity over the years for various causes. On 17 May 2011, Borussia Dortmund held a charity game for the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami against "Team Japan". Ticket sales from the game and €1 million from Dortmund's main sponsor Evonik went to charity for Japan earthquake and tsunami victims. In November 2012, Borussia Dortmund KGaA founded a charitable trust called "leuchte auf", to give important social projects financial help.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: The trust's logo is a star consisting of the streets which meet at Dortmund's Borsigplatz, where the club was founded. On 6 July 2013, Borussia Dortmund held a charity game to raise money for 2013 German flood victims in the German states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In March 2020, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, and Bayer Leverkusen, the four German UEFA Champions League teams for the 2019–20 season, collectively gave €20 million to Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga teams that were struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Since 1996, during Advent, Borussia Dortmund players visit the children's hospital in Dortmund where the players meet with the patients and give them gifts.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Since 1963, 18 players have held the position of club captain for Borussia Dortmund. The first club captain after the introduction of the Bundesliga was Alfred Schmidt, who was captain from 1963 to 1965. The longest-serving captain Michael Zorc, who was club captain from 1988 to 1997, has the distinction of having won the most trophies as captain; he won two Bundesliga titles, one DFB-Pokal, three DFL-Supercups and one UEFA Champions League. The current club captain is Marco Reus, who took over after Marcel Schmelzer stepped down from his role as the club's captain for the 2018–19 season.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: In July 1935, Fritz Thelen became the club's first full-time head coach, but was not available in the first months of the season, forcing Dortmund player and Germany international Ernst Kuzorra to take over instead. In 1966, Willi Multhaup led his side to the European Cup Winners' Cup, the first German team to win a European trophy. Horst Köppel was the coach to bring major silverware to the club for the first time in over 20 years, winning the DFB-Pokal in 1989.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: Ottmar Hitzfeld is the club's most successful coach, having won both the Bundesliga and Supercup twice. In 1997, Dortmund had waited for continental success for over 30 years; Hitzfeld crowned his period with an unexpected triumph and won the Champions League. Dortmund won the Intercontinental Cup in 1997 and head coach Nevio Scala became the first and so far the only non-native speaker who won a major title. In 2001–02, Matthias Sammer, a former BVB player, brought the league title back to Dortmund. In 2008–09, the club approached Mainz 05 head coach Jürgen Klopp. He won the club's seventh championship title in 2010–11. In his fourth season, Dortmund won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal to complete the first league and cup double in the club's history. Successor Thomas Tuchel won the 2016–17 DFB-Pokal.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: On 22 May 2018, Lucien Favre was confirmed as the new head coach of the club for the 2018–19 season. He was able to win the 2019 DFL-Supercup on 3 August 2019.


title: Borussia Dortmund

text: On 12 December 2020, Dortmund suffered a 5–1 defeat against VfB Stuttgart. Favre was fired the next day.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the fifth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, the Ruhr area, Madrid, and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is high.


title: Barcelona

text: Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After joining with the Kingdom of Aragon to form the confederation of the Crown of Aragon, Barcelona, which continued to be the capital of the Principality of Catalonia, became the most important city in the Crown of Aragon and the main economic and administrative centre of the Crown, only to be overtaken by Valencia, wrested from Arab domination by the Catalans, shortly before the dynastic union between the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1492. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is home to two of the most prestigious universities in Spain: the University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is a major cultural, economic, and financial centre in southwestern Europe, as well as the main biotech hub in Spain. As a leading world city, Barcelona's influence in global socio-economic affairs qualifies it for global city status (Beta +).


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is a transport hub, with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles over 50 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network, and a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.


title: Barcelona

text: The name "Barcelona" comes from the ancient Iberian "Baŕkeno", attested in an ancient coin inscription found on the right side of the coin in Iberian script as , in ancient Greek sources as , "Barkinṓn"; and in Latin as "Barcino", "Barcilonum" and "Barcenona".


title: Barcelona

text: Some older sources suggest that the city may have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC, but there is no evidence that Barcelona was ever a Carthaginian settlement, or that its name in antiquity, "Barcino", had any connection with the Barcid family of Hamilcar.


title: Barcelona

text: During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as "Barchinona", "Barçalona", "Barchelonaa", and "Barchenona".


title: Barcelona

text: Internationally, Barcelona's name is abbreviated colloquially to 'Barça' in reference to the football club FC Barcelona, whose anthem is the Cant del Barça "Barça chant". A common abbreviated form used by locals for the city is "Barna".


title: Barcelona

text: Another common abbreviation is 'BCN', which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport.


title: Barcelona

text: The city is referred to as the "Ciutat Comtal" in Catalan and "Ciudad Condal" in Spanish (i.e., "Comital City" or "City of Counts"), owing to its past as the seat of the Count of Barcelona.


title: Barcelona

text: The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear. The ruins of an early settlement have been


title: Barcelona

text: found, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who supposedly named the city "Barcino" after his family in the 3rd century BC, but there is no historical or linguistic evidence that this is true. Archeological evidence in the form of coins from the 3rd Century BC have been found on the hills at the foot of Montjuïc with the name Bárkeno written in an ancient script in the Iberian language. Thus, we can conclude that the Laietani, an ancient Iberian (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula, who inhabited the area occupied by the city of Barcelona around 3 – 2 BC, called the area Bàrkeno, which means "The Place of the Plains" (Barrke = plains/terrace).


title: Barcelona

text: In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a "castrum" (Roman military camp) centred on the ""Mons Taber"", a little hill near the Generalitat (Catalan Government) and city hall buildings. The Roman Forum, at the crossing of the Cardo Maximus and Decumanus Maximus, was approximately placed where current Plaça de Sant Jaume is. Thus, the political center of the city, Catalonia, and its domains has remained in the same place for over 2000 years.


title: Barcelona

text: Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of "Faventia", or, in full, "Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino" or "Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino". Pomponius Mela mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour "Tarraco" (modern Tarragona), but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive.


title: Barcelona

text: Important Roman vestiges are displayed in Plaça del Rei underground, as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA); the typically Roman grid plan is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the "Barri Gòtic" (Gothic Quarter). Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, known very formally by the long name of "Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Barcelona", is also sometimes called "La Seu", which simply means cathedral (and see, among other things) in Catalan. It is said to have been founded in 343.


title: Barcelona

text: The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th century, becoming for a few years the capital of all Hispania. After being conquered by the Arabs in the early 8th century, it was conquered after a siege in 801 by Charlemagne's son Louis, who made Barcelona the seat of the Carolingian "Hispanic March" ("Marca Hispanica"), a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona.


title: Barcelona

text: The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include much of modern Catalonia, although on 6 July 985, Barcelona was sacked by the army of Almanzor. The sack was so traumatic that most of Barcelona's population was either killed or enslaved. In 1137, Aragon and the County of Barcelona merged in dynastic union by the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla of Aragon, their titles finally borne by only one person when their son Alfonso II of Aragon ascended to the throne in 1162. His territories were later to be known as the Crown of Aragon, which conquered many overseas possessions and ruled the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily and as far as Athens in the 13th century.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona was the leading slave trade centre of the Crown of Aragon up until the 15th century, when it was eclipsed by Valencia. It initially fed from eastern and balkan slave stock later drawing from a Maghribian and, ultimately, Subsaharan pool of slaves.


title: Barcelona

text: The Bank of Barcelona or Taula de canvi, often viewed as the oldest public bank in Europe, was established by the city magistrates in 1401. It originated from necessities of the state, as did the Bank of Venice (1402) and the Bank of Genoa (1407).


title: Barcelona

text: The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 united the two royal lines. Madrid became the centre of political power whilst the colonisation of the Americas reduced the financial importance (at least in relative terms) of Mediterranean trade. Barcelona was a centre of Catalan separatism, including the Catalan Revolt (1640–52) against Philip IV of Spain. The great plague of 1650–1654 halved the city's population.


title: Barcelona

text: In the 18th century, a fortress was built at Montjuïc that overlooked the harbour. In 1794, this fortress was used by the French astronomer Pierre François André Méchain for observations relating to a survey stretching to Dunkirk that provided the official basis of the measurement of a metre. The definitive metre bar, manufactured from platinum, was presented to the French legislative assembly on 22 June 1799. Much of Barcelona was negatively affected by the Napoleonic wars, but the start of industrialisation saw the fortunes of the province improve.


title: Barcelona

text: During the Spanish Civil War, the city, and Catalonia in general, were resolutely Republican. Many enterprises and public services were collectivised by the CNT and UGT unions. As the power of the Republican government and the Generalitat diminished, much of the city was under the effective control of anarchist groups. The anarchists lost control of the city to their own allies, the Communists and official government troops, after the street fighting of the Barcelona May Days. The fall of the city on 26 January 1939, caused a mass exodus of civilians who fled to the French border. The resistance of Barcelona to Franco's "coup d'état" was to have lasting effects after the defeat of the Republican government. The autonomous institutions of Catalonia were abolished, and the use of the Catalan language in public life was suppressed. Barcelona remained the second largest city in Spain, at the heart of a region which was relatively industrialised and prosperous, despite the devastation of the civil war. The result was a large-scale immigration from poorer regions of Spain (particularly Andalusia, Murcia and Galicia), which in turn led to rapid urbanisation.


title: Barcelona

text: In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics. The after-effects of this are credited with driving major changes in what had, up until then, been a largely industrial city. As part of the preparation for the games, industrial buildings along the sea-front were demolished and of beach were created. New construction increased the road capacity of the city by 17%, the sewage handling capacity by 27% and the amount of new green areas and beaches by 78%. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of hotel rooms in the city doubled. Perhaps more importantly, the outside perception of the city was changed making, by 2012, Barcelona the 12th most popular city destination in the world and the 5th amongst European cities.


title: Barcelona

text: The death of Franco in 1975 brought on a period of democratisation throughout Spain. Pressure for change was particularly strong in Barcelona, which considered that it had been punished during nearly forty years of Francoism for its support of the Republican government. Massive, but peaceful, demonstrations on 11 September 1977 assembled over a million people in the streets of Barcelona to call for the restoration of Catalan autonomy. It was granted less than a month later.


title: Barcelona

text: The development of Barcelona was promoted by two events in 1986: Spanish accession to the European Community, and particularly Barcelona's designation as host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The process of urban regeneration has been rapid, and accompanied by a greatly increased international reputation of the city as a tourist destination. The increased cost of housing has led to a slight decline (−16.6%) in the population over the last two decades of the 20th century as many families move out into the suburbs. This decline has been reversed since 2001, as a new wave of immigration (particularly from Latin America and from Morocco) has gathered pace.


title: Barcelona

text: In 1987, an ETA car bombing at Hipercor killed 21 people. On 17 August 2017, a van was driven into pedestrians on La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100, one of whom later died. Other attacks took place elsewhere in Catalonia. The Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, called the attack in Barcelona a jihadist attack. Amaq News Agency attributed indirect responsibility for the attack to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). During the 2010s, Barcelona became the focus city for the ongoing Catalan independence movement, its consequent standoff between the regional and national government and later protests.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea, on a plain approximately wide limited by the mountain range of Collserola, the Llobregat river to the southwest and the Besòs river to the north. This plain covers an area of , of which are occupied by the city itself. It is south of the Pyrenees and the Catalan border with France.


title: Barcelona

text: Tibidabo, high, offers striking views over the city and is topped by the Torre de Collserola, a telecommunications tower that is visible from most of the city. Barcelona is peppered with small hills, most of them urbanised, that gave their name to the neighbourhoods built upon them, such as Carmel (), (es) () and Rovira (). The escarpment of Montjuïc (), situated to the southeast, overlooks the harbour and is topped by Montjuïc Castle, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city as a replacement for the Ciutadella. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona's biggest park and gardens.


title: Barcelona

text: The city borders on the municipalities of Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs to the north; the Mediterranean Sea to the east; El Prat de Llobregat and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south; and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern, Esplugues de Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Montcada i Reixac to the west. The municipality includes two small sparsely-inhabited exclaves to the north-west.


title: Barcelona

text: According to the Köppen climate classification, Barcelona has a hot summer Mediterranean climate ("Csa"), with mild winters and warm to hot summers, while the rainiest seasons are autumn and spring. The rainfall pattern is characterised by a short (3 months) dry season in summer, as well as less winter rainfall than in a typical Mediterranean climate. However, both June and August are wetter than February, which is unusual for the Mediterranean climate. This subtype, labelled as "Portuguese" by the French geographer George Viers after the climate classification of Emmanuel de Martonne and found in the NW Mediterranean area (e.g. Marseille), can be seen as transitional to the humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") found in inland areas.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is densely populated, thus heavily influenced by the urban heat island effect. Areas outside of the urbanised districts can have as much as 2 °C of difference in temperatures throughout the year. Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. The average annual temperature of the sea is about . In the coldest month, January, the temperature typically ranges from during the day, at night and the average sea temperature is . In the warmest month, August, the typical temperature ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is . Generally, the summer or "holiday" season lasts about six months, from May to October. Two months – April and November – are transitional; sometimes the temperature exceeds , with an average temperature of during the day and at night. December, January and February are the coldest months, with average temperatures around during the day and at night. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare, particularly in the summer months. Because of the proximity to the warm sea plus the urban heat island, frosts are very rare in the city of Barcelona. Snow is also very infrequent in the city of Barcelona, but light snowfalls can occur yearly in the nearby Collserola mountains, such as in the Fabra Observatory located in a nearby mountain.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona averages 78 rainy days per year (≥ 1 mm), and annual average relative humidity is 72%, ranging from 69% in July to 75% in October. Rainfall totals are highest in late summer and autumn (September–November) and lowest in early and mid-summer (June–August), with a secondary winter minimum (February–March). Sunshine duration is 2,524 hours per year, from 138 (average 4.5 hours of sunshine a day) in December to 310 (average 10 hours of sunshine a day) in July.


title: Barcelona

text: According to Barcelona's City Council, Barcelona's population was 1,608,746 people, on a land area of . It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of (density 5,060 inhabitants/km). The population of the urban area was 4,840,000. It is the central nucleus of the Barcelona metropolitan area, which relies on a population of 5,474,482.


title: Barcelona

text: Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city: it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% can speak it, 79% can read it, and 53% can write it. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system.


title: Barcelona

text: In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000, which grew steadily but slowly until 1950, when it started absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialised parts of Spain. Barcelona's population peaked in 1979 at 1,906,998, and fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s as more people sought a higher quality of life in outlying cities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. After bottoming out in 2000 with 1,496,266 residents, the city's population began to rise again as younger people started to return, causing a great increase in housing prices.


title: Barcelona

text: "Note: This text is entirely based on the municipal statistical database provided by the city council."


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. For the year 2008 the city council calculated the population to 1,621,090 living in the 102.2 km sized municipality, giving the city an average population density of 15,926 inhabitants per square kilometre with Eixample being the most populated district.


title: Barcelona

text: In the case of Barcelona though, the land distribution is extremely uneven. Half of the municipality or 50.2 km, all of it located on the municipal edge is made up of the ten least densely populated neighbourhoods containing less than 10% of the city's population, the uninhabited Zona Franca industrial area and Montjuïc forest park. Leaving the remaining 90% or slightly below 1.5 million inhabitants living on the remaining at an average density close to 28,500 inhabitants per square kilometre.


title: Barcelona

text: Of the 73 neighbourhoods in the city, 45 had a population density above 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre with a combined population of 1,313,424 inhabitants living on 38.6 km at an average density of 33,987 inhabitants per square km. The 30 most densely populated neighbourhoods accounted for 57.5% of the city population occupying only 22.7% of the municipality, or in other words, 936,406 people living at an average density of 40,322 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city's highest density is found at and around the neighbourhood of la Sagrada Família where four of the city's most densely populated neighbourhoods are located side by side, all with a population density above 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometre.


title: Barcelona

text: In 1900, almost a third (28.9 percent) of the population were children (aged younger than 14 years). In 2017, this age group constituted only 12.7% of the population. In 2017, people aged between 15 and 24 years made up 9 percent of the population; those aged between 25 and 44 years made up 30.6 percent of the population; while those aged between 45 and 64 years formed 56.9% of all Barcelonans. In 1900, people aged 65 and older made up just 6.5 percent of the population. In 2017, this age group made up 21.5 percent of the population.


title: Barcelona

text: In 2016, about 59% of the inhabitants of the city were born in Catalonia and 18.5% coming from the rest of the country. In addition to that, 22.5% of the population was born outside of Spain, a proportion which has more than doubled since 2001 and more than quintupled since 1996 when it was 8.6% respectively 3.9%.


title: Barcelona

text: The most important region of origin of migrants is Europe, with many coming from Italy (26,676) or France (13,506). Moreover, many migrants come from Latin American nations such as Bolivia, Ecuador or Colombia. Since the 1990s, and similar to other migrants, many Latin Americans have settled in northern parts of the city.


title: Barcelona

text: There exists a relatively large Pakistani community in Barcelona with up to twenty thousand nationals. The community consists of significantly more men than women. Many of the Pakistanis are living in Ciutat Vella. First Pakistani migrants came in the 1970s, with increasing numbers in the 1990s.


title: Barcelona

text: Other significant migrant groups come from Asia as from China and the Philippines. There is a Japanese community clustered in Bonanova, Les Tres Torres, Pedralbes, and other northern neighbourhoods, and a Japanese international school serves that community.


title: Barcelona

text: Most of the inhabitants state they are Roman Catholic (208 churches). In a 2011 survey conducted by InfoCatólica, 49.5% of Barcelona residents of all ages identified themselves as Catholic. This was the first time that more than half of respondents did not identify themselves as Catholic Christians. The numbers reflect a broader trend in Spain whereby the numbers of self-identified Catholics have declined. In 2019, a survey by Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas showed that 53.2% of residents in Barcelona identified themselves as Catholic (9.9% practising Catholics, 43.3% non-practising Catholics).


title: Barcelona

text: The province has the largest Muslim community in Spain, 322,698 people in Barcelona province are of Muslim religion. A considerable number of Muslims live in Barcelona due to immigration (169 locations, mostly professed by Moroccans in Spain). In 2014, 322,698 out of 5.5 million people in the province of Barcelona identified themselves as Muslim, which makes 5.6% of total population.


title: Barcelona

text: The city also has the largest Jewish community in Spain, with an estimated 3,500 Jews living in the city. There are also a number of other groups, including Evangelical (71 locations, mostly professed by Roma), Jehovah's Witnesses (21 Kingdom Halls), Buddhists (13 locations), and Eastern Orthodox.


title: Barcelona

text: The Barcelona metropolitan area comprises over 66% of the people of Catalonia, one of the richer regions in Europe and the fourth richest region per capita in Spain, with a GDP per capita amounting to €28,400 (16% more than the EU average). The greater Barcelona metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $177 billion (equivalent to $34,821 in per capita terms, 44% more than the EU average), making it the 4th most economically powerful city by gross GDP in the European Union, and 35th in the world in 2009. Barcelona city had a very high GDP of €80,894 per head in 2004, according to Eurostat. Furthermore, Barcelona was Europe's fourth best business city and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year .


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona was the 24th most "livable city" in the world in 2015 according to lifestyle magazine "Monocle". Similarly, according to Innovation Analysts 2thinknow, Barcelona occupies 13th place in the world on "Innovation Cities™ Global Index". At the same time it is according to the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020 one of the most affordable cities in the world for a luxury lifestyle.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has a long-standing mercantile tradition. Less well known is that the city industrialised early, taking off in 1833, when Catalonia's already sophisticated textile industry began to use steam power. It became the first and most important industrial city in the Mediterranean basin. Since then, manufacturing has played a large role in its history.


title: Barcelona

text: Borsa de Barcelona (Barcelona Stock Exchange) is the main stock exchange in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona was recognised as the Southern European City of the Future for 2014/15, based on its economic potential, by "FDi Magazine" in their bi-annual rankings.


title: Barcelona

text: Drawing upon its tradition of creative art and craftsmanship, Barcelona is known for its award-winning industrial design. It also has several congress halls, notably Fira de Barcelona – the second largest trade fair and exhibition centre in Europe, that host a quickly growing number of national and international events each year (at present above 50). The total exhibition floor space of Fira de Barcelona venues is , not counting Gran Via centre on the Plaza de Europa. However, the Eurozone crisis and deep cuts in business travel affected the council's positioning of the city as a convention centre.


title: Barcelona

text: An important business centre, the World Trade Center Barcelona, is located in Barcelona's Port Vell harbour.


title: Barcelona

text: The city is known for hosting well as world-class conferences and expositions, including the 1888 "Exposición Universal de Barcelona", the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (Expo 1929), the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures and the 2004 World Urban Forum.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona was the 20th-most-visited city in the world by international visitors and the fifth most visited city in Europe after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome, with 5.5 million international visitors in 2011. By 2015, both Prague and Milan had more international visitors. With its Rambles, Barcelona is ranked the most popular city to visit in Spain.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona as internationally renowned a tourist destination, with numerous recreational areas, one of the best beaches in the world, mild and warm climate, historical monuments, including eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 519 hotels including 35 five star hotels, and developed tourist infrastructure.


title: Barcelona

text: Due to its large influx of tourists each year, Barcelona, like many other tourism capitals, has to deal with pickpockets, with wallets and passports being commonly stolen items. For this reason, most travel guides recommend that visitors take precautions to ensure their possessions' safety, especially inside the metro premises. Despite its moderate pickpocket rate, Barcelona is considered one of the safest cities in terms of health security and personal safety, mainly because of a sophisticated policing strategy that has dropped crime by 32% in just over three years and has led it to be considered the 15th safest city in the world by Business Insider.


title: Barcelona

text: While tourism produces economic benefits, according to one report, the city is "overrun [by] hordes of tourists". In early 2017, over 150,000 protesters warned that tourism is destabilizing the city. Slogans included "Tourists go home", "Barcelona is not for sale" and "We will not be driven out". By then, number of visitors had increased from 1.7 million in 1990 to 32 million in a city with a population of 1.62 million, increasing the cost of rental housing for residents and overcrowding the public places. While tourists spent an estimated €30 billion in 2017, they are viewed by some as a threat to Barcelona's identity.


title: Barcelona

text: A May 2017 article in England's The Telegraph newspaper included Barcelona among the "Eight Places That Hate Tourists the Most" and included a comment from Mayor Ada Colau, "We don't want the city to become a cheap souvenir shop [like Venice]". To moderate the problem, the city has stopped issuing licenses for new hotels and holiday apartments; it also fined AirBnb with a €30,000. The mayor has suggested an additional tourist tax and setting a limit on the number of visitors. One industry insider, Justin Francis, founder of the Responsible Travel agency, stated that steps must be taken to limit the number of visitors that are causing an "overtourism crisis" in several major European cities. "Ultimately, residents must be prioritised over tourists for housing, infrastructure and access to services because they have a long-term stake in the city's success.", he said. "Managing tourism more responsibly can help", Francis later told a journalist, "but some destinations may just have too many tourists, and Barcelona may be a case of that".


title: Barcelona

text: Industry generates 21% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the region, with the energy, chemical and metallurgy industries accounting for 47% of industrial production. The Barcelona metropolitan area had 67% of the total number of industrial establishments in Catalonia as of 1997.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has long been an important European automobile manufacturing centre. Formerly there were automobile factories of AFA, Abadal, Actividades Industriales, Alvarez, America, Artés de Arcos, Balandrás, Baradat-Esteve, Biscúter, J. Castro, Clúa, David, Delfín, Díaz y Grilló, Ebro trucks, , Elizalde, Automóviles España, Eucort, Fenix, Fábrica Hispano, Auto Academia Garriga, Fábrica Española de Automóviles Hebe, Hispano-Suiza, Huracán Motors, Talleres Hereter, Junior SL, Kapi, La Cuadra, M.A., Automóviles Matas, Motores y Motos, Nacional Custals, National Pescara, Nacional RG, Nacional Rubi, Nacional Sitjes, Automóviles Nike, Orix, Otro Ford, Patria, Pegaso, PTV, Ricart, Ricart-España, Industrias Salvador, Siata Española, Stevenson, Romagosa y Compañía, Garaje Storm, Talleres Hereter, Trimak, Automóviles Victoria, Manufacturas Mecánicas Aleu.


title: Barcelona

text: Today, the headquarters and a large factory of SEAT (the largest Spanish automobile manufacturer) are in one of its suburbs. There is also a Nissan factory in the logistics and industrial area of the city. The factory of Derbi, a large manufacturer of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, also lies near the city.


title: Barcelona

text: As in other modern cities, the manufacturing sector has long since been overtaken by the services sector, though it remains very important. The region's leading industries are textiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, motor, electronic, printing, logistics, publishing, in telecommunications industry and culture the notable Mobile World Congress, and information technology services.


title: Barcelona

text: The traditional importance of textiles is reflected in Barcelona's drive to become a major fashion centre. There have been many attempts to launch Barcelona as a fashion capital, notably "Gaudi Home".


title: Barcelona

text: Beginning in the summer of 2000, the city hosted the Bread & Butter urban fashion fair until 2009, when its organisers announced that it would be returning to Berlin. This was a hard blow for the city as the fair brought €100 m to the city in just three days.


title: Barcelona

text: Since 2009, "The Brandery", an urban fashion show, has been held in Barcelona twice a year until 2012. According to the Global Language Monitor's annual ranking of the world's top fifty fashion capitals Barcelona was named as the seventh most important fashion capital of the world right after Milan and before Berlin in 2015.


title: Barcelona

text: As the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Barcelona is the seat of the Catalan government, known as the "Generalitat de Catalunya"; of particular note are the executive branch, the parliament, and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. The city is also the capital of the Province of Barcelona and the Barcelonès comarca (district).


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is governed by a city council formed by 41 city councillors, elected for a four-year term by universal suffrage. As one of the two biggest cities in Spain, Barcelona is subject to a special law articulated through the "Carta Municipal" (Municipal Law). A first version of this law was passed in 1960 and amended later, but the current version was approved in March 2006.<ref name="ley 1/2006"></ref> According to this law, Barcelona's city council is organised in two levels: a political one, with elected city councillors, and one executive, which administrates the programs and executes the decisions taken on the political level. This law also gives the local government a special relationship with the central government and it also gives the mayor wider prerogatives by the means of municipal executive commissions. It expands the powers of the city council in areas like telecommunications, city traffic, road safety and public safety. It also gives a special economic regime to the city's treasury and it gives the council a veto in matters that will be decided by the central government, but that will need a favourable report from the council.


title: Barcelona

text: The "Comissió de Govern" (Government Commission) is the executive branch, formed by 24 councillors, led by the Mayor, with 5 lieutenant-mayors and 17 city councillors, each in charge of an area of government, and 5 non-elected councillors. The plenary, formed by the 41 city councillors, has advisory, planning, regulatory, and fiscal executive functions. The six "Commissions del Consell Municipal" (City council commissions) have executive and controlling functions in the field of their jurisdiction. They are composed by a number of councillors proportional to the number of councillors each political party has in the plenary. The city council has jurisdiction in the fields of city planning, transportation, municipal taxes, public highways security through the "Guàrdia Urbana" (the municipal police), city maintenance, gardens, parks and environment, facilities (like schools, nurseries, sports centres, libraries, and so on), culture, sports, youth and social welfare. Some of these competencies are not exclusive, but shared with the Generalitat de Catalunya or the central Spanish government. In some fields with shared responsibility (such as public health, education or social services), there is a shared Agency or Consortium between the city and the Generalitat to plan and manage services.


title: Barcelona

text: The executive branch is led by a Chief Municipal Executive Officer which answers to the Mayor. It is made up of departments which are legally part of the city council and by separate legal entities of two types: autonomous public departments and public enterprises.


title: Barcelona

text: The seat of the city council is on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, opposite the seat of Generalitat de Catalunya. Since the coming of the Spanish democracy, Barcelona had been governed by the PSC, first with an absolute majority and later in coalition with ERC and ICV. After the May 2007 election, the ERC did not renew the coalition agreement and the PSC governed in a minority coalition with ICV as the junior partner.


title: Barcelona

text: After 32 years, on 22 May 2011, CiU gained a plurality of seats at the municipal election, gaining 15 seats to the PSC's 11. The PP hold 8 seats, ICV 5 and ERC 2.


title: Barcelona

text: Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative districts ("districtes" in Catalan, "distritos" in Spanish):


title: Barcelona

text: The districts are based mostly on historical divisions, and several are former towns annexed by the city of Barcelona in the 18th and 19th centuries that still maintain their own distinct character. Each district has its own council led by a city councillor. The composition of each district council depends on the number of votes each political party had in that district, so a district can be led by a councillor from a different party than the executive council.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has a well-developed higher education system of public universities. Most prominent among these are the University of Barcelona (established in 1450) and the more modern Pompeu Fabra University. Barcelona is also home to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and in the private sector the EADA Business School (founded in 1957), which became the first Barcelona institution to run manager training programmes for the business community. IESE Business School, as well as the largest private educational institution, the Ramon Llull University, which encompasses schools and institutes such as the ESADE Business School. The Autonomous University of Barcelona, another public university, is located in Bellaterra, a town in the Metropolitan Area. Toulouse Business School and the Open University of Catalonia (a private Internet-centred open university) are also based in Barcelona.


title: Barcelona

text: The city has a network of public schools, from nurseries to high schools, under the responsibility of a consortium led by city council (though the curriculum is the responsibility of the Generalitat de Catalunya). There are also many private schools, some of them Roman Catholic. Most such schools receive a public subsidy on a per-student basis, are subject to inspection by the public authorities, and are required to follow the same curricular guidelines as public schools, though they charge tuition. Known as "escoles concertades", they are distinct from schools whose funding is entirely private ("escoles privades").


title: Barcelona

text: The language of instruction at public schools and "escoles concertades" is Catalan, as stipulated by the 2009 Catalan Education Act. Spanish may be used as a language of instruction by teachers of Spanish literature or language, and foreign languages by teachers of those languages. An experimental partial immersion programme adopted by some schools allows for the teaching of a foreign language (English, generally) across the curriculum, though this is limited to a maximum of 30% of the school day. No public school or "escola concertada" in Barcelona may offer 50% or full immersion programmes in a foreign language, nor does any public school or "escola concertada" offer International Baccalaureate programmes.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan language (very much repressed during the dictatorship of Franco) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is designated as a world-class city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network. It has also been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature since 2015.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has many venues for live music and theatre, including the world-renowned Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the Teatre Lliure and the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC), the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (L'Auditori). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is Eiji Oue. It is home to the Barcelona Guitar Orchestra, directed by Sergi Vicente. The major thoroughfare of La Rambla is home to mime artists and street performers. Yearly, two major pop music festivals take place in the city, the Sónar Festival and the Primavera Sound Festival. The city also has a thriving alternative music scene, with groups such as The Pinker Tones receiving international attention. Barcelona is an international hub of highly active and diverse nightlife with bars, dance bars and nightclubs staying open well past midnight.


title: Barcelona

text: "El Periódico de Catalunya", "La Vanguardia" and "Ara" are Barcelona's three major daily newspapers (the first two with Catalan and Spanish editions, "Ara" only in Catalan) while "Sport" and "El Mundo Deportivo" (both in Spanish) are the city's two major sports daily newspapers, published by the same companies. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as "Ara" and "El Punt Avui" (in Catalan), by nationwide newspapers with special Barcelona editions like "El País" (in Spanish, with an online version in Catalan) and "El Mundo" (in Spanish), and by several free newspapers like "20 minutos" and "Què" (all bilingual).


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona's oldest and main online newspaper "VilaWeb" is also the oldest one in Europe (with Catalan and English editions).


title: Barcelona

text: Several major FM stations include Catalunya Ràdio, RAC 1, RAC 105 and Cadena SER. Barcelona also has a local TV station, BTV, owned by city council. The headquarters of Televisió de Catalunya, Catalonia's public network, are located in Sant Joan Despí, in Barcelona's metropolitan area.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches during the 1982 FIFA World Cup (at the two stadiums). It has hosted about 30 sports events of international significance.


title: Barcelona

text: FC Barcelona is a sports club best known worldwide for its football team, one of the largest and the second richest in the world. It has 74 national trophies (while finishing 46 times as runners-up) and 17 continental prizes (with being runners-up 11 times), including five UEFA Champions League trophies out of eight finals and three FIFA Club World Cup wins out of four finals. The club won six trophies in a calendar year in 2009, becoming one of only 2 male football teams in the world to win the coveted sextuple, apart from FC Bayern Munich in 2020. FC Barcelona also has professional teams in other sports like FC Barcelona Regal (basketball), FC Barcelona Handbol (handball), FC Barcelona Hoquei (roller hockey), FC Barcelona Ice Hockey (ice hockey), FC Barcelona Futsal (futsal) and FC Barcelona Rugby (rugby union), all at one point winners of the highest national and/or European competitions. The club's museum is the second most visited in Catalonia. The matches against cross-town rivals RCD Espanyol are of particular interest, but there are other Barcelonan football clubs in lower categories, like CE Europa and UE Sant Andreu. FC Barcelona's basketball team has a noted rivalry in the Liga ACB with nearby Joventut Badalona.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has three UEFA elite stadiums: FC Barcelona's Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 99,354; the publicly owned Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with a capacity of 55,926; used for the 1992 Olympics; and Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, with a capacity of 40,500. Furthermore, the city has several smaller stadiums such as Mini Estadi (also owned by FC Barcelona) with a capacity of 15,000, Camp Municipal Narcís Sala with a capacity of 6,563 and Nou Sardenya with a capacity of 7,000. The city has a further three multifunctional venues for sports and concerts: the Palau Sant Jordi with a capacity of 12,000 to 24,000 (depending on use), the Palau Blaugrana with a capacity of 7,500, and the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona with a capacity of 3,500.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona was the host city for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, which were held at the Palau San Jordi.


title: Barcelona

text: Several road running competitions are organised year-round in Barcelona: the Barcelona Marathon every March with over 10,000 participants in 2010, the Cursa de Bombers in April, the Cursa de El Corte Inglés in May (with about 60,000 participants each year), the Cursa de la Mercè, the Cursa Jean Bouin, the Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre. There's also the Ultratrail Collserola which passes through the Collserola forest. The Open Seat Godó, a 50-year-old ATP World Tour 500 Series tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. Each year on Christmas Day, a 200-meter swimming race across the Old Port of Barcelona takes place. Near Barcelona, in Montmeló, the 107,000 capacity Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya racetrack hosts the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix, the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish GT Championship and races in the GP2 Series. Skateboarding and cycling are also very popular in Barcelona; in and around the city there are dozens of kilometers of bicycle paths.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is also home to numerous social centres and illegal squats that effectively form a shadow society mainly made up of the unemployed, immigrants, dropouts, anarchists, anti-authoritarians and autonomists. Peter Gelderloos estimates that there around 200 squatted buildings and 40 social centres across the city with thousands of inhabitants, making it one of the largest squatter movements in the world. He notes that they pirate electricity, internet and water allowing them to live on less than one euro a day. He argues that these squats embrace an anarcho-communist and anti-work philosophy, often freely fixing up new houses, cleaning, patching roofs, installing windows, toilets, showers, lights and kitchens. In the wake of austerity, the squats have provided a number of social services to the surrounding residents, including bicycle repair workshops, carpentry workshops, self-defense classes, free libraries, community gardens, free meals, computer labs, language classes, theatre groups, free medical care and legal support services. The squats help elderly residents avoid eviction and organise various protests throughout Barcelona. Notable squats include Can Vies and Can Masdeu. Police have repeatedly tried to shut down the squatters movement with waves of evictions and raids, but the movement is still going strong.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is served by Barcelona-El Prat Airport, about south-west of the centre of Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain, and the largest on the Mediterranean coast, which handled more than 50.17 million passengers in 2018, showing an annual upward trend. It is a main hub for Vueling Airlines and Ryanair, and also a focus for Iberia and Air Europa. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, although some airlines offer destinations in Latin America, Asia and the United States. The airport is connected to the city by highway, metro (Airport T1 and Airport T2 stations), commuter train (Barcelona Airport railway station) and scheduled bus service. A new terminal (T1) has been built, and entered service on 17 June 2009.


title: Barcelona

text: Some low-cost airlines, also use Girona-Costa Brava Airport, about to the north, Reus Airport, to the south, or Lleida-Alguaire Airport, about to the west, of the city. Sabadell Airport is a smaller airport in the nearby town of Sabadell, devoted to pilot training, aerotaxi and private flights.


title: Barcelona

text: The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year-old history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest container port, with a trade volume of 1.72 million TEU's in 2013. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the old port), the commercial port and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the Llobregat river to the south.


title: Barcelona

text: The Barcelona harbour is the leading European cruiser port and a very important Mediterranean turnaround base. In 2013, 3.6 million pleasure cruise passengers used the Port of Barcelona.


title: Barcelona

text: The Port Vell area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX Port Vell and one of Europe's largest aquariums – Aquarium Barcelona, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 4 million litres of sea water. The Maremagnum, being situated within the confines of the port, is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is a major hub for the Spanish rail network. The city's main Inter-city rail station is Barcelona Sants railway station, whilst Estació de França terminus serves a secondary role handling suburban, regional and medium distance services. Freight services operate to local industries and to the Port of Barcelona.


title: Barcelona

text: RENFE's AVE high-speed rail system, which is designed for speeds of , was extended from Madrid to Barcelona in 2008 in the form of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line. A shared RENFE-SNCF high-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France (Paris, Marseilles and Toulouse, through Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line) was launched in 2013. Both these lines serve Barcelona Sants terminal station.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona is served by an extensive local public transport network that includes a metro system, a bus network, a regional railway system, trams, funiculars, rack railways, a Gondola lift and aerial cable cars. These networks and lines are run by a number of different operators but they are integrated into a coordinated fare system, administered by the Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (ATM). The system is divided into fare zones (1 to 6) and various Integrated Travel Cards are available.


title: Barcelona

text: The Barcelona Metro network comprises twelve lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. The Metro largely runs underground; eight Metro lines are operated on dedicated track by the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), whilst four lines are operated by the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) and some of them share tracks with RENFE commuter lines.


title: Barcelona

text: In addition to the city Metro, several regional rail lines operated by RENFE's Rodalies de Catalunya run across the city, providing connections to outlying towns in the surrounding region.


title: Barcelona

text: The city's two modern tram systems, Trambaix and Trambesòs, are operated by TRAMMET. A heritage tram line, the Tramvia Blau, also operates between the metro Line 7 and the Funicular del Tibidabo.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona's metro and rail system is supplemented by several aerial cable cars, funiculars and rack railways that provide connections to mountain-top stations. FGC operates the Funicular de Tibidabo up the hill of Tibidabo and the Funicular de Vallvidrera (FGC), while TMB runs the Funicular de Montjuïc up Montjuïc. The city has two aerial cable cars: the Montjuïc Cable Car, which serves Montjuïc castle, and the Port Vell Aerial Tramway that runs via Torre Jaume I and Torre Sant Sebastià over the port.


title: Barcelona

text: Buses in Barcelona are a major form of public transport, with extensive local, interurban and night bus networks. Most local services are operated by the TMB, although some other services are operated by a number of private companies, albeit still within the ATM fare structure. A separate private bus line, known as Aerobús, links the airport with the city centre, with its own fare structure.


title: Barcelona

text: The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former railway station which was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licences are in the hands of self-employed drivers. With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted, and can be caught from one of many taxi ranks, hailed on street, called by telephone or via app.


title: Barcelona

text: On 22 March 2007, Barcelona's City Council started the Bicing service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the more than 400 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.


title: Barcelona

text: Barcelona lies on three international routes, including European route E15 that follows the Mediterranean coast, European route E90 to Madrid and Lisbon, and European route E09 to Paris. It is also served by a comprehensive network of motorways and highways throughout the metropolitan area, including A-2, A-7/AP-7, C-16, C-17, C-31, C-32, C-33, C-60.


title: Barcelona

text: The city is circled by three half ring roads or bypasses, Ronda de Dalt (B-20) (on the mountain side), Ronda del Litoral (B-10) (along the coast) and Ronda del Mig (separated into two parts: Travessera de Dalt in the north and the Gran Via de Carles III), two partially covered fast highways with several exits that bypass the city.


title: Barcelona

text: The city's main arteries include Diagonal Avenue, which crosses it diagonally, Meridiana Avenue which leads to Glòries and connects with Diagonal Avenue and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, which crosses the city from east to west, passing through its centre. The famous boulevard of La Rambla, whilst no longer an important vehicular route, remains an important pedestrian route.


title: Barcelona

text: The "Barri Gòtic" (Catalan for "Gothic Quarter") is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan "modernista" architecture (related to the movement known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe) developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. Several of these buildings are World Heritage Sites. Especially remarkable is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. His best-known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882 and is still financed by private donations. , completion is planned for 2026.