Historic special edition on FC Barcelona from L’Équipe Magazine

The prestigious French magazine will publish a special edition solely dedicated to FC Barcelona. This is the first time the magazine has featured a football team in their special edition.

L’Équipe has featured Platini, Cantona, Zidane and the All Blacks in previous special editions.

Two North American magazines, Newsweek and TIME, have also covered Josep Guardiola’s FC Barcelona.

L’Équipe Magazine, the weekly supplemental piece of the French daily newspaper, will publish a special on Barça titled “100% Barça, Més que un Club” in their upcoming edition, which will hit the stands on April 21st. This will be the first time in the prestigious French publication’s history that a football Club will be the feature of L’Équipe Magazine. Individuals like Platini, Cantona, Zidane and the All Blacks, the New Zealand national rugby team, have also been the main focus of the special issue.

This week’s edition of the French publication’s special offers a glimpse into the Club with interviews with Sandro Rosell, Xavi Hernández and Johan Cruyff. But the scope of the story goes beyond individuals; the Club’s gastronomy, explained by famous chef and Barça fan Ferran Adrià, and the first famous Frenchman to play for Barça, Lucien Muller, also feature prominently in this week’s edition.

Lionel Messi also receives a lot of focus in the write-up. L’Équipe analyzes the player from six different perspectives, while there is no specific reference to the time Messi spent at La Masia or the importance placed on player integration with Barça’s culture, the edition focuses on the importance the Club places on technical skill and technique, the fact that FC Barcelona is a multi-sport Club, and historical data and statistics.

L’Équipe Magazine, which made its debut in 1980, has over two million readers each week. It’s the fourth most widely read French magazine - after Paris-Match, Télerama and Nouvel Observateur.

FC Barcelona, especially since Josep Guardiola took charge of the Barça bench, are becoming a regular feature in prestigious international publications. In June 2001, the North American magazine Newsweek featured the winners of the Champions League and posed the question: “Barça! The best football team ever?” In January of this year, TIME magazine featured Leo Messi on their cover. It was the first time a male footballer appeared on the front of the North American magazine. (via FCBarcelona.com)