Badge of champions awarded to FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona today received the FIFA Club World Cup Champions Badge, a physical reminder of the club’s emphatic triumph in FIFA’s annual club event in Japan in December. Following on from individual awards for Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi at the FIFA Ballon d’Or, the Champions badge is an award for the whole team, serving as a visual acknowledgement of the club’s status as the best club football team in the world. The badge, featuring an image of the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and the text “FIFA World Champions 2011”, will be seen on the shirts for the first time in Thursday’s Copa del Rey match versus Osasuna. It will remain on the shirts until the final whistle of the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2012. FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter congratulated the FIFA Club World Cup Champions on their performance in Japan, saying “We are pleased to be able to honour FC Barcelona after a truly remarkable year for the club. To have won five top titles in one calendar year is a great achievement. I’m sure the badge will be a great reminder of this success every time the players wear the team’s jersey.” "The players can be very proud to wear this badge for the next year,” said FC Barcelona coach and FIFA World Coach of the Year Pep Guardiola. “Our victory at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan concluded a fantastic year for our club. It is an honour to receive this mark of recognition from FIFA.” This is the second time that FC Barcelona have had the honour of wearing the badge, following their victory at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009. First introduced for the FIFA Club World Cup in 2007, the badge has also featured on the playing kits of AC Milan, Manchester United and F.C. Internazionale Milano. The FIFA Club World Cup Champions badge is just one in a series of FIFA World Champions Badges which are awarded to the winners of selected FIFA events. The first team to be presented with the FIFA World Cup™ Champions badge was the Italian men’s national team, champions of the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, with the Spanish national team recently taking over this honour after their success in South Africa. Germany’s women’s national team also wore a Champions badge in recognition of its success in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007™, an honour which was then bestowed upon the Japanese women’s national team following their triumph in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011™.