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FC BARCELONA

Lila Barça: Why Barcelona are using purple as one of their colours; armbands, Camp Nou...

The Catalan club have announced a new initiative in which they will promote equality through a new colour.

Update:
The Catalan club have announced a new initiative in which they will promote equality through a new colour.
Alejandro GarciaEFE

Fútbol Club Barcelona have announced a new scheme in which they will use the colour purple to celebrate International Women’s Day. The announcement came on Saturday 4 March that said: “in line with its strong commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion as established in the Club’s Statute... [the club] wishes to set in motion various initiatives to highlight the importance of giving visibility to women in the world of sport.”

Barça have teamed up with Pantone, the colour mixing company, to create a new colour, known as Lila Barça. The statement says that the “new symbolic colour for equality which comes from the mixing of the Clubs’ original colours of blue and maroon.”

The move comes in an effort to expand the awareness of International Women’s Day, celebrated on 8 March.

FC Barcelona players pose for the team photo behind a board with the slogan 'Equality is in our colours' in light of International Women's Day.
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FC Barcelona players pose for the team photo behind a board with the slogan 'Equality is in our colours' in light of International Women's Day.Alex CaparrosGetty

What is Lila Barça?

FC Barcelona Femení players lined up behind a slogan board with the words ‘Equality is in our colours’, highlighting the zero-tolerance approach the club takes regarding discrimination and injustice. Lila Barça will cover Spotify Camp Nou and the Estadi Johan Cruyff during the entire month of March, and will begin this weekend for the men’s team game against Valencia on Sunday at 10:15 ET. The colour is also present on FC Barcelona’s online presence, and is being used as the background colour for the team sheets, badge and promotional material.

On the pitch, the armbands of the captains are to be purple, with all FCB Femení players wearing the Lila Barça armband against Villarreal CF. Before the game at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, the club held various activities for the fans including face-painting and banner designing.

Barça’s influence spreads around the world

As well as holding various talks with female icons, FC Barcelona Femení players have also used the initiative to contrivute to helping people on a global scale. Right-back Lucy Bronze met a group of female refugees from Afghanistan, Honduras and Ukraine in which she heard the women and their families’ stories first hand as well as joining in with some leisure activities. The FC Barcelona Foundation is involved in various projects with child refugees from Uganda, Colombia, Turkey and Malaysia.

The statement says that “FC Barcelona works continuously to promote the role of women in the world of sport with their efforts focused on advancing equality... as well as their commitment to women’s sport, in particular football, which dates back more than 50 years.”