Stanford University Head Men’s Soccer Coach and NSCAA Staff Instructor, Bret Simon and the team stop to pose for the camera in Barcelona this past March.

Stanford, California - March 21, 2008 - California Division 1 standout, Stanford University men’s soccer team recently travelled to Barcelona, Spain with Eurotech® Soccer Tours March 21-31, 2008. Jim Risher, Eurotech® National Director and Bret Simon, Head Men’s Soccer Coach met for the first time in Los Angeles, California at the prestigious Cal-South Soccer Nation Expo in January where Bret was a featured clinician on behalf of the NSCAA® and Jim was attending the show on behalf of Eurotech®, a nationally recognized soccer education and tour company based on the east coast. Bret has travelled overseas with soccer teams many times and knew what he was looking for in a soccer tour company. The two struck a great rapport and Stanford University, who already had fundraising in place, chose Eurotech® to represent them on their spring break training tour; Jim and his team in London had everything in place for Stanford within a week and the rest is history. 

In addition to the regional sightseeing, Stanford was fortunate enough to attend the last RCD Espanyol professional match in Montjuïc, against Racing the Santander. According to a news story on the RCD Espanyol Official Website later that week, "the students traveled to Barcelona to carry out a pre-season training tour, so they could prepare for the spring and enjoy the cultural aspect of being in Spain. For many reasons, Catalonia’s capital is ideal to do so. Besides the warm weather of these weeks next to the Mediteranian Sea, here they can enjoy the best professional football in the world. The best master class given by the best teachers. This is precisely the reason that these 25 youngsters traveled to the stands of the Olympic Stadium!"

The Cardinals, as this team is known as, had guided walking tours of the city, attended two official Primera División matches of the two teams of the city, and enjoyed their spare time the best way they could, soaking in the soccer crazy culture of Spain. They also had their own training sessions and played friendly matches against local teams, some of them of the Third Division: UE Castelldefels, Pobla de Mafumet, CF Montañesa, and the U-18 team of CD Cornellà.