Contact Özer Turan at +90 542 850 56 99 or info@barcaacademycampslefkosa.com, and check the official Barça Academy card.

FIFA-standard football pitch at Near East University, Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus, at sunset

Official Barça Academy

September 2026 · Lefkoşa, Northern Cyprus

The world wrote Lefkoşa.

FC Barcelona’s official academy listed a youth camp on its own site as “Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus.” Two weeks, FIFA-standard pitches, licensed coaches from Spain — open to players aged 6–18.

Until the first camp

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Official listing · 4 August 2026

“Near East University, Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus”

The exact location line on Barça Academy’s international camp calendar. No abbreviation, no ambiguity — Lefkoşa, Northern Cyprus.

Dates: 7–11 & 16–20 September 2026
Venue: Near East University, Lefkoşa
Ages: 6–18 years
Schedule: Three daily training groups

Why it matters

A football camp. One sentence. History.

Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus · 4 August 2026

The island has been divided since 1974. Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Türkiye. On international sports calendars, the North is rarely named at all.

On 4 August 2026, FC Barcelona’s official Barça Academy page published two youth camps. The location line is unambiguous: Near East University, Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus.

This is not a slogan. It is an address, written into the calendar of one of the most watched football institutions on earth. Turkish Cypriot children will train the Barça way at home.

As camp media coordinator Özer Turan put it: this is sport, not a political message. Lefkoşa is the Turkish name; Nicosia is the English one. The pitch is the same pitch.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

This country deserves to be seen.

Kyrenia harbour, the Five Finger ridge, Karpaz’s wild sand, Lefkoşa’s stone streets. This is not a brochure — it is a living country. The world often does not look. We do. Look with us.

Kyrenia harbour and castle, Northern Cyprus, at sunset — Girne harbour

Wild Mediterranean beach on the Karpaz peninsula, Northern Cyprus — Karpaz shore

Bellapais Abbey and the north coast above Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus — Bellapais

Selimiye Mosque and the walled old town of Lefkoşa, Northern Cyprus — Selimiye, Lefkoşa

St. Hilarion Castle on the Five Finger mountains, Northern Cyprus — St. Hilarion

Girne

Castle, boats, the mountain at your back. Walk the harbour at dusk. This is the North’s front window.

Lefkoşa

The north of the last divided capital. Selimiye’s gothic stone, the walled city, Büyük Han. The island’s heart still beats here.

Karpaz

Gold sand, wild donkeys, wind. The peninsula the tour bus forgot — the island still breathing.

St. Hilarion

A storybook castle on the Five Finger ridge. The north coast below, sky above. Cyprus, seen clearly.

A university island

Near East, Eastern Mediterranean and more. Young people from the world study, play and stay here. The camp lives in that house.

The table

Hellim, şeftali kebab, olives, citrus. The door is open. A Turkish Cypriot does not host by halves.

Gateway: Ercan
Languages: Turkish and English
Coast: Girne to Karpaz
People: An open door

Northern Cyprus sits on the north shore of the Mediterranean: castles, abbeys, universities, hellim, an open door. Beauty is not missing. Permission to say the name is.

Isolation reaches the pitch. Writing “Northern Cyprus” on a youth-camp calendar is already too much for some. The target is not children. The target is visibility.

The TRNC has stood with its own institutions since 1983. Recognition today comes only from Türkiye; that is not a secret. What is treated as a secret is this: life is here. It has a place in the world.

Barça Academy’s line “Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus” is not a UN vote. It is an address. Sharing that address is a refusal to leave a country in the dark.

Share Northern Cyprus

The world sees this country only if it is shown. Send this page — keep Lefkoşa as a name, a pitch, a harbour.

On social media

We do not carry enmity.

After Barça Academy wrote Lefkoşa, sentences like these circulated: the North must not be named as a country — not even at a children’s camp. The image below is a public example. The person’s photo and name are hidden. We are not targeting a human being. We are showing the language.

A public example from social media. Profile photo and name hidden — a reference, not a denunciation. Source · Identity hidden · 26 August 2026

Our language

Peace. Quiet. An open door.

We Turks do not carry enmity. Turkish Cypriots want to live on this island in peace and quiet — with their neighbours, their children, their pitch. A youth camp is not a war. Writing an address is not one either.

Isolation does not make peace. Erasing the name Lefkoşa does not either. The camp is open to everyone. Our door is open. We want peace. Not a fight.

On the record

One side shuts the door. The other opens it.

The same Lefkoşa Camp. In the south, ELAM and the football federation: cancel it, write to UEFA. In the north, the president, the prime minister and the sports press: welcome, let the children play. Every card is a real article — catalog image and source link.

South: cancel

Cyprus Mail article image: Joan Laporta and FC Barcelona

Cyprus Mail · 24 August 2026

Criticism over Barcelona youth camp in north

ELAM called sport in the north by a foreign club “inconceivable,” and asked the Spanish government to cancel the camp.

Open source

Greek Reporter article image: Northern Cyprus coast, Girne

Greek Reporter · 25 August 2026

FC Barcelona Youth Camp in Occupied Northern Cyprus Sparks Outrage

ELAM asked Spain and the Cypriot Foreign Ministry to stop the camp. The grievance: the words “Northern Cyprus.”

Open source

Kıbrıs Postası article image: Cyprus FA call to cancel the camp

Kıbrıs Postası · 26 August 2026

Cyprus FA Calls for Barcelona Camp in North to Be Cancelled

CFA president Haris Loizidis wrote to Barça, the Spanish federation and UEFA: cancel the camp, move it south, or do not hold it on the island at all.

Open source

North: welcome

Kıbrıs Gazetesi article image: Lefkoşa Camp on the Barça Academy calendar

Kıbrıs Gazetesi · 11 August 2026

Lefkoşa Kampı, Barça Academy’nin resmi kamp takviminde!

Albert Medall: “Lefkoşa is now one of Barça Academy’s international camp points.” Coaches from Spain, Barça method — the North read this as an open door.

Open source

Kıbrıs Postası article image: Barça Academy camp, young players on the pitch

Kıbrıs Postası · 8 August 2026

Barça Academy genç yetenekleri keşfetmek için Lefkoşa’ya geliyor

Ages 6–18, FIFA pitches, coaches from Spain. Northern sports pages announced the camp as an opportunity: let the young players come.

Open source

Daily Sabah article image: President Tufan Erhürman

Daily Sabah · 26 August 2026

TRNC PM condemns Greek Cypriot bid to block Barcelona youth camp

Ünal Üstel: “Turkish Cypriot youth will meet young people from all over the world in sport. We did not bow to this mentality yesterday, and we will not bow to it today.”

Open source

KNews article image: President Tufan Erhürman

KNews · 26 August 2026

Erhürman: Children should not pay the price for the Cyprus problem

Tufan Erhürman: children should not pay the price of the Cyprus problem. Cancelling a camp may look like diplomacy; in human terms it is “a clear defeat for humanity.”

Open source

Programme

Two weeks. One methodology.

Barça Academy camps have reached more than 40,000 children worldwide. Lefkoşa is a new stop on that map — coaches from Spain, the Barça School’s own working programme.

Barça Academy youth training session on the Near East University pitch in Lefkosa

Camp 1

7–11 September 2026

Monday–Friday. Three daily training groups by age. Exact times assigned by category.

Camp 2

16–20 September 2026

A second week, same venue, same staff. A separate window if the first sold out.

On the grass

Technique

Ball mastery, passing lanes, Barça’s positional play.

Physical

Age-right strength, agility and endurance.

Team

Playing together, communication, decisions under pressure.

Respect

For opponent, referee, teammate — the academy’s character spine.

Venue

Near East University

Sessions run on the university’s FIFA-standard pitches. A modern sports complex on the north side of Lefkoşa — Mediterranean light, campus quiet, a home fit for a global academy.

Standard

FIFA pitch

City

Lefkoşa

Island

Northern Cyprus

Location

35.22639°N, 33.32472°E · Lefkosa

Voices

The island is speaking.

President Tufan Erhürman of the TRNC, official portrait — Tufan Erhürman
President of the TRNC

Prime Minister Ünal Üstel of the TRNC, official portrait — Ünal Üstel
Prime Minister of the TRNC

“This is entirely about sport. The camp is open to everyone, not only Turkish participants. Preparations are proceeding as planned.”

Özer Turan

NEU & camp media coordinator

Take the pitch.

Write to the official camp contact for registration and age groups. This is an independent tribute page — applications go to the organisers.

Call Email

Contact

Özer Turan

+90 542 850 56 99
[email protected]
Near East University, Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus

FAQ

Questions

Is this an official FC Barcelona site?+

No. This is an independent page celebrating the listing in Northern Cyprus. The official card lives on Barça Academy’s own site: Lefkosa Camp.

Who can join?+

Players aged 6–18. Organisers have said the camp is open to everyone, not only Turkish participants.

What are the training times?+

Three daily training groups. Exact times will be assigned by age category.

Why the attention?+

Barça Academy wrote “Lefkosa, Northern Cyprus” on the location line. Calls to cancel followed in the south; in the north it was read as children being let into international sport.

How do I register?+

Contact Özer Turan at +90 542 850 56 99 or [email protected], and check the official Barça Academy card.

Does this site call Northern Cyprus a country?+

Yes — a people, institutions and a geography live here. International recognition currently comes only from Türkiye. This page is not a diplomatic instrument; it is about visibility and a football camp.

Hürriyet Daily News