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Barca Academy calls it quits in Canada and Australia, leaving families feeling abandoned.

Edmonton, Alberta - The famed soccer club FC Barcelona has closed its' Barca Academies and called it quits in Canada and Australia leaving families wondering what support is left. 

The academies located in Canada (Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) and in Australia (Brisbane & Sydney) were licensed to be operated by BCN Sports. BCN Sports announced in April that they were going to be filing for voluntary insolvency, and families that have paid millions of dollars in fees have been left with little information from BCN Sports or FC Barcelona when it comes to any chance of recovering any money.

On Friday, June 12, FC Barcelona emailed Canadian clients farewell statements from the local Technical Directors; a similar email was sent to Australian clients on June 16. The messages conveyed feelings of remorse in having to close, gratitude for the experiences and best wishes going forward.

Unfortunately, the email has left some families with more questions to be answered.  Danny Atkinson lost over $500 dollars when BCN Sports denied his refund back in March. "I just don't understand, how this club can continue to be so evasive." According to emails from FC Barcelona, the club has pledged to support the families and use all their resources to ensure BCN Sports returns all the money they have taken. "I have personally spoken to the club, and told them that we need to know how they intend to do that. This latest message gave us a new email address to send our concerns to. What does that accomplish? They haven't responded to a question yet. Now we have another email address that we can be ignored by."

Atkinson has connected with families via a Facebook group, and many are disappointed the latest communication from the club does nothing to address the scandal.  "It leaves us all asking - What are they up to? Do they really have a plan?"

Leonie Dyer of Sydney is furious. "Sydney has been handed over to the new email address tonight. No name, no introduction to anyone, no personal contact with the club anymore. We've been handed over to a nameless email address that no one is reading."

Jenny Oxenham, also from Sydney, doesn't see the point of the email. "I have just read it and thought well, thanks for nothing."

BCN Sports (owned by Francisco 'Patxi' Cervera and Stephen Tung) operated the academies in Canada and Australia, with former academies in Honolulu (Hawaii) and Calgary (Alberta). When the scandal first broke, Australian families watched the drama unfold in Canada waiting to see how they would be affected. Eventually FC Barcelona and BCN Sports confirmed their fears and announced the closure of the Barca Academies in Australia effectively closing all of BCN Sports operations with FC Barcelona.

"It's just been months of silence." says Atkinson. "BCN Sports has yet to identify their trustee and we know they have been liquidating assets. And FC Barcelona just keeps saying they support us. I know a lot of families that are wondering just how they can deposit this so-called support."

But all is not lost. According to Atkinson some families have successfully disputed that charges with credit card companies and PayPal. "PayPal by far has been the best, with some banks ruling in favour of families and returning the money. What is really perplexing is that BCN Sports is challenging some of the disputes. They violated terms, they say they are insolvent and now are re-victimizing families by challenging disputes. I don't think you can get any lower than that."

And time is running out for families. Many institutions have a time limit that disputes must be filed within, most are 180 days. A Facebook group was created in March to try to connect with affected families. The group BCN Sports and Barca Academy Defrauded Us now has over 350 members, with more joining everyday. According to files obtained, there are over 750 families just in Canada that have been affected by the Barca Academy closures.

"We are doing our best to contact everyone, but it's not easy" says Atkinson. "But BCN Sports can count on one thing for sure - families are not going to give up until BCN is held accountable for what they have done."


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