Spain hosts its first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event since 2004 as Barcelona joins the calendar for the first time. Almeria, Cadiz, Mallorca, Marbella and Tenerife have hosted previous men�s events where Spain�s top finish was a 1995 silver medal for Javier Bosma and Sixto Jimenez in Tenerife. Women�s events have been held in Almeria, Gran Canaria, Meadrid and Mallorca. The top placement by a Spanish women�s team was a ninth by Monica Del Prado and Liliana Diaz at the 1992 Almeria event, the first-ever women's stop on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour. Brazilians have dominated the podium with 34 of the possible 63 men�s and women�s medals, including nine men�s and three women�s titles. The Lacigas (Martin and Paul) of Switzerland captured the most men�s titles with four gold medals at three different Spanish sites. Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar captured 2001 and 2002 Spanish titles in Gran Canaria and Mallorca, respectively. Spain has hosted women's FIVB Satellite events the past two seasons where teams from Portugal (Juliana Antunes/Sandra Castro, 2006 at Getxo) and the Netherlands (Marleen Van Iersel/Maloes Wesselink, 2007 at San Sebasti�n) have won gold medals. Barcelona is one of nine new sites in 2008 on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour calendar along with Adelaide (Australia), Guaruja (Brazil), Sanya (China), Prague (Czech Republic), Osaka (Japan), Myslowice (Poland) Moscow (Russia) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain with a population over 1.6-million. Located on the Mediterranean coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Bes�s, Barcelona is a major economic centre, with one of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports. Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Particularly renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaud� and Llu�s Dom�nech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches from the 1982 Football World Cup. It has also been host to the X FINA World Championships and twice of the Eurobasket. The Open Seat God�, a 50-year-old ATP Tour International Series Gold tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Reial Club de Tenis Barcelona (Barcelona Royal Tennis Club). Several popular running competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona. Also, each Christmas, a swimming race across the port is organized. Near Barcelona, in Montmel�, the 131,000 capacity Circuit de Catalunya racetrack hosts the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix and the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix. Barcelona has also become very popular with skateboarders, which has led to a new anti-skateboarding law, which came into effect in 2006.

PAST SPANISH MEN�S PODIUM PLACEMENTS
Medals - Brazil 27, Switzerland 6, Argentina 4, USA 3, Canada 2, Cuba 1, France 1, Germany 1, Norway 1, Russia 1, Spain 1

Site	Year	Gold Medal	Silver Medal	Bronze Medal
1. Almeria	1991	J-Philippe Jodard/Christian Penigaud, FRA	Marlos Cogo/Marco Tullio, BRA	Andre Lima/Guilherme Marques, BRA
2. Almeria	1992	Sinjin Smith/Randy Stoklos, USA	Eduardo Garrido/Roberto Moreira, BRA	Andre Lima/Guilherme, BRA
3. Marbella	1995	Roberto Lopes/Franco Neto, BRA	Andre Gomes/Carlos Loss, BRA	Ze Marco de Melo/Emanuel Rego, BRA
4. Tenerife	1995	Ze Marco/Emanuel, BRA	Javier Bosma/Sixto Jimenez, ESP	Roberto Lopes/Franco, BRA
5. Marbella	1996	Ze Marco/Emanuel, BRA	Roberto Lops/Franco, BRA	Martin Conde/Eduardo Martinez, ARG
6. Tenerife	1996	Ze Marco/Emanuel, BRA	John Child/Mark Heese, CAN	Francisco Alvarez/Juan Rossell, CUB
7. Tenerife	1997	Jan Kvalheim/Bjorn Maaseide, NOR	Conde/Martinez, ARG	Ze Marco/Emanuel, BRA
8. Tenerife	1998	Jose Loiola/Emanuel, BRA	Karch Kiraly/Mike Whitmarsh, USA	Bill Boullianne/Ian Clark, USA
9. Tenerife	1999	Ze Marco/Ricardo Santos, BRA	Guilherme Marques/Para Ferreira, BRA	Giovane Gavio/Tande Ramos, BRA
10. Tenerife	2000	Martin Laciga/Paul Laciga, SUI	Marcio Araujo/Benjamin Insfran, BRA	Sergey Ermishin/Mikhail Kouchnerev, RUS
11. Tenerife	2001	Tande/Emanuel, BRA	M. Laciga/P. Laciga, SUI	Mariano Baracetti/Conde, ARG
12. Mallorca	2001	Tande/Emanuel, BRA	Baracetti/Conde, BRA	Roberto Lopes/Franco, BRA
13. Cadiz	2002	M. Laciga/P. Laciga, SUI	Jody Holden/Conrad Leinemann, CAN	Tande/Emamuel, BRA
14. Mallorca	2002	M. Laciga/P. Laciga, SUI	Marcio Araujo/Benjamin, BRA	Emanuel/Ricardo, BRA
15. Mallorca	2003	Marcio Araujo/Benjamin, BRA	Markus Dieckmann/Jonas Reckermann, GER	Baracetti/Conde, ARG
16. Mallorca	2004	M. Laciga/P. Laciga, SUI	Markus Egger/Sascha Heyer, SUI	Fabio Magalhaes/Paulo Emilio Silva, BRA

PAST SPANISH WOMEN�S PODIUM PLACEMENTS
Medals - Brazil 7, USA 5, Australia 1, Czech Republic 1, Germany 1

Site	Year	Gold Medal	Silver Medal	Bronze Medal
1. Almeria	1992	Karolyn Kirby/Nancy Reno, USA	Linda Chisholm/Angela Rock, USA	Roseliana Santos/Roseli Timm, BRA
2. Gran Canaria	2001	Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar, BRA	Barbra Fontana/Elaine Youngs, USA	Tatiana Minello/Sandra Pires, BRA
3. Madrid	2002	Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, USA	Ana Paula Connelly/Minello, BRA	Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst, AUS
4. Mallorca	2002	Shelda/Adriana, BRA	May-Treanor/Walsh, USA	Ana Paula/Minello, BRA
5. Mallorca	2004	Juliana F. Silva/Larissa Franca, BRA	Susanne Lahme/Danja Musch, GER	Eva Celbova Rysava/Sona Novakova, CZE