A VISIT to Scotland last summer by football giants Barcelona has earned the sports promotion firm which organised it a prestigious marketing award.

Edinburgh’s Platinum One brought the Catalan club to St Andrews for five days of training, during which it played friendlies against Dundee United and Hearts.

As a result Platinum One chief executive Maeve Buckley lifted the Event Excellence award at the Marketing Excellence Awards Scotland in Edinburgh’s Sheraton Hotel.

There has been speculation the club, which was full of praise for the facilities at St Andrews last year, will be back this summer.

However Platinum One and the university refused to comment yesterday on a possible return visit.

Fans were thrilled to see the Barca squad, led by then manager Frank Rijkaard, on the turf at Tannadice and Murrayfield, and lined up around the university playing fields to watch them practice.

The team, including Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto’o, bedded down in St Andrews’ Old Course Hotel during their first ever pre-season training camp in Scotland last July.

Rijkaard was said to be so impressed with the facilities in Fife that as the players departed noises were already being made about a second visit.

However if the club does return it is not clear which players it would be bringing with it, as the future of some of its stars is the subject of transfer speculation.

The fixtures against Dundee United and Hearts were seen by over 70,000 spectators, with the match at Tannadice a sell-out and the game at Murrayfield attracting the largest football crowd ever seen in Edinburgh.

Platinum One said the trip—covered by both Spanish and UK media and which saw matches broadcast in more than 100 countries—brought it immeasurable media value.