Barca is not Barcelona. It's a common mistake.

I have noticed how many people use the term 'Barca' when they want to refer to Barcelona. So I wanted to help clarify this common mistake.

I'm sure this used term 'Barca' comes from the diminutive the main football club in the city has: Barça. I guess the character 'ç' is not available in Anglo-Saxon keyboards, so the people tend to change the 'ç' for a 'c', changing the pronunciation as well. Because 'ç' is pronounced like an 's', and 'c' before an 'a' is pronounced like a 'k'.

So, if you want to refer to the football team shortly, you may preferably write it like this 'Barsa', not 'Barca'. FYI: 'Barca' means 'Boat', thus it looks quite strange to a Spaniard.

Here's what you have to use instead when you want to refer to Barcelona shortly:
Barna. It's commonly used too the acronym BCN.>