THERE is genius everywhere you look in Barcelona. It's in every brick and cobblestone, every street corner, every blade of grass. From the unique architecture of Gaudi and Montaner to the modern glory of the waterfront - via the timeless maestros of the pitch at Camp Nou - the city breathes inspiration. It inhales talent and exhales heroes.

And one week in August, a truckload of talent arrived. One hundred hopefuls, all wanting to be heroes, had a once in a lifetime opportunity to add their name to Barcelona's pantheon of fame and glory. Nike's The Chance hit town.

Over the past 12 months, the sportswear giant had sent scouts around the world to track down the very best young, unsigned talent they could find. From an initial list of 100,000, their scouts put the wannabes through their paces. The process was merciless. For every one who actually made it through to the global finals, 999 were sent home.

Those who did make it were Nike's international elite, the very best young undiscovered footballers in the world. Their reward was a spot in Nike's The Chance camp in Barcelona, a taste of life at the very highest level of the game, a possible place on Nike's world tour - and most importantly, exposure to the biggest names in the sport...and The Chance of a pro contract.

For a kid with big dreams and talent to match, there is simply no other opportunity like it.

Enter Aussies Devante Clut, Matthew Bilic and Kiwi Stephen Carmichael - kids with, conveniently enough, big dreams and talent to match...

Their journey began online, in true 21st century fashion, in response to a post on Facebook, looking for youngsters to trial for The Chance. They made it through the local heats and onto the Pacific final before Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi and former Perth Glory manager Ron Smith hand-picked them from the masses one bitterly cold winter morning in Canberra to go on to the global finals.

Fast forward six weeks and it's a European heatwave, a blistering 41C, as the boys hit Barcelona. Eighteen months ago, Nike ran the first Chance global finals in London in the middle of a freezing snowbound British winter. The contrast with this second version could not be sharper.

This time, it's epic. The scale is monumental. Countless hundreds descend on the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos, the five star hotel servicing Barcelona FC's Camp Nou stadium. The 100 Chance kids - aged from 16 to 24 - are joined by scores of media flown in by Nike from all around the world. A legion of Nike PRs and brand managers liaise between the press, logistics experts and the company executives. Nike's coaching staff mingle with the players' chaperones - charged with looking after the youngsters, keeping them out of harm and in the right place - sharing information and finalising plans. And weaving through all of this is the massive multimedia phalanx of go anywhere filmmakers, photographers, creative directors and new media gurus Nike have hired to maximise the exposure. It's an event. It's happening, and on an immense scale.

The hotel foyer is a buzz of accents, ambition, equipment, focus and confusion. Did we mention the scale is monumental? The scale is monumental. Even for seasoned hacks, it's impressive, exciting and not a little intimidating. For a teenager overseas for the first time away from his family at home, it's equal parts terrifying and terrific.

And from this multilingual, modern day Babel is expected to come brilliance...

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