Bill Gates, Co-President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, together with the FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell and first team coach Josep Guardiola, announced the agreement this Thursday at The Newseum in Washington, DC. Players Andrés Iniesta and Seydou Keita were also present.

Eradication of polio

The first year of the collaboration will centre on the eradication of polio, an illness which has been greatly reduced due to improvement in life saving vaccines. In the past the illness affected millions of children all over the world, but is now basically restricted to Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“More than a goal, let’s get rid of polio”

FC Barcelona, with more than 18 million Facebook friends and millions of followers on Twitter has committed itself to encouraging its followers on the social networks to support the campaign and will also use publicity at the Camp Nou to highlight the importance of eradicating the disease through child vaccination to save millions of lives. In order to channel the fans’ support, Barça will use the slogan “More than a goal, let’s get rid of polio”, in a clear reference to the Club’s motto –“More than a Club”.

The collaboration with the Gates Foundation will allow images and videos of the Barça team to be used in the campaign. Both parts will combine their resources to finance the marketing and promotional activities at no cost to the campaign.

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[+] FC Barcelona has always been MORE THAN A CLUB. Ending polio is MORE THAN A GOAL

[+] FC BARCELONA PRESS CONFERENCE

[+] A SHARED GOAL