FCBARCELONA.CAT

20.01.2010 14:25

Guardiola, icon of solidarity

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Guardiola staying at Barça is a guarantee of quality, professionalism, talent and dedication. A media figure, he personifies the club’s values and is an example for solidarity.

A great former player, a historic manager and an exemplary person both on and off the pitch. The results speak for themselves, but it is often personal qualities above all else that make a better professional sportsperson, which is something harder to appreciate from outside. But not with Guardiola, who has earned the right to be respected as not only a sporting icon, but also a man whose name is synonymous with solidarity.

Friend of the vulnerable

Despite his hectic schedule, Josep Guardiola always finds time for charity affairs. Posing for a photograph for Pere, a child with a chronic disease, for a calendar published by the Fundació Ànima or becoming an ‘Amic d’Ampans’, an association that works on behalf of the disabled, are just two examples of the things the man from Santpedor is willing to do for the less fortunate.

King for a day

This Christmas, he took part in an initiative organised by the Barça Foundation “a dream as a present” and visited a children’s hospital to meet young people who, because of their sickness, had to spend the festive season in hospital beds. Acting as one of the Three Kings, he once again showed how one of the things that most matters to him is putting smiles on kids’ faces.

The story of Gina

Last October, the FCB manager came across the story of Gina, a girl with Rett’s Syndrome. Via the book ‘Creatures from, another planet’, by Elisabet Pedrosa, Gina’s mother, Guardiola learned about the plight of this girl with a generic neurological disorder, and who is disabled and depends entirely on those around her. Touched by the story, the coach made a financial donation to research into this minority disease.