Third Fundació Barça Genuine project presented at Auditori 1899

Today's superb presentation of the Fundació Barça Genuine team at Auditori 1899 culminated with an official team photo with the coaching staff, the ambassador, Ronald Araujo, the managing director of the Fundació, Marta Segú, and president Joan Laporta. Journalist Àngels Prieto hosted the event, and it was also attended by vice presidents Rafael Yuste and Eduard Romeu, and Vanessa Giralt, Allianz sponsorship director. It began with the showing of the documentary 'Una temporada de reptes', which recounts the experiences of Fundació Barça last season. Produced and directed by Barça Studios, the film includes interviews with the team's players and coaching staff, as well as the manager of the Department of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, Maite Laporta, shining a light on the challenges they had to overcome in the 2022/23 season.

Following the showing of 'Una temporada de reptes', which was watched and warmly applauded by its protagonists and the event attendees, Àngels Prieto spoke with two players from Fundació Barça, Yenny Cabanillas and Sasha Fàbregas; Emilio Gómez and Mercè Portabella from the coaching staff; and the team's ambassador, Ronald Araujo. The men's team player stated that "it's an honour to represent Fundació Barça Genuine, I am really happy that I was chosen", going on to add “Wearing the captain's armband is very special. We are very happy to have achieved the first target of the season", when asked about qualifying for the Champions League last 16. "We have to keep going, we have major challenges coming up and we are ready", he concluded.

Next up was Dr Marta Segú, managing director of Fundació FC Barcelona, who stated in her speech that "the challenge continues", in reference to the title of the documentary and to the fledgling season. Lastly, FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, brought the speeches to an end with an emotional few words. “There is admirable story of a desire to overcome behind every player. On behalf of the Club, I would like to thank the families of the young men and women in this team, as well as the eight institutions to which they belong”, he stated before the official Fundación Barça photo.

Integrate and educate

Now in its third season, the Fundació Barça Genuine project is well-established. It began in June 2021 as an initiative from the Department of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, with the desire to socially integrated and educate the group of men and women with learning difficulties who make up the football team, and the results have been more than satisfactory.

The Fundació Barça played the first phase of the LaLiga Genuine two weeks ago at the Complex Fútbol Salou and they will travel next week to Warsaw to play a four team tournament against teams from Italy, Ukraine and Poland. This will be a new international experience for the team, which travelled to the United States of America, Croatia and the Netherlands in the past two seasons.