FCBARCELONA.CAT

31.07.2008 13:08

From Florence to Burkina Faso

David Saura (enviat especial)

Part of the money from the game in Florence will be used to help the XICS centre in Burkina Faso that the FC Barcelona Foundation is setting up in the country. The homage to Artemio Franchi had a clear aspect of solidarity.

The profits from the friendly match in Florence (3-3), organised jointly by the home team and the UEFA, will be shared out among ‘Fondazione Fiorentina Onlus, ‘Fondazione Artemio Franchi and the FC Barcelona Foundation. In total, according to the organisers, 768,125 euros were raised, from which the match organisation expenses still have to be paid.

In fact the majority of the money came from the sale of tickets (prices ranged from 14 to 90 euros), given that during the match there was no kind of commercial message, as the static publicity referred only to the social campaigns of the UEFA, Fiorentina and FC Barcelona. Bear in mind also that Barça received no economic compensation for their participation in this homage.

A centre in the city of Uagadugu

In the case of the FC Barcelona foundation, the money gained will go to the International Network of Solidarity Centres (XICS) centre that is being built in Burkina Faso, in the city of Uagadugu, the country’s capital. This is a emarginated zone where poor families live and with a high index of orphans and unschooled children. The project, which has been on the go for months, in collaboration with local entities and organisms, foresees supporting 100 vulnerable children of between 6 and 16 years old from the zone.

Money with a “tangible intention”

Lander Unzueta, general director of the FC Barcelona Foundation, was one of the club’s representatives in Florence, expressed his satisfaction with this initiative, which has had other precedents: “It’s the second or third time we’ve done it. At the Foundation we are working on repeating it later on.”

For Lander Inzueta, “It’s important that the money raised have a tangible intention. In this case it allows us to develop educational, health and co operational actions in Burkina Faso, using sport as a tool for integration for many of the children we will have in the centre.” In this case, in the next few months the centre will begin to operate, after the work done in the last few months by various NGOs and local entities.