By Mark Baber
February 26 – Barcelona have extended their agreement with UNICEF to 2020, continuing a key relationship which has endeared the Catalan club to supporters around the world and helped them ride out the storm over their breaking the regulations aimed at preventing the child trafficking of young footballers.
Under the terms of the deal Barcelona, whose revenues are predicted to reach €1 billion by 2021, are increasing their annual donation to UNICEF to €2 million per year from the current one and a half million.
The new deal was announced at the Camp Nou with FC Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, vice-president Jordi Cardoner, executive director of UNICEF Anthony Lake and president of the Spanish Committee of UNICEF, Carmelo Angulo.
Lake commented on the new deal saying he had given a speech at the United Nations in which he suggested the international organisation could learn from Barcelona’s attitude that they pass beautifully and it does not matter who scores.
Bartomeu said Barcelona wish to continue to be the club that all children admire and which is doing something else, not just playing football adding that: “We believe in dreams, and the dreams of children are our dreams.”
UNICEF and Barcelona claim that by the time their relationship marks its tenth anniversary in September, a million children will have benefited in seven different countries.
From 2006 to 2010, the pair worked in Swaziland, Malawi and Angola in the awareness, detection and prevention of HIV/aids. From 2011, the work has been focused on South Africa, Ghana, Brazil and China, using sport as an educational tool.
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