By David Gold
August 23 – Barcelona’s Dani Alves has revealed he will be a FIFA World Cup ambassador for his home state of Bahia.
Bahia will be staging four group matches, a last 16 tie and a quarterfinal in the state capital of Salvador.
Eleven ambassadors will represent the Brazil 2014 World Cup, and Alves (pictured top) took to Twitter to reveal that he was one of them.
“Today has begun wonderfully with the news that I am one of the Salvador ambassadors for the 2014 World Cup!” he wrote.
Alves left the Brazilian club Bahia in 2002 to join La Liga outfit Sevilla, with whom he shone before catching the attention of Barça.
The attacking right back has become a key part of the Barcelona team which has dominated the club game in recent years, his overlapping runs integral to creating space in which Leo Messi has been able to thrive for the Blaugrana.
Away from the Camp Nou, Alves is also involved with the Special Olympics – an organisation which provides sporting opportunities for those with intellectual disabilities – where he is a global football ambassador.
Salvador, in north east Brazil, is the country’s second most popular tourist destination after Rio de Janeiro.
It has one of the world’s most famous beaches, the Porto da Barra, and the city is constructing a new stadium, the Estádio Fonte Nova, for the World Cup.
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