FC Barcelona reiterates its support for the "No respect, no game" campaign

FC Barcelona football club President, Josep Maria Bartomeu, visited UNESCO today in Paris to reaffirm his support for the campaign “No respect no game” which combats discrimination in sport,  and to explore opportunities for collaboration with the Organization.

The President spoke for more than an hour with Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, Eric Falt, Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information, and Alexander Schischlik, Chief of the Youth and Sports Section. During the meeting, Bartomeu reiterated FC Barcelona's support for the “No respect no game” information and awareness campaign launched by UNESCO and the PRISA communication group to combat racism and discrimination in football. The campaign, launched in Madrid on 24 January, builds on the UNESCO report Colour, what colour?, which provides an inventory of legislations, stakeholders and initiatives that fight racism in football and makes innovative recommendations for future action in this area.

The meeting also provided opportunity to discuss the projects common to the two institutions in the fields of culture and education, and to explore potential future cooperation agreements through the FC Barcelona Foundation. In this context, Bartomeu explained that the Strategic Plan for the FC Barcelona Foundation for the period 2016-2021 was in line with the values promoted by UNESCO. These values include: providing the most vulnerable children with access to education and strengthening of their education; violence prevention and promotion of peaceful conflict resolution, mainly through the FutbolNet program; and, the fight against social exclusion and discrimination.

“Your power as a role model is very important. With your help and that of other committed football clubs, we can magnify the values of sport”, said Nada Al-Nashif.