BarcelonaThere are days when football and politics mix more than usual. This is what happened on February 23, 2005. That night, Barça hosted Chelsea at Camp Nou for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. The Barcelona team, coached by Frank Rijkaard, came back to win 2-1 with an unexpected hero: Maxi López. Goal and assist. The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pasqual Maragall, witnessed it from the Camp Nou box office; the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Ernest Benach; and the mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos. Barça had also announced the attendance of the president of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but on the same day the socialist canceled his trip, citing the adverse weather conditions that Spain suffered that week.
If he had gone there, it would have been the first time that, in a democracy, a Spanish president attended the Camp Nou to watch Barça play. Almost 50 years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, the only president of Spain who has attended a match at the Barça temple representing his position has been Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. But his visit had nothing to do with the Catalan team. Calvo-Sotelo presided over the opening of the World Cup on June 13, 1982, together with the then kings of Spain, Juan Carlos I and Sofia (the kings also attended the soccer final of the Olympic Games between Spain and Poland in 1992). In fact, the politician of the Unió de Center Democràtic (UCD) was in charge of doing the service of honor for the match between Argentina and Belgium, with the presence of a Maradona who had just signed for Barça.
Apart from Calvo-Sotelo and Zapatero, Spanish presidents Adolfo Suárez, Felipe González, José María Aznar, Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez have also never visited the Camp Nou. “They know that coming to Camp Nou would make them lose votes,” a source from Arístides Maillol’s offices tells ARA. “Politics is full of symbolism and ends up reflecting the sentiment of the electorate. The emotional component is very strong and, if football is anything, it is an emotion that moves the masses. The fact that during this time no Spanish president has gone to the Camp Nou has only an electoral explanation”, analyzes Jordi Pacheco, dean of the College of Professionals of Political Science and Sociology of Catalonia.
Zapatero’s case is particularly relevant because he is the only one of them who has publicly declared himself a Barça fan. The man from Vallisole, who was invited by the Blaugrana team on several occasions, had some opportunities put aside to set foot in the stadium, such as Barça – Real Madrid on April 1, 2006, which was played hours after Zapatero had a PSC event in Cornellà. But not like that. On the other hand, during his tenure he did attend two Champions League finals for the Barcelona team: Paris in 2006 and Rome in 2009. In 2011, however, he was unable to go to Wembley due to scheduling problems.
Fewer problems to go to the Santiago Bernabéu box office
The consideration that Spanish politicians generally have of the Santiago Bernabéu box office, Real Madrid’s stadium, is quite different. The popular José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, two avowed Madridistas, went there quite a few times during the exercise of the position of Spanish president. “There is a geographical explanation, which is that the Bernabéu box office is next to them. But it is also true that going to the Camp Nou box office does not shine as much, in the Bernabéu there is the power of the State”, considers the source of the Blaugrana team.
“If they want to come, they just have to say it. Anyone who asks is invited. And, if the protocol requires it, they are invited and they decide if they come,” says another person from the Camp Nou offices. “The presidents of the Spanish government reside in Madrid while in office. This makes going to the Bernabéu an easier decision. On the other hand, going to Barcelona is a more deliberate decision and can affect their image in front of part of the electorate,” points out Pacheco.
The one who has never been to Florentino Pérez’s garden is Pedro Sánchez, who played in the lower categories of Madrid football and, subsequently, moved to basketball in the ranks of Estudiantes. “If they invite me, I will never go to the Bernabéu box office. I would decline,” Sánchez himself assured in 2015 in an interview with The spar of Cadena SER, when there were still three years to go before he became Spanish president. And, so far, he has kept his word in this regard. At least, as far as Real Madrid matches are concerned. Sánchez, already as president, attended the Copa Libertadores final that Boca Juniors and River Plate played at the Santiago Bernabéu at the end of 2018.
The other time he went to a football stadium to witness a game was in 2021, when he witnessed Atlético de Madrid – Barça (he is a die-hard supporter) at the Metropolitano. And, on June 27, 2022, Sánchez set foot in the Camp Nou. But his visit was extra-sports. That day, the stadium hosted the SME Awards, which awarded the best business initiatives developed in Catalonia the previous year with the presence of Barça’s president, Joan Laporta.
Franco visited Camp Nou four times
The dictator Francisco Franco, for his part, visited Camp Nou on four occasions. The first was in a Barça-Sevilla League game played on October 10, 1957, months after the inauguration of the venue, which he did not attend despite the fact that he was scheduled to preside over it. He would return there on May 1, 1960 for the celebration of the Trade Union Demonstration (an event that normally took place at the Santiago Bernabéu). Later, he was present in two finals of the Generalissimo Cup played at Camp Nou: the one on June 23, 1963 between Barça and Zaragoza and the one on June 28, 1970 between Real Madrid and Valencia. Precisely, a final of the King’s Cup, the one on May 30, 2015 between Barça and Athletic Club, is the only time that King Felipe VI has been to the Camp Nou.
2023-07-25 06:00:42
#Franco #president #Spain #Barça #match #Barcelona
