The Barça Academy in the Dominican Republic has begun its seventh season with a change of venue, having moved to a new site on the playing fields at the Pedro Henríquez Ureña University (Unphu). The opening ceremony was attended by Barça legend and World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002 Rivaldo Ferreira, who spoke highly of the quality of the new facilities, among the very best in the Dominican Republic.
The traditional ribbon cutting was preceded by speeches from the Barça Academy’s partners, led by Fabeka Lebrón and Janet Rivera, as well as the rector of the Unphu, Miguel Fiallo.
Rivaldo then took his turn to address the crowd, encouraging the athletes at the Barça Academy to “train hard every day to achieve excellence and to be great students and even better citizens”. He then took the honorary kick-off, the first ever at the venue, and left two footprints and his signature on the floor.
The ceremony continued with the presentation of the different teams for the new season and ended with words from the International Project Director (DPI) of the Barça Academies in the Americas, Xavi Mondelo, and the recently appointed Local Project Director (DPL), Daniel Meca, who was trained as a coach at Barça Escola Barcelona.
Barça Academy first started operations in September 2013. A number of players from the school have been called up for international duty at different youth levels.
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FCBarcelona
4 September 2019