It was 2015 when Simeone, on the plane to Barcelona to play Copa del Rey against HospitaletHe ran into a newspaper with those words that knotted his stomach to his throat. “Good morning everyone, I'm here mainly because of my ALS condition. And that's how I address you.” Dumb with emotion, lying down from the blow, the Atlético coach grabbed the sheets and handed them to Gabi. He wanted his captain to read them to the rest of the players in the rojiblanca squad. “I told them: You read on. This is life, not just crazy football,” Cholo would admit later, in an interview. Those words were the first of the letter that Carlos Matallanas wrote in The confidential counting that he had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease with no cure. Carlos passed away on March 9, 2021, six years after that, leaving an eternal legacy. Now Gabi, El Capi who excitedly read that first letter on the plane to all his colleagues, becomes the godfather of the III edition of the Carlos Matallanas short novel awards, organized by the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE) and developed with Prisma Publicaciones (Grupo Planeta).
Gabi will write the prologue of the winning story that will be known shortly. The call for these awards will close on September 17. “All writers, regardless of their nationality, who submit a novel highlighting the values transmitted by sport in general to society, which is original and unpublished and in Spanish, may participate in this contest. The amount of the prize is 18,000 euros“, specifies the AFE in the norms.
Jury
Ángel Silvelo, with his book 'The goalkeeper's utopia', and Antonio Castro Guerrero, with 'The midfielder died at dawn', are the winners of the two previous editions. Aintzane Encinas (former player of the Real Sociedad and author of the book ‘Beats of soccer player’), Juan Cruz (Writer and journalist), Marta Robles (journalist and writer), Fernando Schwartz (journalist, writer and secretary of FUNDELA) and José Antonio Martín Otín ‘Petón’ (ex-footballer, writer and representative) make up the jury of this III edition that will feature that luxury godfather, Gabriel Fernández, alias Cap, of whom Carlos Matallanas, by the way, wrote so much and so well.