Mission: welcome the Ukraine cadet team to Barcelona

the legacy of Francisco Javier Marcet, Real Madrid player, Espanyol legend and international for Spain, remains. From the Marcet Foundation, which bears his surname, uphold their values ​​– “the triple H, humanity, honesty and humility”, they say – on and off the pitch. as in stock promoted by their descendants, from sons to grandsonsand that has the russian invasion in ukraine as a trigger. A humanitarian mission that left this Monday from Barcelona, arrived in Poland this Tuesday and has long-term goals.

The aim of the Marcet Foundation is host the entire ukrainian youth teamfor which they have already contacted not only the consulate of that country in Barcelona but also with the ukrainian football federation. “The current objective is to bring together the entire selection so that they come to Marcet, are integrated into our program and can continue as far as possible with their day to day, with training, with international competitions. That they have an escape route to all this horror”, Javier Marcet, one of the grandchildren of the legendary footballer, explains to AS, all involved in the cause.

With the help of renowned lawyer Jose Maria Fuster Fabra and the advice of Jose Maria Asenciojudge and writer involved in assisting the Ukrainian people since the invasion began, the Marcets have already sent a convoy to polandnear the border, consisting of a 30 seater coach and a van, packed medical and first aid material, as well as more than a thousand bulletproof vestsas the consulate had requested among the urgent supplies.

Equally or more importantly, this bus will not return empty, since –in the style of what Espanyol and the És per tu association did last week–, a group of 25 Ukrainian children and women will get on it, who upon their arrival to Barcelona already have reception destinations set. In the same way, Four children between the ages of 12 and 16 will be integrated into the Foundation’s program, which includes residence, sports and academic education and maintenance.

“We couldn’t sit idly by when we saw so much injustice on television,” says Marcet, “and we didn’t want to just be carriers either. As we are a football school, we decided to do what we know: teach how to play football and values“, he stresses. Not in vain, the Marcet Foundation already traveled to Ukraine in 2019 in search of talent. And now it has launched a website, GoUcrania.org, in which donations are collected for the trip in progress – there are already more than ten thousand euros – and, depending on whether there are sufficient funds, some more. Because solidarity does not stop.