The Catalan Football Federation (FCF) is preparing to hold its elections on May 22 and the first candidates are beginning to present themselves in public. The best known face, and surely one of the top favourites, is Àlex Talaverawho has been steeped in this game since he was a child (“it’s my world”) and who was president of the EU Cornellà. “I want to give back everything this sport has given me,” he commented in his presentation and in that of a team of “more than a hundred people” in Barcelona.
Talavera’s message, which recognizes that “the reception of the clubs has been very good, they want change, and we believe that we have it to touch”, is very clear. “Catalan football needs another image and another model”, summarizes. The engineer details that the FCF has moved away from the clubs. “We cannot be the most expensive federation”, underlines, while pretending to be “a federation of federations”in order to decentralize the power that is centered in Barcelona.
During the last few months, Talavera has traveled to all parts of Catalonia (“from Alcanar to the first town in the south of France”) to convince sports entities of his project and weave a 14-point program, among which a “new economic management model”, “change the sanctioning model” and “economic transparency”. This last point is basic, for example, in assemblies where they want “the vote to be secret.”
“We have resources; the first ones who should set an example are the directors with salaries according to our work,” he said. Talavera also reaches out to “anyone who wants to give their opinion and collaborate to renew the image” of Catalan football. Among the ideas of the former president of Cornellà, who has a lot of influence in the Baix Llobregat, is that of taking the Catalunya Cup to all the neighborhoods and carry out audits to know the state of the economy and the expenses of the FCF up to now.