FC Barcelona staging football coaching camp in Kosovo

PRISTINA – Representatives of UNMIK and the Football Club Barcelona will
give a press conference today to mark the successful start to a partnership
that will foster the use of Sports to promote peace and reconciliation and
to develop Kosovo’s potential in football.

Mr. Julio Alberto, former professional football player of FC Barcelona,
Atletico Madrid and the Spanish National Team, has been giving courses on
modern football - both theory and practice - to more than 200 children and
80 coaches in the Municipalities of Prizren, Suhareke/Suva Reka, Pristina
and Mitrovica. The six-day training camp will conclude on Wednesday, 5
July.

The coaching camp is the beginning of a long-term cooperation between
Kosovo (UNMIK and the PISG) and the Football Club of Barcelona. The contact
between the two parties was initiated by the official “Barca” Fan Club
(“Penya”) of Kosovo. Mr.Victor Beceiro, representative from the FC
Barcelona Board and for the “Barca Penyas” throughout the world, personally
assessed the facilities for football in Kosovo. Potential areas of support
were discussed and UNMIK sent a draft agreement to FC Barcelona in March
2006. Full support for the agreement was reached in recent meetings between
representatives of FC Barcelona and Mrs. Patricia Waring, Head of the UNMIK
Department of Civil Administration, as well as UNICEF.