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Artikler Exlusive: Interview with Xavier
Sala-i-Martin

We at
planetbarca.com have had the honor of having an exclusive interview with former
President of FC Barcelona, Mr Xavier Sala-i-Martin. Read the full interview here
about his summer in charge of Barça. Skrevet av Lasse
Dato
11.12.06 His name might not sound too
familiar for most Barça-supporters around the world, and some might affiliate
him more with his daring and colorful wardrobe, but when we had the chance to
interview a former President of our beloved football club, we did not think
twice.

Mr Xavier Sala-i-Martin is first and foremost a Catalan professor
of economics at Columbia University, and his impressive résumé includes, among
others, a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He is rated among the
worlds greatest economists, and ranked 8th in the top 1000 most-cited economists
in the world over the last ten years according to Wikipedia.

In addition
to being the head of Barça's Economic Commission, he is the founder and CEO of
the Umbele Foundation - a foundation that aims to help Africans through
financing their projects.

When the FC Barcelona board of directors
together with President Joan Laporta resigned this summer ahead of the
Presidential Elections, Mr Xavier Sala-i-Martin was put in charge of the
caretaker board.

How was your summer, being temporary in charge of a
football club like FC Barcelona?

It was a great honor for me. FC
Barcelona is the most important institution in my country so anyone would be
proud of presiding it.

Where you surprised when you were asked to
take over?

I was the President of the Economic and Statutary
Comission. And the club's statutes say that if the President of the Club
resigns, then the President of the Economic Commission becomes the President and
takes the club through the electoral process. I knew that if Mr Laporta resigned
I would have to be the president. But I did not expect this to happen in
2006.

What were your main tasks as President?

The
main tasks were to run the club and make sure the elections were fair. I also
had to accompany the team and represent the club during the Mexico-USA summer
2006 tour.

And did you get advice from Mr Laporta during that
time?

I was not allowed to talk to Mr Laporta during the electoral
process (I had to take a position of neutrality with respect to all candidates,
including Mr Laporta) so I did not get any advise from him once I was nominated.
During the days previous to my nomination, however, I spent the whole day next
to Joan Laporta, trying to learn the job in a few days!!!

With
your skills and knowledge about economy, does the club often ask you for
advice?

Yes, I talk to Mr Laporta quite frequently. I also talk to
the vice president for economic affairs, Ferran Soriano. It is part of my job to
talk to them to control the economic activity of the club and to advise them
when they ask for advice.

Do you have any position in the club
today, or are you just concentrating on your job at Columbia
University?

I am still the President of the Economics Commission
(so, if Laporta resigns again, I will be the president again!). I am also a
professor at Columbia (which means that I live in New York, but I have to fly to
Barcelona about twice a month).

You went to USA together with the
team on their tour, do you agree with Rafael Márquez, among others, who
criticized the tour for excessive travelling, not enough rest and lack of
serious training?

Last year we actually travelled a bit more, to
China and Japan, and we won the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.
One can travel in the summer and still win tournaments which mean that travel is
not incompatible with serious training.

When current President
Joan Laporta and his associates took control over the club in 2003, they
immediately agreed upon a fairly restrictive economic policy. Today this policy
has begun to give its results in a healthy economy and increased financial gain.
Some would maybe have gone the opposite way, the “spend money, to earn
money”-strategy, taking up loans and buying lots of new players in order to get
immediate success. What are your views on this, where you a part of this
decision, how would you have done it, and what do you think the club should for
the future?

Obviously I have to think that the decisions made were
correct. The most important decisions, however, were not that spending was cut
and borrowing was limited (although we had to borrow to buy Ronaldinho and
Márquez during the first year as there was no money left by the Gaspart-Reyna
administration). The key decision was to write contracts that were tied to
performance.

Like in many other businesses in the real world, if your
salary is guaranteed independently of your performance, your performance will
tend to be poor. If a substantial fraction of your salary depends on the team
winning, you will have greater incentives to practice harder, play better and
win more.

When I first arrived in the world of Football, I was surprised
to see that this basic principle of economics was not applied in this
industry.

Do you know former President Joan Gaspart, and what do
you think about his way to run the club – especially when it comes to his
economic policy?

I do not know him. Judging by the results
(economic results and the team’s results), the outcome was not fully
satisfactory.

What are your views on Barça's involvement with G14?
Do you agree with G14 and the Belgian club Charleroi in their decision to sue
FIFA to get compensation for players who injure themselves in international
matches?

FC Barcelona is part of G14, but it is also part of FIFA
and UEFA. Rather than trying to create an alternative power to UEFA, I think the
G14 should work with UEFA to solve our problems.

Asking the national
teams to compensate private clubs for borrowing our players and having them pay
insurance against injuries in national games should be at the top of our
priorities because the current situation is unfair to the clubs that, after all,
pay the players' salaries.

What are your views on Barça's recent
deal with UNICEF? Would you have preferred a clean shirt without any sponsors,
or do you think it's OK as long as it is a charity organization like UNICEF and
not a commercial company?

I think it is one of the greatest ideas
in sports' history. It will change the way many people see professional sports.
And it will change the way many corporations see FC Barcelona.

You
are heavily involved in your own charity project through the Umbele
organization; can you explain what this organization does, and what its goals
are? How can one help Umbele and get involved in this
organization?

Umbele is a foundation that listens to Africans and
helps them finance their projects (education projects, relief projects, business
projects). To maximize efficiency, we do not deploy an army of voluntary
workers. Instead, we rely on existing networks of people already located in
Africa (like religious or non-religious missionaries). Once they tell us what
they need, we post their projects in the web and look for people to finance
these projects.

The best way to help is to go to www.umbele.org and finance a project.
You can pay salaries to kids so that, instead of working they can afford to go
to school. You can help an entrepreneur buy machinery to start a business. You
can help refugees survive in foreign, hostile lands.

Because I
care about Africa and I care about eradicating poverty, I love working for FC
Barcelona. Barça can be a very powerful tool if used properly. And I think that
Laporta is doing just that. The deal with UNICEF proves that he and his team
believe in this.

How do you rate Barça's season so far, what are
your predictions for the rest of it, and will the loss of Samuel Eto'o to injury
hinder Barcelona to defend its Primera División and European Champions League
titles?

We are leaders in La Liga, and we are in the second round
of the Champions League. We now have to see how we do in Japan, and then focus
in La Liga till February. Once the Champions League resumes, we will have Eto'o
and Messi back. We are exactly where we wanted to be at this time of
year.

Did you grow up as a Barça supporter, and have you ever
played football yourself?

I've always been a Barça fan. And yes, I
used to play football (although I never excelled in my team so I was never
promoted to Barça).

Who is your favourite player of all
time?

Johan Cruyff.

Who is your favourite player
today?

Carles Puyol.

What is your favourite
Barça-memory?

February 17th, 1974: Barça plays in Bernabeú. Final
score: Madrid 0, Barça 5. Asensi scored twice, and Cruyff, Sotil and Juan Carlos
each scored once. What a memory!

Finally, and we just have to ask
you this: is there any special reason behind your colorful
wardrobe?

Yes, there is one reason: I like it! And I always try to
do what I like.

Surely the players must have said
something?

Yes, the players often comment on my clothes. Gio and
Sylvinho are the most outspoken: they make a comment on the color of my jacket
every single time they see me. Victor Valdés and Thuram say they admire the guts
of somebody who wears these clothes. Other players joke about them, but I will
not tell you what these jokes are!

Kilde: planetbarca.com

02.12.06 Etter kampen:
Levante - Barcelona
(1-1)
02.12.06 Nyheter: Ronaldinho hviles mot
Levante
01.12.06 Nyheter: Tippekonkurranse: Runde
13
01.12.06 Nyheter: Ronaldinho får EU-Pass i
januar
01.12.06 Nyheter: Belletti avviser
overgangsryktene
29.11.06 Nyheter: Zambrotta nærmer seg
toppnivået
29.11.06 Nyheter: Gio og Sylvinho med til
2008
28.11.06 Nyheter: Belletti til
Milan?
28.11.06 Nyheter: Crosas og Dos Santos med
til klubb-VM
27.11.06 Nyheter: Ronaldinho troner øverst
på toppscorerlisten
26.11.06 Nyheter: Ronaldinho: "Vil ikke
forlate Barça"
26.11.06 Etter
kampen: Barcelona - Villareal
(4-0)
25.11.06 Nyheter: Saviola kan returnere
tidligere
24.11.06 Nyheter, Før kampen:
Belletti tilbake i
troppen til Villarreal-kampen
24.11.06
Nyheter: Márquez har fått
EU-pass
24.11.06 Etter kampen:
Levski Sofia -
Barcelona (0-2)
24.11.06 Nyheter: Tippekonkurranse: Runde
12
22.11.06 Før kampen:
Før Levski Sofia -
Barça
22.11.06 Nyheter: Barça møter Alaves i Copa
del Rey
21.11.06 Nyheter: Bojan tidenes nest yngste
på B-laget
20.11.06 Nyheter: Alle spillerne med til
Bulgaria
20.11.06 Etter kampen:
Mallorca - FC Barcelona
(1-4)
16.11.06 Nyheter: Tippekonkurranse: Runde
11
16.11.06 Nyheter: Iniesta og Xavi klar
igjen
15.11.06 Nyheter: Guardiola legger
opp
15.11.06 Nyheter: Tippekonkurransen
14.11.06 Nyheter: Legene er fornøyd etter
Messis operasjon
13.11.06 Nyheter: Nesten krise i
Barcelona
13.11.06 Nyheter: Messi ute i omtrent 3
måneder
12.11.06 Etter kampen:
Barcelona - Zaragoza
(3-1)

-

America - Barcelona
Yokohama International,
Yokohama (Japan)
FIFA Club World Cup
torsdag,
14. desember 2006

1 - 0

Barcelona - Sociedad
Camp Nou, Barcelona

Primera División
lørdag, november 2006

SISTE FEM KAMPER
Barcelona - Sociedad
(1-0)
Barcelona
- Werder (2-0)
Levante - Barcelona
(1-1)
Barcelona
- Villareal (4-0)
Levski Sofia - Barcelona
(0-2)

VIDEO
UEFA Champions League

Campions
Lliga!
Campions Europa!

Xavi er
tilbake!

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