Santiago de Chile, July 21 (EFE).- Former FC Barcelona captain Carles Puyol recommended this Thursday that young people who dream of reaching the football elite “enjoy, study and work”, because the values who accompany sport are the formula for success in all aspects of life, even if they do not become professionals.

At an event in Santiago, Chile, where he arrived as a regional ambassador for Latin America for the Canadian Scotia Bank Football Foundation, Puyol insisted that “the transformative power of football should be used to help boys and girls have a better life. “

“I strongly believe in education through sport which gives you values ​​that even if you are not a professional later you take them with you and you will need them for the rest of your life”, added the ‘Spanish.

Puyol appeared at the Arturo Rojas Nogales Sports Center, the oldest stadium in downtown Santiago de Chile, alongside Chilean international Jean Beauséjour, whom he faced in the crucial qualifying match for the group stage of the 2010 World Cup, in which Spain would be proclaimed world champions. .

Also in attendance was Chilean goalkeeper Jael Benítez, who is also an ambassador for the Scotiabank Project, spread across the continent.

The three today relaunched the Scotiabank Fútbol Club platform, a Canadian bank program focused on developing boys and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean through sport.

“We are convinced of the importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle among young people for their future development and we believe that soccer has a very important transformative power to advance in this task”, said Rodrigo Orellana, Director of Marketing corporate at Scotiabank.

“With this initiative, we seek to contribute in a concrete way to the communities where we are present and to promote core values ​​for the bank such as respect, integrity, tolerance, teamwork, determination, passion and inclusion,” he added.

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In Chile, the Scotiabank Fútbol Club promotes various initiatives, including the Scotiabank National Children’s Soccer Championship, which the bank has organized since 2014 and which brings together nearly 1,500 boys and girls from 160 private schools, private subsidized and municipal in 5 regions of the country.

In addition, and as part of the platform, sports clinics with indestructible balls called “Red Balls” are developed; football pitches are located throughout the country; and the FutbolNet program is developed in alliance with the FC Barcelona foundation.

The event included an exhibition match with boys’ and girls’ teams, in which Puyol again dressed in shorts and had fun with Benítez, under the watchful eye of Beauséjour, injured on the sidelines .

“Children who play may dream of getting there, but there is a long road that you have to work very hard on and also, you have to give yourself the opportunity,” said Puyol.

“Enjoy, enjoy this sport, listen to your coaches, your monitors, the people around you to improve yourself every day. There are millions and millions of boys and girls who want to become professional and it is not easy “, he pointed out.

“It’s not impossible either. There will be difficult times when the easiest thing will be to throw in the towel and then you have to be persistent, constant, but above all, have fun,” concluded the Spaniard.

(c) EFE Agency