FC Barcelona opens its first academy in Central Asia and commits to build more · Global Voices

Family members of the president and security chief are behind the project

Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sadyr Japarov, and FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, at the opening ceremony of the FC Barcelona’s football academy in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan. Photo from the website of the President of Kyrgyzstan.

On August 29, FC Barcelona opened its first football academy in Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad, a city located in the country’s south. The opening ceremony was attended by Kyrgyzstan’s president Sadyr Japarov, who…