"To all those who dedicate themselves these days to criticizing the travel conditions of the Feminine, they do not realize that Barça makes their players travel with their players so that, in the near future, they can do business on their own It will be the day when we can talk about equality, because women's sport will occupy in the media the space equivalent to that dedicated to men's (...) Less cynicism . "
Maria Teixidor Jufresa wrote these lines in July 2018 after, on the Barcelona-Portland flight with which the American tour started that summer, the first men's team occupied the VIP area while the Women's, on the same plane, was displaced to economy class. Upon arrival, he was to sign the largest sponsorship deal in the history of women's football with Stanley Black & Decker .
The anecdote serves to locate Maria Teixidor, a 44-year-old lawyer who, along with five other Barcelona executives, presented her resignation on Maundy Thursday. Since joining the club in 2015 with Josep Maria Bartomeu, Teixidor has known how to grow. He assumed the presidency of the Control and Transparency Commission, whose role is presumed key in the Barçagate resolution; took control of women's football, the only self-sufficient professional section of the entity and whose first team came to play the Champions League final in 2019; and managed to become the first woman in club history to serve as the board's secretary . In addition, he led the so-called Edelmira Calvo Group, with which he claimed the voice of women in Barcelona.
Such was the leading role that some even thought of her as the future president of Barcelona. A woman has never sat in the Barça presidential chair since its foundation in 1899 . As much as in the club few believed in this possibility. Board members do not receive any remuneration. And Teixidor, which manages three companies linked to LegalTech, does not have the economic assets of the great gyrfalcons who are used to fighting for the easy chair.
- Can you imagine becoming in the future the first president of the club?
- I am 44 years old, and I do not rule out that on the road that I have left I will cross again with some position in the institution that I love so much. Of course I don't rule it out. I am a member. Power, I can. We all know the way .
This is how Teixidor responded this Saturday to the journalist Francisco Ávila, from the EFE agency. He never liked closing doors.
In the farewell letter sent to the partners, in fact, he walked away from all the tumult. He distanced himself from the accusations of Emili Rousaud, a former vice president who has denounced corrupt maneuvers in the entity as a result of the fake accounts scandal. To Bartomeu it was described as "the friend Barto". Of course, Teixidor admits that he leaves the club due to "certain decisions and events that have emerged lately, over which I have neither had nor had control or capacity to act . " And it abounds: "They have surprised me negatively and I do not agree". But it does not go further: "I attest that the club's control mechanisms are in place, that they do their job and will present the results, when appropriate. I am fully confident that they will know how to take corrective measures."
Meanwhile, Marta Plana, tanned in Silicon Valley and rising value after months reinforcing the value of the Barça Innovation Hub, remains as the only woman in a board with 12 men . Waiting for President Bartomeu to also incorporate Teresa Basilio, who could not enter 2018 because she did not prove the five years of seniority as a partner required by statutes.
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