Marcet Foundation

The Marcet Foundation (Spanish: Fundación Marcet) is a youth education and football organization.

History

The Marcet Football University was founded in 1978 by José Ignacio Marcet^[1] as a football youth training organization in Europe,^[2] which has established schools in various parts of the world. Programs allow students to train and pursue education at the same time.^[3] This includes training in leadership and professionalism.^[4][5]

Program

By 2018, over a million players had trained with Marcet alongside more than three thousand staff members.^[2] The academy had programs present in 30 different countries,^[6] and hosted players including eighteen students^[7] from North Korea,^[8] more than a dozen students^[9] from Ukraine,^[10] South Korea, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan,^[7] India,^[11] and Honduras.^[3] The children of high-profile parents, such as Shakira and Gerard Piqué, have also attended their schools.^[12] The school's most populous program is in Barcelona,^[13] Abroad schools have been set up as far away as Canada or India.^[14] Alumni of the academy have included Han Kwang-song,^[15] Oliver Torres,^[16] and Konrad de la Fuente.^[17] Marcet has partnered with football clubs in order to arrange junior competitions, including FC Barcelona.^[18]