Barcelona official resigns as ‘enemy of the state’ Nadal

Alfons Goddale, 59, has never hidden his political beliefs. The Catalan official from Barcelona, ​​who until recently held the role of vice-president of the Barca Foundation, resigned from his post on the occasion of a post for Rafael Nadal and after the Spanish legend won the 21st Grand Slam.

The Barca Foundation was set up in the early 1990s to raise funds for Barcelona, ​​with Goddall as second vice president. The 59-year-old has openly spoken out in favor of Catalan independence on a number of occasions. He called Nadal on the occasion of Nadal’s triumph in Melbourne “enemy of the state”like Fernando Alonso, the Spanish national team and Real Madrid.

“Nadal has been bothering me since day one. I put him in the same category as the robe (Spanish national team), Real Madrid, Fernando Alonso and everything that represents the enemy state,” his post read. It’s understood that comment caused a stir, while a few hours later he reposted the tweet, adding that “it seems they were a little angry at noon. Good night everybody”.

He resigned from his post a few days later, claiming he had no intention of harming Barcelona. “The tweet with my personal opinion about a famous person can harm the Barcelona Foundation, under pressure from some companies but also from the media. I don’t want to bet a penny on Barcelona or be deprived of freedom of expression “So I’m resigning..

The fact was confirmed by Laporta himself, the president of Barcelona. “He felt it was better to resign due to pressure from investors and sponsors of the foundation as a result of a tweet he wrote. For his part, he did not want to harm the foundation and resigned voluntarily. His decision was accepted and final.” were his words while jokingly adding that “It’s a pity that Nadal isn’t from Barcelona. But we forgive him because we enjoy the way he plays tennis.“.