President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov received the president of the Spanish football club Barcelona, Joan Laporta, at his residence. This was reported by the press service of the presidential administration.

Japarov expressed his joy at the arrival in Kyrgyzstan of representatives of the legendary club, which has a rich history and is loved by millions of fans.

"The club cares about the development of its teams in different sports such as football, futsal, handball, basketball, volleyball, rugby and athletics. This makes Barcelona a truly people's club," he said.

The President also stressed that the opening of the first Barcelona academy in Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan will help improve the professionalism of the national team, as well as have a positive impact on the development of tourism, sports, investments and other sectors of the economy of the republic.

Laporta thanked Zhaparov for supporting the project to disseminate the experience of a sports organization in Central Asia. And he expressed hope that the new Barcelona Football Academy in Kyrgyzstan would contribute to the personal growth of athletes, help to maximize their talents, and also change the attitude of fans to sports for the better.