Introducing Benedito (2): The man, the culé

Earlier this month, Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will this week give an introduction on the pre-candidate.


The man
Agustí Benedito i Benet is a 45 years old Catalan business man and father of four children.

After his law studies at Barcelona University and further specialization courses at the General Motors Institute in Michigan (United States) and the ESADE Business School in Barcelona, he joined his family's company that was involved in the car industry. After the sale of the company in 2002, Benedito became a consultant for family companies.

The culé
In 1997, Benedito was – together with current Barcelona president Joan Laporta - a member of the candidacy of Àngel Fernández, who lost the elections in July against sitting president Josep Lluís Núñez.

Later that year, Benedito was a founding member of the opposition group Elefant Blau (Blue Elephant), that forced a vote of no confidence again Barcelona president Núñez. The vote was held in March 1998 but didn't succeed.

In the 2000 elections, Elefant Blau, of which Laporta was one of the leaders, supported the candidacy of Lluís Bassat, who was defeated by then Barcelona vice-president Joan Gaspart (read more here).

After Elefant Blau disappeared, Benedito helped Joan Laporta to set up his 2003 bid for the presidency. Since Laporta was chosen president in 2003, Benedito has been a member of the club's sporting and social commissions.

Earlier this year, Benedito resigned from his post because of his disagreement with some of the actions of Laporta, especially the president's involvement in a possible sale of Spanish football club Mallorca to Uzbek investors (read more in the third part of this series).

this is the second part of a four-parts series. the next part will cover the reasons for benedito leaving the club earlier this year. you can read the whole series here.


Read the first part of this series:
Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate


picture: germán rodríguez rosas
sources: agustibenedito.cat, wikipedia and own research