Carles Puyol keynote speaker
- Capitan and Team: Values and Attributes of a Great Leader
- Emotional Intelligence & Stress Management in High Performance Teams
- Leadership, Values & Ethics
- Motivation: Passion for Your Profession and How to Achieve All Your Objectives
- Personal Reinvention: Lessons from a Former Elite Winning Sportsman
One of the greatest defenders in football, sports speaker Carles Puyol captained his teams to legendary victories. Currently an ambassador for La Liga and UEFA, he now travels the world as a popular speaker. Carles Puyol may be one of football’s great captains, but his message of determination, leadership, and drive is universal.
A rare one-team player, speaker Carles Puyol is a paragon of leadership, fair play, perseverance, and resourcefulness. He got his start at age 17, when he signed with FC Barcelona’s nearby youth academy team, La Masia. Four years later, Carles joined the club’s first team. Forced to change positions for the third time since starting out as a goaltender, Puyol was switched to the pivotal center-back role. There he thrived, never relinquishing the captaincy he earned in 2004.
In that same year, FC Barcelona won its first La Liga title of Puyol’s tenure, followed the next year by the Champions League trophy. In 2008-09, Puyol became the first captain in football history to win the La Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup in the same year.
Puyol played nearly 600 games with FC Barcelona while also playing more than 100 for the Spanish national side. His tenacity and courage were exceeded only by his humility and exemplary sportsmanship. Puyol scored the go-ahead goal in Barcelona’s 6-2 drubbing of arch-rival Real Madrid in 2009’s edition of El Clásico. Afterward, he removed his captain’s armband—styled after the Catalonian flag—and kissed it in a legendary gesture of regional pride. For all the trophies he hoisted, he may be most famous for one he did not. After winning the Champions League, Puyol declined the honor, deferring to teammate Eric Abidal, who was recovering from cancer.
In 2014, the longest-serving captain in Barcelona’s history found himself plagued by chronic knee injuries. For the good of the team, he retired, having won more than 20 trophies for Barcelona, and the World Cup for Spain.
