Speech by the President of the Government at event to award Grand Cross of the Order of Sporting Merit to Iker Casillas

Madrid

Dear Iker, Sara, ladies and gentlemen, media representatives,

Everybody knows who Iker Casillas is and therefore why the Government of Spain is presenting him with this honour. I am going to briefly summarise his sporting career, even though everybody already knows it very well. I will therefore try to focus on those aspects that perhaps some of you here today are unaware of. I would then like to make a comment at the end of this speech.

As you are all aware, he is one of the athletes to have won the most trophies and one of the most loved in the history of Spanish sport. He has played over 900 matches as a professional and over 160 with the Spanish national team, as everyone here is more than aware of. He currently plays for Porto, but his life has always been linked to Real Madrid and to the Spanish national team.

He was born in Móstoles, he is a Favourite Son of Móstoles and also a Favourite Son of a town in Ávila where his parents came from - the town of Navalacruz. He was named Iker, so they tell me, because his father was stationed in Bilbao, you used to live there and so he said, once they were living in Móstoles, that they were going to call you Iker.

At the age of 16, Iker was included in the squad for a Champions League match against Rosenborg, Norway. He didn't play, but he was included in the squad. Shortly after that, he also travelled to Tokyo for an Intercontinental Cup match that Madrid won 2-1 against Vasco de Gama. His debut came in San Mamés - "The Cathedral", as the Athletico de Bilbao stadium is known to everyone, is not a bad stadium for a debut at all. He debuted at the age of 18 years and 115 days: a two-all draw: Athletic de Bilbao, 2 - Real Madrid, 2.

As I said at the start and as you all know, he played with Real Madrid for 25 years, he has won everything that Real Madrid can win (three European Cups, one Club World Cup, two Intercontinental Cups...) and played his first Champions League final against Valencia aged 19 years and 4 days. Madrid won 3-0 and he was the youngest goalkeeper to play in a European Cup final. He won everything with Real Madrid and also with the national team; because he has been world champion and twice European champion. Naturally, our children and teenagers might think that this is something that happens all the time; but I had only seen one European Cup - my memory is vague now because we are talking about 1964 - which included the famous goal by Marcelino, who was from Galicia, by the way.

Since then, he won the Intercontinental Cup. However, I think what I would like to tell you now is more important.

Iker Casillas, in addition to being a great athlete, is also very committed to social causes. He was appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador in 2011 and set up the Iker Casillas Foundation - a not-for-profit entity to support and contribute to the well-being of the most needy. He works with the Real Madrid Foundation, the Tomillo Foundation and BBVA on food collection campaigns, against bullying in schools and provides support for the active search for employment, insertion and job maintenance with young people at risk of social exclusion. As Iker says himself, "life has given me so many good things that I need to give something back".

I would like to conclude by recalling something said by the man being honoured here today. He once said "over and above being a good or bad goalkeeper, I want people to remember me as a good person, with my own shortcomings". He also said "this club has not only trained me as an athlete but has trained me as a person and helped me grow. It has instilled values in me: respect for camaraderie and, above all, humility. I always tried to defend those values wherever I went with Real Madrid".

So, for the first and, above all, for the second, this honour has been given to him today and is very well deserved.

Thank you very much.