FC Barcelona (Barça) or Criqueboeuf? Two competing analogies between football and higher education and football were aired at the press conference for the World Conference on Higher Education by prominent supporters in UNESCO and World Bank.

Playing on the Barça side was Jamil Salmi, the World Bank’s Tertiary Education Coordinator, author of The Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities, and an avowed FC Barcelona fan. During his presentation of the report a photo of the Barça team appeared on the screen. “Why can’t the same rules apply to public universities as to Barça?” Salmi asked. He believed that, like major football teams, universities should be able to raise the funds to attract the top players and reward performance.

Playing on the Criqueboeuf side was Georges Haddad, director of Higher Education at UNESCO.  He explained why he was a fan of this obscure amateur football team in Normandy, France. “Most of you have never heard of Criqueboeuf. The team members play for pleasure, do their job well, and they embody joy, poetry and the human dimension,”   Haddad explained. “Criqueboeuf is just as worthy of respect as the big professional teams.”

The score has not been announced yet.