Legendary Football Coach Pep Guardiola Supports Xylem to Advance Water Sustainability

15.10.2021
Xylem and Manchester City Football Club manager, Pep Guardiola, announced they are joining forces to promote public engagement on the world’s water challenges. The partners will campaign for awareness and education, and will support community initiatives through The Guardiola Sala Foundation.
Legendary Football Coach Pep Guardiola Supports Xylem to Advance Water Sustainability

Xylem Water Education Event. (Image source: Xylem Inc.)

Together, they aim to reach hundreds of millions of people, and to motivate young people to address water challenges in their own communities.

Guardiola established his philanthropic foundation earlier in 2021. This new alliance builds on Xylem’s existing partnership with Manchester City Football Club and City Football Group.

“Our work with Manchester City has already reached over a billion people to raise awareness about pressing water challenges around the world,” said Joseph Vesey, Xylem’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Now, working with a legendary leader like Pep, we aim to unite the public, students, community leaders and NGOs, to take action to solve the water challenges in their communities.”

“Where I’m from, in Catalonia, drought is always a risk,” said Guardiola. “The issue of community access to affordable water is very important to me personally. Our Foundation’s first activities, this summer, were working with children in Barcelona to help educate them on the importance of preserving water, and I’m so pleased to be partnering with a water leader like Xylem to help address water issues in communities everywhere.”

The first Xylem campaign to feature Pep Guardiola will be the upcoming “Water Heroes FC,” in which Guardiola encourages people everywhere to take action and solve water challenges in their “extra time.” In July, Guardiola joined Xylem and EarthEcho International in the first in a series of water education events, at Casal dels Infants, in Barcelona, to encourage students to realize a more sustainable future for Spain’s water resources. Spain’s water resources are predicted to decline by up to 40% by the end of the century.

Xylem’s mission – to solve the world’s greatest water challenges – motivated its purpose-driven partnership with the team Guardiola coaches, Premier League Champions Manchester City Football Club. Since 2018, the partnership has produced award-winning content with over 35 million views, and built a network of over 500 young water ambassadors that have delivered life-saving water education to over 20,000 individuals.

More articles on this topic

Breakthrough Technologies Are Increasing Water Security for Communities and Businesses

09.05.2025 -

Thirteen startups from nine countries have been selected to fast-track their solutions in global water technology company Xylem’s 2025 Partnerships Accelerator. Focused on addressing critical challenges facing water-stressed communities and water-intensive businesses, their technologies offer new ways to detect contamination, optimize aging systems, reduce energy use, and, critically, keep water flowing.

Read more

Manchester City Legend Joleon Lescott Visits Winning Water Champions Project

26.03.2025 -

Manchester City legend Joleon Lescott recently surprised the winning project of this year’s Water Champions campaign in Tacloban City, Philippines.  Developed by Manchester City and the club’s Official Water Technology Partner, Xylem, the Water Champions Project has successfully united communities around the world for a number of years, using the power of volunteering and football to inspire positive change.

Read more