UCFB is delighted to announce that Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, and the Head of BBC TV Sport Philip Bernie, will be talking to students this week as part of the Executive Guest Speaker Series.
Balague, a regular on Sky Sports and an international journalist, and Bernie, who has risen through the ranks at the BBC during his 30 years at the corporation, will appear at UCFB Wembley and UCFB Etihad Campus on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th February respectively.
Guillem Balague
Balague is a key fixture in Sky Sports’ coverage of Spanish football, appearing regularly on live match coverage and on the weekly round-up show, Revista de La Liga. He is also the UK Correspondent for AS, the Madrid-based Spanish sports newspaper. His work appears regularly on Yahoo.com and The Telegraph.
In November 2012 he published the first international biography of Pep Guardiola, based on conversations with him, his former players and Guardiola’s closest friends. It was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year both in the UK and Germany.
In 2013, Balague wrote the first authorised account of the life of Lionel Messi, ‘Messi’, which was also shortlisted for the Football Book Award in the UK in 2014. In November 2015, he published ‘Cristiano Ronaldo, the Biography’ which won the Football Book of the Year award at the Sportswriters Awards.
Balague has also worked for Marca, The Times, The Observer, talkSPORT, BBC, Cadena Ser, FourFourTwo, World Soccer, Champions magazine and many other publications in Spain, the UK and around the world.
Philip Bernie
Bernie is head of BBC TV Sport and is responsible for all TV sport output at the broadcaster, with the exception of Formula 1. His career at the BBC began in 1984 as a production trainee shortly after graduating, and went on to become assistant producer on Grandstand and then editor of Football Focus and Match of the Day.
In his time at the BBC, Bernie has edited four Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games, two World Cups and Euro 1996, which was hosted in England. He has also overseen production of numerous Wimbledon Championships and was the founding editor of Match of the Day 2.
Before taking on his current role, Bernie was head of programmes and planning, as well as head of TV sport editorial. His in-depth knowledge of national television output and working on some of the most watched shows in British TV history will make this a must-attend session for UCFB students.
Guillem Balague will appear at UCFB Wembley in Pitch View West at 11am on Tuesday 14th February. Philip Bernie will be at UCFB Etihad Campus in the Commonwealth Suite on Wednesday 15th February at 10am.
