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Life and Culture

Life and Culture

At 35 years of age, with a world cup under his belt, Cristian Zaccardo can brag about becoming an unusual pioneer in the world of soccer. After terminating his contract with Vicenza, the Italian center back found a new destination thanks to the professional social network. He will now be defending the colors of Malta’s Hamrun Spartans.

Sex, religion, and politics, along with harmony and trust, gave birth to money. At first, there was barter. Later came coins and bills, which have now given way to the network age, a world in which space and time have disappeared and transactions are conducted in bits. In order to understand the present and predict the future, Chris Skinner reflects on the history of money in his book, 'The Next Step: Exponential Life', which can be downloaded online free of charge as part of BBVA’s OpenMind project.

Argentine soccer star Leo Messi came to the rescue of his county’s team just when it needed him the most, ensuring it a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Messi overcame a rough start in the qualifying match against Ecuador, with a hat trick that gave Argentina a 1-3 victory .

In other qualifying matches, Paraguay was defeated by Venezuela, while Chile was eliminated after its defeat by Brazil. Peru and Colombia were tied 1-1; as a result, the Peruvians will move on to face New Zealand in the playoffs. Uruguay, meanwhile, assured itself a place in the World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Bolivia.

Unfortunately, a virus kept me from playing how I would have liked at the WTA Premier tournament in Beijing this week. It’s one of the top tournaments in the women’s circuit and where the most points are given out, after the four Grand Slam tournaments. I was feeling sick for several days after leaving Wuhan. I wasn’t able to practice and even though I tried, the fever kept me from playing as well as I would have liked.

In 2001, Turkey hosted Men’s European Basketball Championship which was a significant breakthrough in turkish basketball. The same year was also important for Garanti as of being the new partner of Turkish Basketball Federation. Garanti created a huge marketing campaign for the national team with the name '12 Giant Men' which became the team’s official name which is still being used today by not just Garanti itself but also by the federation, press and the whole country.

The BBVA Historical Archive is a private business archive that traces its roots back 160 years, to the bank´s founding in 1857. Located in Bilbao, it houses the basic documentation of the three banks that would later form BBVA: Banco de Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya and Argentaria. During the 19th and most of 20th Century, their geographical context was largely limited to Spain; it was only at the end of the 20th century that BBVA began its international expansion.

When a group of employees from BBVA Spain considered covering the nearly 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago (the pilgrimage to the shrine of the apostle St. James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela) by bicycle, they could have done it like almost everyone else: with a small group of friends, taking a week or more, and enjoying daily breaks. But instead, they managed to gather more than 150 people and complete the entire journey in just three days without stopping. And all for a good cause.