Fran Parga, the young footballer who defies deafness and shines at Sevilla FC Genuine

This Tuesday, February 25, is International Cochlear Implant Day . This is an electronic device that helps people with profound or severe deafness to perceive sounds by directly stimulating the auditory nerve.

Sevilla FC wanted to show an example of overcoming and fighting with their player Fran Parga , aged 19, who suffers from this condition. For just a year, Fran has had one of these implants which, without a doubt, has improved his quality of life , as well as facilitating his ability to relate to family, friends, teammates, studies and training in his daily life.

At Sevilla FC Genuine (a social inclusion project promoted by the Sevilla FC Foundation for players with some kind of intellectual disability), Fran has become one of the most outstanding players . He recently received a ball signed by the first team players for his good work during a mixed training session at the sports city, in which he scored four goals.

His proud mother Eli commented: "He likes to play football, he goes to high school, he belongs to Sevilla FC Genuine, which is helping him a lot. He has to communicate using sign language, but with the implant everything is better." For his part, his coach, Salvador Bernal , head of Sevilla FC Genuine, stressed the importance of the implant in Fran's quality of life: "It allows him to pay better attention to training and matches," he added.