Àlvar Presta i Torns

Àlvar Presta i Torns, sometimes mentioned as Álvaro Presta (18 February 1868 – 23 December 1933), was a Spanish doctor and sports executive, who served as the 11th president of the football club FC Barcelona in 1914 as well as the first president of the between 1915 and 1917.

The outstanding role he acquired in the Barcelona society of his time due to his prestige as a doctor, led him to preside over some of the most respected institutions in the city from a medical and social point of view, such as the Barcelona Society of Friends of Instruction in 1908, the Academy of Hygiene of Catalonia from 1913 to 1916, Academy of Medical Sciences from 1918 and 1920, and the Doctors' Union of Catalonia in December 1926.

Early life and education Àlvar Presta was born on 18 February 1868 in Sants, which at the time still was a municipality independent of Barcelona, the city where he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1885. and graduated in 1892.

The young Presta, like so many doctors of his time, was interested in tuberculosis, the most prevalent disease of that time. and in 1904, he was appointed vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Patronat de Catalunya for the Fight against Tuberculosis.

Sporting career Presta also approached the world of sport and, in 1913, he joined the FC Barcelona board of directors chaired by Francesc de Moxó, In the Assembly held on 30 June 1914, he was elected as the 11th President of FC Barcelona.