CATALONIA'S revived independence campaign gained its highest-profile supporter on Monday, when FC Barcelona soccer icon Pep Guardiola became a candidate for the two main parties supporting a split from Spain, a euro MP said.

Guardiola, a former captain of last season's Spanish league winners, who led them to Champions League glory as manager in 2009, will be the last name on the parties' joint candidate list for regional elections in September, Ramon Tremosa said.

Placing Guardiola, who now manages German champions Bayern Munich, last on the list means that, barring an unprecedented landslide, he has no chance of being elected.

It is reported he has no intention of entering politics but wanted to make his support for the independence campaign clear.