A letter from Xavi Bravo, Barça Academy Technical Director
April 19, 2018
Hello All!
My name is Xavi Bravo and I am the Technical Director of Barça Academy.
A bit about me – I was born in Barcelona, Spain and I was introduced to soccer at the age of seven when my grandfather took me to my first training session. I began playing for Club Esportiu Júpiter, a historic fútbol club in Barcelona City. As a player, I played centerback for Júpiter and competed with the club my entire life before I began coaching for Club Esportiu Júpiter.
After three years of coaching at Júpiter, I joined the FCB Escola and that is where my FC Barcelona career began. After seven enjoyable years coaching great young players at FCB Escola, I was promoted to the La Masia’s coaching staff in 2006.
I began as the U-14s Assistant Coach at La Masia and gained invaluable experience within that position. In 2010, I was proudly appointed as La Masia U-12’s Head Coach and coached there for an additional four years while earning my UEFA Pro license.
During my time with La Masia, I had the chance to coach very good players and very good people too, such as Hector Bellerin, Gerard Deulofeu, Sergi Samper and Jordi Mboula, among others. Also during my time there, I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Sports Science and a Master’s degree in Sports Management. Coaching at FCB was wonderful and an experience beyond description working for the best fútbol club in the world.
But every beautiful story has an end, and after almost fourteen years at FC Barcelona, I felt it was time for me to challenge myself and get outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to gain experience working in another country, I wanted to meet new people, and learn a different culture for me, my wife and my children.
I decided to leave FC Barcelona when I received a great offer from the Hong Kong Football Association to become their National Development Academy Head Coach. I was excited for the opportunity and accepted the position. I spent the last four years (2013-2017) in this role and I enjoyed every bit of it. Living in Hong Kong, developing and improving the fútbol standards there and the overall coaching experience was amazing as I coached their Youth National Teams in very high level competitions and tournaments in Asia.
After four years in Hong Kong, I was excited to receive the call from FC Barcelona to be the new Technical Director of Barça Academy! The Academy itself was very attractive to me. There is a lot of potential here, training with talented athletes in a wonderful environment with top notch facilities. Furthermore, I am very happy to be part of the FCB family again, the club of my life.
From my point of view, Barça Academy will become the “La Masia” of USA. A referent of fútbol excellence, bringing in the most talented players from the country as well as other talented players from around the world and that is what I am committed to helping bring here.
The FCB philosophy, with the training methodology and the FCB values on and off the field put in place together will help us to create a unique identity and a unique way to implement soccer, the “Barça way”.
I am excited to be here, my first months have been great and I cannot wait to see all of the amazing things we will accomplish!
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