Barcelona confirm appointment of Xavi Hernandez as head coach

Xavi Hernandez, a youth team product at Barca, has left his current club, Al-Sadd of Qatar, after talks held over the last few days with the owners of the club, said FC Barcelona in an official statement.

Barcelona: FC Barcelona has reached an agreement with Xavi Hernandez for him to become first-team coach for the rest of the current season and two more seasons.

https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1456792269751730184

“Xavi Hernandez, a youth team product at Barca, has left his current club, Al-Sadd of Qatar, after talks held over the last few days with the owners of the club,” said FC Barcelona in an official statement.

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It is expected that Xavi Hernandez will arrive in Barcelona this weekend and that on Monday his presentation as new FC Barcelona first team coach will take place in an event open to the public at Camp Nou.

Xavi is a legend at FC Barcelona. His 767 appearances for the senior team were a record until he was surpassed recently by Leo Messi (778).

In his 17 years in the first team (1998 to 2015), he won 25 major trophies.

However, in total he was at the club for 24 years, beginning as an U12 in 1991/92. One of the greatest midfield maestros of all time, he helped redefine the art with his creative mind, pinpoint passing and sublime ability to read the game.

The utter brains of the team, he made up for his lack of physical might with extraordinary wits, superb skills and an extraordinary talent for governing everything that went on in the middle of the park.

Xavi played out the final years of his career at Al-Sadd in Qatar, and after hanging up his boots in 2019, he became the team coach. He’d only been in the position for a few months when he won the Qatari Super Cup, and also led the team to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League.

In total, he coached the team to seven different trophies, three of them in 2021.