BARCELONA: Xavi Hernández, the player who personified the attacking style popularized by Barcelona and Spain’s national team, is close to returning to Camp Nou as coach.
Xavi’s current employer, Qatari club Al-Sadd, said Friday that the former midfielder would be freed from his coaching contract once his release clause is paid. His current contract runs into 2023.
Barcelona declined to comment on the cost, but Spanish media reports say Xavi’s buyout clause is 5 million euros ($5.7 million).
“Xavi informed us a few days ago of his desire to go to Barcelona at this particular time, because of the critical stage his hometown club is going through, and we understand this and decided not to stand in his way,” Al-Sadd CEO Turki Al-Ali said in a posting on the club’s Twitter account. “We’ve agreed on cooperation with Barcelona in the future. Xavi is an important part of Al-Sadd’s history and we wish him success.”
Xavi is set to replace Ronald Koeman, who was fired last week following a series of losses for a club that failed to re-sign Lionel Messi. Sergi Barjuan has been coaching Barcelona since, overseeing a draw in the Spanish league and a victory in the Champions League. He will return to coaching the reserve team.
Faced with a barrage of questions about Xavi in a regular pre-match news conference, Barjuan repeated that Barcelona had yet to announce the signing of a new coach. Even so, he spoke of Saturday’s match at Celta Vigo as his last in the dugout.
“Barcelona has not made anything official, but we all hope this can be worked out,” Barjuan said. “If Xavi comes, I will be happy to help him in any way I can.”
The 41-year-old Xavi left Barcelona in 2015 after helping the club win 25 titles, including four Champions Leagues and eight Spanish leagues in 17 seasons. He was also key to Spain’s streak of titles when it won the 2010 World Cup and European Championships in 2008 and 2012.
He has been at Al-Sadd since leaving Barcelona, first as a player and then as coach.
Xavi’s vision, passing and ability to maintain the ball under pressure made him critical to leading both Barcelona and Spain’s national team to their most successful eras.
Barcelona club president Joan Laporta now hopes that, as coach, Xavi can rekindle Barcelona’s beloved attacking style based on suffocating ball possession and intricate passing moves.
But Xavi will arrive with no experience coaching in a major league and will face the same daunting challenge that led to Koeman’s downfall: Barcelona is no longer the Barcelona he left behind as a player.
The team’s depleted finances have stripped it of Messi and other top players like Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suárez, and limited it to signing free agents in the offseason.
Xavi will inherit a team that is struggling in the Spanish league and has yet to guarantee that it will get through the group stage of the Champions League.
It will also be seen if Xavi’s personal relationship with veterans Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba, all former teammates, will help or hurt him as he continues the necessary rebuild started by Koeman.
In his favor, Xavi can benefit from the work started by Koeman, who brought several young players into his starting lineup. Above all, Pedri González, who has also had a superb year with Spain, and Gavi Páez seem perfect to fit Xavi’s playing style. Striker Ansu Fati has also emerged as a possible star.
Xavi turned down the chance to coach Barcelona in January 2020 when Laporta’s predecessor fired Ernesto Valverde in the middle of the season.
“When they offered me (the job), it had barely been three months since I was coaching,” Xavi said recently. “But now it is different. I have more experience and I am learning a lot here (with Al-Sadd).”
Qatari club agrees to let Xavi become Barcelona coach
https://arab.news/5a2yw
Qatari club agrees to let Xavi become Barcelona coach
- Xavi’s current employer, Qatari club Al-Sadd, says that the former midfielder would be freed from his coaching contract once his release clause is paid
Three LIV Golf wild card spots up for grabs in Florida
- Total of 22 players advance to weekend action, with chance to join 2026 LIV Golf League season
LECANTO, FLORIDA: While South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and others at the top of Friday’s leaderboard at LIV Golf Promotions advanced comfortably into the weekend at Black Diamond Ranch, former wild card player Anthony Kim faced an 8-foot birdie putt to decide his fate on the final hole.
Kim rolled in the putt, arguably his biggest clutch moment in the two years since returning to pro golf from a 12-year retirement, to shoot a 1-under 69 and make the cut on the number.
A total of 22 players among the field of 47 in the second round moved on to compete for the three open wild card positions for the 2026 LIV Golf League season. Scores will now reset for the final 36 holes.
Kim is one of seven players Friday to sneak in on the number and is the only remaining American of the 12 who started the week in the field. His final birdie at the par-4 18th capped off a rollercoaster finish that included a chip-in to save par at the 13th hole after his tee shot found the water, along with bounce-back birdies after each of the two bogeys he made in the final five holes.
“We can talk about rollercoasters on the round today, but my life has been a pretty big rollercoaster, so this is pretty smooth for me,” said the 40-year-old Kim, who was exempt into the second round after suffering relegation on LIV Golf last season.
Another former LIV Golf player, Australian Matt Jones, is hoping to earn a wild card spot after playing all 50 LIV Golf tournaments as a member of Ripper GC during the first four seasons. Jones started strong on Friday and was 4 under at the turn before hanging on to shoot 69 after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch to start his back nine.
Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent also advanced by shooting 69. Vincent is the only player in the field to have previous Promotions success, earning one of the three spots in 2023 that placed him on Jon Rahm’s expansion Legion XIII team in 2024.
Wang, meanwhile, continued his early-week success in LIV Golf Promotions, shooting a 5-under 65 to lead the field on Friday. In 2024, Wang shot the best opening round in Promotions and tied for third best in the following round but could not keep up the pace on the 36-hole final-day finish. He is glad to see the format change to 18 holes over two days this weekend.
“It’s more comfortable for me to play 18, 18,” said Wang, who was exempt from Round 1 due to his International Series status. “I’m really excited to play the next two days. I’ll just give it my best.”
Canadian Richard T. Lee, whose 6-under 64 was the lowest score in Thursday’s first round, followed with a 66 on Friday as one of Wang’s three closest pursuers. His round was fueled by eagles on both of the par-5 holes, with his 5-wood second shot at the ninth hole settling to 5 feet, and his 5-iron from a waste bunker at the 16th finished within 3 feet.
Like Wang, Lee has made the weekend for the second consecutive Promotions tournament but has not converted that into a LIV Golf spot.
“I played 6 under yesterday and 4 under, and I think that’s plenty good enough for this course,” said Lee, who is seeking to become the first Canadian player on LIV Golf.
Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana — who played in LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 season — and Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren matched Lee’s 66, while nine players shot 67.
As for Kim, he managed to survive-and-advance on a tough day after a performance he called a “5” on a scale to 10. But like the other 21 competitors still alive at Black Diamond Ranch, he is hoping to find some magic during the last 36 holes to earn one of the coveted LIV Golf spots.
“This is what I signed up for,” Kim said. “I’m glad that I got to be in that position and have to make a birdie to get into the next two rounds. There’s a long way to go, but I feel really good about it going into this weekend.”
