All the Catalans who are at the World Cup (and do not play with Spain)

BarcelonaMore than a third of Spain's players at the World Cup are Catalan. Lamine Yamal, Joan Garcia, Pau Cubarsí, Eric Garcia, Dani Olmo, Víctor Muñoz, Marc Cucurella, David Raya and Marc Pubill are the nine footballers from Catalonia who are competing in this summer's major sporting event under the orders of coach Luis de la Fuente. But beyond the Spanish squad, there are more representatives from the region at the World Cup, spread across teams from Europe, Africa, and America.

The best known of all is Robert Martínez, from Balaguer, who is one of the most renowned coaches in the world and currently manages Portugal. Martínez, son of Roberto Martínez, a former player and coach of his hometown club, grew up kicking balls in the street where his mother, Amor Montoliu, ran the shoe shop next to Plaça del Mercadal. At 16, he packed his bags to move to Zaragoza, and after playing for his Balaguer team in Tercera División for a year, he emigrated to England. He never returned.

First as a player and then as a coach, Martínez became a legend at Wigan – he won an FA Cup against Manchester City – which led him to the Everton dugout and subsequently to the Belgian national team. Now he is Cristiano Ronaldo's coach in one of the favorite teams to win the World Cup. In the room at his home, where Amor Montoliu keeps all of Robert's memories, there is a missing photo with the World Cup.

The Lleida-born Francesc Xavier Sánchez Jara also played for Balaguer. It was at the end of his footballing career, which began at La Masia, after Cruyff gave him his debut in Barça's first team. The former Almacelles player, who was capped by Catalonia in a tribute match for Kubala, coincided at Osasuna with the Dane – he has Catalan family – Thomas Christiansen, who in 2021 asked him to be his assistant coach for the Panama national team. Together they have made history by qualifying the Central American country for its second World Cup.

The first Osasuna player to go to the World Cup

Ayoube Amaimouni was not expecting the call from Morocco. Until the final list, they had never called him up. And in fact, in December he was still playing in the Third Division of Germany, in Hoffenheim's reserve team. Then, Eintracht Frankfurt signed him, and the Bundesliga discovered a very unbalanced left winger. Amaimouni, born in Hospital de Vic, his talent comes from when he played in the streets of Manlleu and on the sand pitch of Voltregà, his first team. At 10 years old, he moved with his family to Germany to seek a better life, but every summer he returned to Osona to spend his holidays and compete in the Taradell tournament, a classic in a region that had never had a footballer in the World Cup.

Also in the Moroccan squad is Ismael Saibari from Terrassa, who emigrated to Belgium at the age of six. Saibari, who was awarded best player in the Dutch league with PSV this year, is one of the important footballers in the World Cup. Bayern is following his progress. He plays for Morocco because a few years ago he declined the proposal from Robert Martínez of Balaguer, who wanted to call him up for Belgium.

The most perica squad

Even though he might have gone up to Montserrat to ask La Moreneta for Espanyol's permanence, Pochettino is not Catalan. A good part of his technical staff in the United States national team is, starting with his eldest son, Sebastiano Pochettino, born in Barcelona during the Argentine's first spell as a white-and-blue player. On his own merits, a few years ago he became the youngest physical trainer in the Premier League.

Toni Jiménez, the last Zamora of Espanyol, is from La Garriga and accompanies Pochettino as goalkeeping coach since he joined his technical staff at the Periquito club in 2011. Also Jesús Pérez, son of a plasterer and raised in Vilabella, where he played for Atlètic Vilabella. He is the Argentine's right-hand man since he met him as an analyst, also at Espanyol. All three are part of the pretorian guard of a Pochettino who, when he landed in the United States, incorporated INEFC Barcelona doctoral student Sílvia Tuyà as a strength and conditioning coach. She is the only Catalan woman at the World Cup. With experience at FC Levante Las Planas, Tuyà had externally advised Poche when he was at Chelsea.

From Patum to the Azteca

In the other host country, Mexico, there is also a Catalan. He is Pol Lorente, from Berga. In 2018, a colleague of his at Toledo, the club in the city where he settled as a young man, recommended him to Javier Aguirre to sign him as the physical trainer for the Egyptian national team. Although he had recently opened a gym with his partner, he accepted the offer from the African team and flew to Cairo to start working with the Vasco. And up to this day. After having been at Leganés, Monterrey, and Mallorca, on Thursday he inaugurated a World Cup as a host in the imposing Azteca stadium.

The Barcelonian Pablo Sanz, like Sánchez Jara, also debuted as a blaugrana under Johan Cruyff, whose assistant he was for the Catalan national team. He managed Castelldefels and Cornellà before becoming Julen Lopetegui's second, with whom he had played at Rayo Vallecano. Since taking the reins of Spain, the Basque coach has always worked in tandem with Pablo Sanz, who this summer is also debuting in a World Cup, with a Catalan accent on the pitch and on the benches.