The new life of Edu Castro, the coach who loves Barça and literature

BarcelonaEnamored with Lisbon's culture, Edu Castro (Vigo, 1966) has been getting lost in the streets of Lisbon for a year and a half now, strolling through the parks, where he sits down to read some of the books that have accompanied him throughout his career: Don Quixote,History of Western Philosophy, Ulysses either The man without attributesThe former Barça coach and current Benfica manager is an avid reader and is taking advantage of his time in Portugal to delve deeper into the literature of José Saramago and Antonio Lobo Antunes. "Leaving Barça is never planned, but I'm making the most of my time at Benfica. It wasn't a goal I had set, but once it happens, it's exciting," he explains to ARA. Born in Vigo, although raised in Bellvitge, he is a lawyer by profession who entered the world of hockey by chance. "Espanyol's hockey section didn't have a place to play their matches and they rented the rink at a school in Bellvitge, Joan XXIII. We saw the sport, fell in love with it, and both my brothers and I started playing." At 59, he manages Benfica, where he currently has a contract until June 2027. "Coaches are always dealing with temporary situations, and in a sport like ours, where there are few projects you can make a living from professionally, that's the reality." This means that, for the time being, he lives alone in Lisbon, far from his family; but Edu Castro has found the positive side: "Being alone gives me more time to dedicate to literature and hockey. You always have to make a virtue of necessity."

After nineteen years at Barça—the last seven managing the first team—in 2024 the club informed him that they wanted to end a cycle and that he would not continue as manager. "I expected the decision because during the last year we could see that they were planning the next season without asking our opinion. I would have liked there to be a fundamental sporting reason, which there wasn't, or for them to tell me what we could have done better, to help me improve as a coach, but that wasn't the case." They said it was a change of cycle, but that they were grateful for everything we had done.

Castro held every role in the hockey section: youth coach, junior team coach, assistant coach, and first team coach. "I owe everything I am in the world of hockey to Barça. Toni Miró decided we had the opportunity to lead the team, and it was seven wonderful years in which we won 22 titles." A period that wasn't without its pressures. "Everyone assumes you have to win every time, and that shouldn't be the case in the world of sports, because there's always an element of chance. The fact that a team only makes the news when it loses is a huge injustice that shouldn't happen in any sport." The coach also speaks about the responsibility of being a coach: "You know that whether you do your job, whether you're more or less successful, determines whether many people have a good time and celebrate your victories, or are deeply saddened by your defeats."

The model of multi-sport clubs in Portugal

Barça stands out for having several professional sections, a model uncommon in Spain but not in Portugal. Large clubs, such as Sporting Lisbon, Porto, and Benfica, have professional men's and women's sections in volleyball, futsal, basketball, handball, hockey, water polo, and football. "You have everything you need, but you have to share everything. This also allows you to be in contact with coaches from other sections, where you discuss common problems in team sports, and that helps you grow." At Benfica, this initiative is managed by the psychology department, while at Barça it arose from the personal initiative of the coaches. "In my last two years at the club, I remember having dinners with Sarunas Jasikevicius (basketball), Carlos Ortega (handball), Jesús Velasco (futsal), and Xavi Hernández (football)," recalls Castro.

Benfica's objective is to regain dominance on the national and European scene, starting with the Portuguese league, where the average level of the teams is very high. "So far we haven't lost a single match, but now is when we need to start playing well. The past is useless if you're not playing well in the future. We want more excitement, and that goes against consistency; it's simply about playing well on a specific day at a specific time. And that can be detrimental or it can benefit anyone," the coach reflects.

Portugal has invested heavily in hockey. "The financial investment has weakened other powerful projects like Barça's, where they continue to invest heavily in hockey, but now there's much more competition and a greater chance for other teams to win European Cups." In fact, Portugal is attracting many players from Catalonia and Spain. "It's not just established talent coming to Portugal, but emerging talent is in other leagues, like the Italian league. It's difficult to retain players in the Spanish league these days. We need to consider what we can do in the future to have more promising projects here," concludes an unconventional coach who loves hockey and literature.