Xavi Hernandez will have his coaching licence for 2019-20 season
The ex-Barcelona midfielder is close to finishing all of his badges
With the FC Barcelona bench being spoken about so much at the moment, the Catalans could be able to count on one of their most important ever players as their coach from next season. We're talking about the midfielder Xavi Hernandez, who is still playing in Qatar for Al Saad.
SPORT have learned that from July 1, the Catalan will have all the badges demanded by UEFA and the RFEF to coach in La Liga, or anywhere else in the world.
It will be on Apr. 23 when when he takes his final course at the RFEF's Las Rozas headqaurters, the UEFA Pro. His presence on the course has now been confirmed.
To get said title, as well as the theory side of it, there's a period of six months practice required. Here's where the key is to everything and explains why Xavi will be free to coach from July onwards, coinciding with the start of the Spanish football season.
Xavi has spent time pairing his job as a player with the Catalan side along with coaching the youth teams. That coaching, once it's accredited, will serve as the necessary practice to be granted the UEFA Pro. That's to say that if Xavi and Barça wanted, he could take over at Camp Nou for the start of the 2019-20 season.
However, it's obvious that Xavi's arrival back in Spanish football -- and especially to Barcelona -- will not happen so soon. He extended his contract in Qatar until 2020 recently, so that he will finish his playing career when he's 40. He has not ruled out coaching at Al Sadd after that, something which would further his education for taking on the big job in the Ciudad Condal. But the reality is, if Xavi and Barcelona feel it's right, he would have the licence to take over in the summer.
