Josep Guardiola

Football player infobox
playername= Pep Guardiola


fullname = Josep Guardiola Sala
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|1|18
cityofbirth = Santpedor
countryofbirth = Catalonia, Spain
height =
position = Midfielder (retired)
youthclubs = Gimnàstic de Manresa
FC Barcelona B
youthyears =
1984–1990
years = 1990–2001
2001–2002
2002–2003
2003
2003–2005
2006
clubs = FC Barcelona
Brescia Calcio
AS Roma
Brescia Calcio
Al-Ahli (Doha)
Dorados de Sinaloa
caps(goals) =263 (6)
011 (2)
004 (0)
013 (1)
018 (2)
010 (1)
nationalyears = 1992–2001
1995–2005
nationalteam = Spain
Catalonia
nationalcaps(goals) = 047 (5)
007 (0)
manageryears = 2007–2008
2008–
managerclubs = FC Barcelona B
FC Barcelona
pcupdate = June 22 2007
ntupdate = June 4 2006

Josep Guardiola i Sala, pron. IPA2|ʑu'zɛp gwəɾ'ð̞jɔɫə, (born January 18, 1971), also known as Pep Guardiola is a former Spanish football player and current coach. He spent the majority of his playing career at FC Barcelona, but also played for, among others, Brescia Calcio, AS Roma, Al-Ahli (Doha) and Dorados de Sinaloa. As an international Guardiola played for both Spain and Catalonia. After retiring as a player Guardiola became a coach. On May 8 2008, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would succeed Frank Rijkaard as the first team manager. He signed his contract on June 5th, 2008. [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada07-08/05/n080508104104.html www.fcbarcelona.cat] ]

He was a defensive midfielder well known for powerful engine, battling qualities, perceptive passing and temperament.

Club career

FC Barcelona

Guardiola was a product of the "planter barcelonista" (FC Barcelona's youth academy), playing initially as junior with Gimnàstic de Manresa and FC Barcelona B ["The lost boys of Barcelona": Ronald Atkin [http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_11653.shtml] ] . Between 1990 and 2001 he made 379 appearances for FC Barcelona. This included 263 in La Liga [ [http://www.lfp.es www.lfp.es] ] . He made senior La Liga debut for FC Barcelona on December 16 1990 in a 2-0 win against Cádiz C.F.. Playing as a defensive midfielder, he went onto become a key member of the "Dream Team" put together by Johan Cruyff, providing a local presence in a team made up of mainly Basque and foreign players. During his time at FC Barcelona he became a firm favourite with fans and helped the club win an impressive array of trophies including a European Cup title in 1992 and six La Liga titles. In 1997 he succeeded José Mari Bakero as club captain. However a hamstring injury subsequently kept him out for a year. He made his final La Liga appearance for the club on June 17 2001 in a 3-2 win against Valencia CF. He is regarded as a legend at the Camp Nou.

erie A

After leaving FC Barcelona in 2001 Guardiola played for Brescia Calcio and AS Roma in Serie A. However his time in Italy was unhappy and included a four month ban after testing positive for Nandrolone. Six years later in Octotber 23, 2007, Guardiola was cleared on appeal of all charges that had led to the ban [ [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=475021&&cc=5901 ESPNsoccernet - Europe - Guardiola finally cleared on doping charges ] ] .

Dorados de Sinaloa

In 2006 when Juan Manuel Lillo was appointed manager of Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa he recruited Guardiola to play for the club. He subsequently played for six months in Mexico. However in May 2006 Dorados was relegated to Primera División A and he retired as a player.

International career

pain

In 1992 Guardiola captained Spain when they won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. Between 1992 and 2001 Guardiola also played 47 times and scored 5 goals for the senior Spain team. He made his senior debut on October 14 1992 in 0-0 with Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in a World Cup qualifier. He was a member of the Spain team during the 1994 World Cup but fell out of favour with Javier Clemente and missed out on Euro 1996. Injury kept him out of the 1998 World Cup, but he later played at Euro 2000. He made his final appearance for Spain in 1-0 win in a friendly against Mexico on November 14 2001 [ [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/guardiola-intl.html www.rsssf.com/] ] [ [http://futbol.sportec.es/seleccion/ficha_jugador.asp?j=258&n=guardiola/josep/guardiola/sala Spain stats] ] .

Catalonia

Guardiola has also played for and been a strong advocate of the Catalonia national football team ["Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football" (2003), Phil Ball] . Between 1995 and 2005 he played 7 times for Catalonia, playing in prestige friendlies against, among others, Nigeria [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesc/cata-intres.html Catalonia results] ] .

Coaching career

Guardiola was appointed coach of FC Barcelona B on June 21 2007. Under his guidance the team subsequently won their Tercera División group and have qualified for the 2008 Segunda División B play-offs [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada07-08/05/n080508104107.html www.fcbarcelona.cat] ] . Guardiola has been appointed manager of the senior FC Barcelona team for the 2008-09 season. [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/castellano/noticies/futbol/temporada07-08/05/n080508104104.html www.fcbarcelona.cat] ] He has signed a two year deal.

The new Barcelona coach immediately revealed that Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o and others were not part of his plans for next season. Giovani Dos Santos had already been sold to Tottenham, before Guardiola took over, but now Deco went to Chelsea FC, while the iconic Ronaldinho and Gianluca Zambrotta were sold to AC Milan. [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=787324 Goal.com - AC Milan - Ronaldinho To Barcelona: Thank You, Cules! ] ] Lilian Thuram was going to Paris Saint-Germain, but the discovery of a heart condition put a stop to the move, and the veteran retired to tend to his health. Oleguer signed with Ajax Amsterdam [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=786822 Goal.com - Barcelona - Ajax And Barça Agree Oleguer Deal ] ] but Santiago Ezquerro was released by Barcelona, and later joined Osasuna. Marc Crosas was sold to Celtic F.C., after Guardiola told him he had little chance of a regular first-team place next season.

The fate of Samuel Eto'o took much of the summer to unravel, with the Cameroonian linked with clubs in Italy, England and Uzbekistan (!) but on August 12 Guardiola finally declared that he would stay [http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=816179] . More or less the same was the case with Eidur Gudjohnsen. Most of the summer he was widely reported to be moving on, but after his diligent participation in the pre-season, Guardiola told the Icelandic international that he did have a chance to become an important member of the team and he wanted him to stay [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=831705] .

Under Guardiola´s new leadership several new signings were made. Dani Alves and Seydou Keita arrived from FC Sevilla, Martin Caceres from Villareal by way of Recreativo de Huelva and Gerard Pique returned from Manchester United [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=787295 Goal.com - Editorial - Barcelona's New Look Defence: An Analysis ] ] . Alexander Hleb was signed from FC Arsenal, while Henrique Adriano Buss signed from Palmeiras, but was immediately loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/07/n080723102534.html FCBarcelona.cat ] ] .

In pre-season, FC Barcelona won their first victory against Scottish team Hibernian on July 24, in an away game at Murrayfield, defeating them by 6-0 with two goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen and one each by Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodríguez Ledesma (Pedrito), Bojan Krkic and Yaya Toure.

Two days later Barcelona defeated Dundee United by the score of 5-1 with goals from Thierry Henry, Eto'o and Messi, who scored a hat-trick.

Guardiola´s Barcelona then defeated Fiorentina 3-1, with goals from Carles Puyol, Jeffrén Suárez and Bojan [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=798247 Goal.com - Fiorentina - Barcelona Teach Fiorentina A Lesson ] ] .

On August 3, Barcelona´s pre-season continued against Mexican side Club Deportivo Guadalajara ("Chivas") in Chicago, USA, defeating them 5-2 [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=803766 Goal.com - Barcelona - Barça Belt Five Past Chivas ] ] , with two goals from Eto'o and one each from Xavi, Hleb and Caceres.

Guardiola has shown preference to playing a 4-4-2 system, instead of Frank Rijkaard´s almost invariable 4-3-3. In interviews with the press, his players stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with their new coach [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=802906] [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=811642] .

Guardiola's first competitive game as coach was in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in which Barcelona comfortably beat Polish club Wisla Krakow 4-0 at home.

Honours

"FC Barcelona"

*European Cup
**1992: 1
*European Cup Winners Cup
**1997: 1
*La Liga
**1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999: 6
*Copa del Rey
** 1997, 1998: 2
*Spanish Super Cup
**1992, 1993, 1995, 1997: 4
*European Super Cup
**1993, 1997: 2

"Spain"

*Olympic Games
**1992: 1

ee also

*List of doping cases in sport

References

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/europe/specials/ff/trip3/guardiola.html Interview at www.time.com]
* [http://www.josepguardiola.com www.josepguardiola.com]
* [http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=689477 Goal.com profile]