Earlier this morning, the NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers appointed Andrés Carrasco as part of Tony Popovic’s coaching staff.
Get to know Andrés Carrasco and his coaching career prior to the Wanderers through these five interesting facts.
1. Andrés coached Andreu
Carrasco has had an extensive coaching career that began in 1998 at the FC Barcelona Academy. He went on to spend 15 years at the Academy developing and nurturing the next generation of footballers.
His time there saw him develop many recognizable names in the world of football today; most relevant to Red & Black fans is our new Spanish midfielder Andreu.
Andreu progressed from the academy into Barcelona’s senior ranks until 2005 when he moved to Malaga B while Carrasco moved to Georgia in 2011.
The two almost met again at Football Club Dinamo Tbilisi. In 2011 Carrasco was appointed as Assistant Coach for a one-year stint and Andreu joined the club a year later with the two of them being in the same place at the wrong time.
The Wanderers will be the first time the two will cross paths since the days of the Barcelona Academy.
2. Andrés won the U17 Spanish League with Malaga CF Academy
Following his stint at Dinamo Tbilisi, Carrasco moved back to Spain to train the U17 Malaga CF Academy team and guided them to victory in the Spanish Championship.
3. Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets
Most of his coaching career has been at Barcelona’s famed Academy which saw him focus on the U8, U11, U13 and U15 teams before becoming the Coordinator of the Football 7 department.
This saw Carrusco coach the likes of current World Cup and UEFA Champions League winners Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets. Possibly the most exciting detail from this is that the Wanderers now have a direct link to Shakira.
4. Dinamo Tbilisi
Carrasco was appointed Assistant Coach of Georgian club Dinamo Tbilisi in 2011. The club has a wealth of history and during the Soviet-era the club was one of the only teams alongside Dynamo Moscow and Dynamo Kiev to be never relegated from the first division.
The 2000s era saw the club get a new owner and in 2011 they made the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds but they were sadly unable to defeat AEK.
That same year Dinamo Tbilisi constructed some of the best training grounds in the region with the newly renovated youth academy opening, similar to what is in the pipeline at Wanderers.
5. Andrés loves a certain style
One of the earliest things we have learnt so far about Carrasco is that he is passionate about a certain style of football.
“I love the offensive and attacking football,” said the Spaniard.
“I firmly believe that football is a show and I like to feel the victory from this standpoint.”
It will be exciting to see how the Wanderers will play under Carrasco’s guidance and we are sure many fans will be looking forward to the show.
