Xavi Hernandez epitomises the approach of having home-grown players create a successful club. The midfielder, who spent 17 years at Barcelona, is a La Masia club academy alumnus, who helped Spain to not only lift their first ever World Cup besides two successive European Championships triumphs, but also perfect a seemingly unstoppable style of short passing football.
Now, at only the second club of his career, Al Sadd Sports Club in Qatar, the visionary midfielder has set his sights on passing his knowledge on to a young generation in a region inspired by the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
In his first in-depth interview since winning the European Champions League with Barcelona this summer, Xavi sat down after a tour of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) offices to reflect on his career so far.
In the first of a three-part interview, the Spanish legend talks about his formative years, first memories playing football, who inspired him at the earliest ages, and why he has been surprised by his first encounters with young players in Qatar.  

Let’s begin in the place where it all started for you, in the Plaza del Progreso in Terrassa. What was your first memory of kicking the ball?
Ever since my first memories I have been following the ball. My family, my grandfather was from a football background. My father was a professional football player, and then a coach. My brothers Alex and Oscar played football, and at home everyone breathed an atmosphere of total football. From there on I went after the ball, I started playing in the school in Jaba in Terrassa, in Plaza del Progreso in my free time from school and weekends, and from there on my father founded the football school in Terrassa, and I went with my brothers to play there.

Who was your first great idol as a kid?
The first time I went to the Camp Nou was for a Gamper Trophy with all of the family. My father and grandfather took us, and I fell in love with Bernd Schuster. He was quite different, he was the blonde, that player in midfield who switched the side of the ball. He would play a long ball of 30 or 40 metres which you practically didn’t see in football, and his game captivated me. After that, when I was training with Barcelona and more conscious of the style, as an 11 or 12-year-old, the coaches of the Casa Joan Vila, and Albert Benages told me to look at Pep Guardiola. How he chose whether to play with one touch or two, without a pause. Pep and Guillermo Amor were references for all the new generations who were entering the first team.

So we could say your first inspiration was the German school of football?
Yes, imagine that. The first player I looked up to was German. Perhaps because of that blonde hair, I was captivated by his football and his personality.

Now you are inspiring a new generation of youngsters in Qatar and the region. Is the round ball what unites us all in the end?
Yes, of course. Football is worldwide, it is universal. I think the majority or great parts of societies in any country like football. It unites. It is a tool to bring people together for any society in any place in this world. You come to Qatar and see the respect that people have for me here, that they ask me for autographs, that my teammates and everyone respects me so much. The fact that you played for Barca, you won trophies there, everyone here reminds you of those matches; the final of the World Cup, of the Euros, even the Champions League.
Football is universal, and everyone likes it. And here they follow the Spanish league in a very, very strong way, they like it a lot.

What impressions have you been able to gather so far of football in Qatar?
I have seen games of the Under 17 team, of the National Team, and we have looked at individual players. What I see is that there is talent.
They have done a great job over the past three, four years in Aspire Academy. We see players who have great education, knowledge and concepts which are very good to understand and play football, and from there it is about perfecting them.
I think Qatar has football players who can be great professionals and who have a lot of talent, even though it is a small population.

Talking about these players who have been through the youth set-up here must have brought back memories of your own time in Barcelona’s famous La Masia. How was your first day there as an eleven-year-old?
I was very nervous, my family have been for Barca all of our lives. When my father said that I had signed for Barcelona it was a sensation of your heart beating at 200 kilometres per hour. From there I tried to learn, to enjoy it, to learn from everything going on in the school and on the pitch. It was a school of life and of football. I have learned everything in the school of Barcelona. I am proud to be from Barcelona and of everything that I achieved there. (SC.qa)