Interview with Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno,          coach at the French Football Academy

We are happy to welcome you in the French Football Academy for this new season. Can you tell us about yourself ?

Hello everyone, and thank you for giving me a chance to introduce myself.

My name is Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno, I'm a former FC Barcelona soccer player. I started to play at the age of 7 and made it to the first team.

I was lucky enough to play with world soccer superstars such as Figo or Romario, and be part of the team under Johan Cruyff's coaching during the 1994 european season : I was part of the 93/94 Champion leagues final in Athens and played many other exciting games.

I am now a soccer coach in NYC and I decided to follows my wife who works at the UN. Before coming here, I coached the national teams of Madagascar and Bangladesh. I am proud to say that I won the bronze medal at the 2016 South Asian Games with the  Bangladesh national football team !

I have been in New York for 5 year now, I've coached for different clubs, ranging from Barcelona Academy, Manhattan Kickers, New Amsterdam to Olympiacos NY. I am very excited to start a new experience with FFF Academy!

Playing for FC Barcelona looks incredible. Tell us more about your soccer experience as a player.

I played as a right-back for the Barcelona academy from the age of 7 until I was 27 when I had to retire due to 4 surgeries on the same knee !

As I said, I was lucky enough to play with the soccer superstars for two years like Figo, Guardiola, Romario, Laudrup, Stoichkov, and be coached by Johan Cruyff. I was part of the the team during the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final in Athens. We lost the game 4-0 against FC Milan... A short-lived defeat amongst the many winnings I had over the course of my career!

I enjoyed the football we were playing at that time, and I remember the media called us the "Dream Team".  We played very offensive and dynamic football back then !

You have been coaching in different clubs : What type of coaching degree do you have and when did you get it ?

I got the Level 3 license, which is equivalent to the UEFA PRO, in 2018 in Barcelona, at the Catalan Football Federation.

In terms of my coaching style, as I have the background from that team, I deeply believe in offensive game with control of the ball, which I inherited from them. An even more important point would be the importance of building a strong team that has fun playing soccer !

You are raising an interesting point. To go a bit more in depth, how would you define your coaching philosophy ?

I was lucky to grow up as a player with the specific methodology that Johan Cruyff taught us : possession and offensive football. We never trained how to defend, we didn't need it because we knew how to keep the ball, right ?

That is my experience as a player, and this is what I have been teaching  my players : mastering the game by keeping the ball, attacking and defending at the same time.

I love coaching and sharing my experience as a player.

We are very proud to welcome a coach with such a great carreer. Why did you decide to join the French Football Academy in New York ? 

I decided to join the FFF because we had very interesting talks about the club with the rest of the team, and this is the type of coaching challenge I was looking for. I was happy to notice we speak the same football language and that is very important to me.

I can say I feel at home here : how the entire staff welcomed me is incredible, it seems like we have known each other all our lives ! The methodology is also very similar to what I have learned in Barcelona during my time as a player and then as a coach.

The Academy is already well structured and I can see this club becoming one of the most important training academies in New York in the future. With my experience and work, I will do everything possible to contribute  to the growth of FFF !

I believe we know the answer but... what's your favorite team and player ?

Well, it is not a suprise : FC Barcelona and Leo Messi ! 🙂