Xavi (footballer, born 1980)

Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), commonly known as Xavi Hernández (Spanish: [ˈʃaβj eɾˈnandeθ]) or simply Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his exceptional passing and vision. He is the all-time Spanish top assist provider in the UEFA Champions League with 30 assists. He spent most of his playing career at Barcelona and is one of the few players to make over 1,000 professional career appearances. Xavi joined La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11 and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998, age 18. For Barcelona, he played 767 official matches, a former club record—now held by Lionel Messi—and scored 85 goals. With the initial management guidance by Pep Guardiola and using the tiki-taka football philosophy, Xavi was part of a widely lauded midfield combination trio with Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets; from 2008 to 2015 the trio together were instrumental in Barcelona's exceptional on-field successes in 7 seasons, winning five La Liga titles, three Copa del Rey titles and three Champions League titles, including two continental trebles (all three titles simultaneously) in 2008–09 and 2014–15. Xavi was the first player in the club's history to play 150 European and FIFA Club World Cup matches combined. In 2015, he left Barcelona for Al Sadd, where he won six trophies before retiring in 2019. With Spain, Xavi won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999, and the Olympic silver medal at the 2000 Olympics. He made his senior team debut in 2000 and he was capped 133 times for Spain. Xavi played an integral role in Spain's 2010 FIFA World...