Barça’s 5-0 win over Sevilla was not only Ernesto Valverde’s first title since joining the Club last summer, it also allowed him to join a select group of men who have won the Copa del Rey both as Barça players and as Barça coaches.
Valverde won the Copa del Rey as a player back in 1990, when Barça’s coach was Johan Cruyff. Interestingly, that win for Cruyff put him into the same group, some 12 years after the Dutchman had led the team to the 1978 Copa del Rey as its star player.
Another pair with Copa del Rey championship connections are Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, who won back-to-back Cups together as players in the late 1990s before going on to win again, independently, as coaches.
Here are the six men who form Barça’s Cup winners’ club as players and coaches:
Ernesto Valverde
as player: 1990
as coach: 2018
Luis Enrique
as player: 1997, 1998
as coach: 2015, 2016, 2017
Pep Guardiola
as player: 1997, 1998
as coach: 2009, 2012
Johan Cruyff
as player: 1978
as coach: 1990
Domènec Balmanyà
as player: 1942
as coach: 1957
Romà Forns
as player: 1910, 1912, 1913
as coach: 1928
