10 things you didn't know about Pere Romeu
Pere Romeu has been named the new blaugrana Women's coach. After the departure of Jonatan Giráldez, the Catalan coach has moved from being part of the coaching staff to take on the lead role for a team that won the quadruple last season. Let's take an in-depth look at the new coach, here are 10 things you probably didn't know.
1) 30-year-old Pere Romeu is Barcelona through and through. His football career was short, beginning at local side Europa, where he remained from the U14s through to the U16s. He then played for another local side in CP Sarrià, always in midfield, from the U17s through to second year amateur level.
2) It was at CP Sarrià that he would make the move into coaching, a role he remained in when he moved to L'Hospitalet, a more demanding club as it was competing at a higher level. There he combined coaching the U15s with the U16s. Throughout the years, Romeu has always been very curious to meet new coaches and learn new methods, so he travelled widely across the country to pick up new ways to coach.
3) He joined Can Barça in 2017 as assistant coach of the U10s, and then he became assistant coach to the person he considers as his “footballing father”, Sergi Milà, coaching the U16s and U17s in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 season respectively. This two-year period saw him coach players such as Gavi and Ilias Akhomach.
4) He left FC Barcelona in 2020 to join Viitorul Constanta in Romania, a club run by former blaugrana Gica Hagi with former blaugrana Gheorghe Popescu as president. There he was assistant to Rubén de la Barrera, a short yet very rewarding period as the Romanian club committed to young players. Pere Romeu returned to Barça after his experience abroad for the 2021/22 season.
5) His idol in football has always been Deco, FC Barcelona's current Director of Football. His benchmark coach is Josep Guardiola. The best ever Barça side coincided when Pere Romeu started to become aware of football.
6) When it comes to musical tastes, Pere Romeu follows urban music very closely. In this sense, he says he is a fan of C Tangana and Cruz Cafuné. About the former, he believes he wants to make a difference in society through what he does, something that Romeu identifies strongly with, as he wants to be remembered for how he operates. The latter is because he wrote his favourite song - Cangrinaje.
7) Pere Romeu also acknowledges that he is very interested in architecture. It comes from his family, as his father is an architect and his mother a landscape architect. His brother, however, is involved in the film sector.
8) When it comes to films, Pere Romeu states that one of his favourites is 'La sociedad de la nieve', Juan Antonio Bayona's drama from 2023 that won 12 Goya awards.
9) His favourite book is 'El arte del saber ligero' by Xavier Nueno, which looks into information overload.
10) If you ask him for a dream, Pere Romeu will answer that what he would most like to do is spend many years being a coach, as it is what he is most passionate about.