Sergio Busquets Returns to Barcelona as Coach

Sergio Busquets is back at Barcelona. Not on the pitch this time, but on the touchline, taking his first steps into coaching with the club where he became a modern midfield reference.

The 38-year-old has joined Barça Athletic as part of Juliano Belletti's staff, working with the reserve side in Spain's fourth tier while he finishes his coaching badges. It is a low-profile starting point for one of the most decorated players in the club’s history, but a deliberate one: learn the trade, shape the next generation, and help drag the B team back up the pyramid.

Barça Athletic were playing in the second division as recently as 2018. Since then, the slide has been sharp, dropping two levels into the Segunda Federación. Belletti and Busquets inherit a dual mission: promotion to the third tier and, just as crucially, a steady flow of ready-made talent for the first team.

Busquets knows this path better than most. He joined Barcelona as a teenager in 2005 and cut his teeth with the reserves, making 25 appearances before Pep Guardiola pulled him into the senior squad. From there, he became a fixture.

By the time he left, Busquets had played 722 games for the Catalan giants. Only Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández have worn the shirt more often. His honours list reads like a club museum tour: nine LaLiga titles, three Champions Leagues, and a stack of domestic and international trophies that defined an era of dominance.

His influence extended well beyond club football. Capped 143 times by Spain, Busquets anchored the La Roja side that conquered the world and Europe in back-to-back tournaments, lifting the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championships in 2012.

When he finally walked away from Camp Nou, he did not head into retirement straight away. In 2023, he joined Inter Miami, reuniting with close friends and former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez in Florida. Even there, the winning habit followed him. Busquets made 116 appearances for Miami, helping the club win the Leagues Cup in 2023 and the MLS Cup in 2025 before calling time on his playing career.

Now he returns to the place where it all began, only this time with a clipboard instead of a pivot role to patrol. For Barcelona’s youngsters, the man who once turned midfield control into an art form is suddenly the one setting the drills and correcting their positioning.

If he can transmit even a fraction of what he saw and lived at the top level, Barça Athletic’s climb back up the ladder might be only the start of his second act at the club.