Mexico legend Rafa Marquez has been named boss of Barcelona‘s B team, Barca Atletic, the club announced on Thursday.
In a statement, Barca said Marquez, 43, would coach the B team for the next two seasons until 2024. He will take charge of his first preseason training session on Saturday.
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It comes after Sergi Barjuan stepped down as Barca Atletic coach after he failed to win promotion to the Spanish second-tier last season.
Sources told ESPN last month that Marquez was on the verge of taking the role, and now the former midfielder has returned to the club where he spent seven years from 2003-2010.
Marquez was one of Barca president Joan Laporta’s first signings during his first spell at the club, joining from Monaco in 2003.
He went on to make 242 appearances for the Catalan club, winning two Champions League titles and four LaLiga trophies.
❗️ 𝐔́𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐀
🤩 @RafaMarquezMX, nou entrenador del Barça Atlètic
👏 Rafa Márquez, nuevo entrenador del Barça Atlétic #BentornatRafa 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/t7tL3u1DVZ
— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) July 14, 2022
Marquez was also a stalwart for the Mexico national team from 1997 to his retirement in 2018, making 147 appearances and becoming only the third man to play in five World Cups at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Marquez and Laporta have remained close since the former Mexico international left the club, and the Barca president first tried to bring him back to Camp Nou as coach of the Under-19 team last summer.
That proposed move fell through, however, as Marquez featured on a United States list of people linked to drug trafficking.
But Marquez, who always maintained his innocence, was removed from the list last September, paving the way for his appointment as Barca Atletic manager.
It is the 43-year-old’s second job in coaching in Spain after a brief spell in which he took charge of Alcala de Madrid’s Under-16 team.
Now Marquez will be tasked with nurturing the next generation of Barca talent — Gavi, Nico Gonzalez and Ronald Araujo are some of the players who have made the step up from the B team to the first team in recent years.
Barca Atletic play in the third-tier of Spanish football and finished ninth in their 20-team group last season.
