By Rotimi Agboluaje
In a bold move to reposition its sports sector and unlock grassroots potential, the Bayelsa State Government has identified two senior officials of FC Barcelona to drive what it described as a comprehensive revolution of football talents in the state.
The officials — Bernat Villa Gorriz and Alberto Lafuente Rincón — are seasoned technical directors within the Barça Academy structure and are expected to anchor a new high-performance framework for youth development, coach education and talent identification across Bayelsa.
Government sources said the partnership is designed to align Bayelsa’s football ecosystem with FC Barcelona’s globally acclaimed methodology, which has produced generations of elite players.
Gorriz, an experienced football coach, technical director and development specialist, brings over 15 years of professional experience in elite player development and international football projects. Armed with a degree in Industrial Engineering and a UEFA-A Coaching Licence, he combines analytical depth with top-level technical expertise.
He began his coaching career in Catalonia, working with youth-focused sides such as CF Damm, Atlètic Sant Just FC and Sant Cugat FC, where he built a strong foundation in youth development and competitive football.
In 2013, he joined FC Barcelona as a coach at the Barça Academy, contributing to the development of young talents under the club’s renowned football philosophy. By 2016, he was appointed Technical Director of Barça Academy Lagos, Nigeria, where he led sporting structures, coach education programmes and player development strategy.
His rise within the Barcelona system continued in 2019 when he became Technical Director for the Americas region, overseeing multiple academies and implementing unified training standards. In 2023, he assumed broader responsibilities as Technical Director for the Americas, Europe and Africa, managing large-scale international projects.
In 2024, Gorriz was appointed Technical Director for Europe and Africa, alongside serving as Project Manager for Africa within FC Barcelona’s scouting department — a role that places him at the forefront of talent identification and long-term football development strategies across the continent.
On his part, Lafuente Rincón is a senior football executive with over a decade of international experience in elite player development and technical leadership. A graduate in Sports Science with a UEFA-B Coaching Licence, he blends executive management with deep technical knowledge of youth systems and high-performance structures.
He began his professional journey in Spain with CD Numancia, gaining valuable exposure to academy structures and long-term performance models. In 2018, he joined Barça Academy Lagos, helping to implement FC Barcelona’s methodology in Nigeria.
A year later, he was appointed Technical Director of Barça Academy Pune, India, where he assumed full responsibility for sporting strategy, coach education and alignment with Barcelona’s global standards.
Between 2019 and 2025, Lafuente Rincón served as Technical Director across multiple Barça Academy projects in Dubai, the United States and Japan, while also acting as Global Camp Coordinator, leading camps in Taiwan, Australia, Argentina and Colombia.
For Bayelsa’s teeming young footballers and coaches, the arrival of the two Barcelona technical chiefs is seen as a potential turning point, one that could transform raw talent into global-standard excellence and position the state as a new hub of football development in Nigeria.
