Barcelona has appointed former Portuguese international Deco (45) as the new sporting director. The former midfielder of clubs like FC Porto, Barcelona, and Chelsea is the successor to Jordi Cruyff.
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Earlier this year, Cruijff announced his departure from Barcelona. The son of Johan Cruijff was involved in the technical policy at Barça for two seasons, having played for the club between 1994 and 1996. Cruijff started as a member of the sports committee and was appointed as sporting director in September of last year.
With Deco, Barcelona fills the vacancy left by Cruijff. The Portuguese player was with Barça from 2004 to 2008 and, under the guidance of coach Frank Rijkaard and his assistant Henk ten Cate, won the Champions League in 2006. Two years earlier, Deco achieved success in the Champions League final against AS Monaco with José Mourinho's FC Porto.
Before returning to Barça, Deco was the agent of Barcelona forward Raphinha. With his new role as sporting director, the Brazilian-born Deco will relinquish that position. Deco has signed a three-year contract with the Catalan club and has been working behind the scenes for a while now.
In the coming weeks, Deco will continue to work alongside football director Mateu Alemany, whose contract ends on September 2nd. It appears that his role will cease to exist. In the upcoming weeks, the Catalan club will provide more information about a new organizational structure.
Updated: 04:17, 16 Aug 2023
