Bengaluru FC announce former Barcelona assistant coach Albert Roca as new head coach

BENGALURU FC HAVE appointed veteran Spanish coach Albert Roca as their new head coach.

Roca, a former centre back who played for multiple lower division clubs like Palamos and Deportivo Aragón (made 2 La Liga appearances for Zaragoza and Sadabell) has been active as a professional football coach for 18 years now.

After managing two Tercera Division clubs CE Europa and AEC Manlleu, Roca became an assistant coach of his old club Sadabell who played in an upper tier. From there he was recruited by renowned manager Frank Rijkaard to be part of his personal staff. Roca followed Rijkaard as assistant manager and spent a decade with him at FC Barcelona, Galatasaray and the Saudi Arabia national team.

In 2014, he took his first solo managerial venture at the highest level by becoming the manager of the El Salvador national team. He left the job a year later.

As a coach, Albert Roca has been a part of major accomplishments in his previous assignments. He tasted major trophy success with Barcelona, lifting La Liga, the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

There's little doubt that never before in the history of the top division league in India have we seen an accomplished coach like Albert Roca ply his tread. The appointment sends out a strong signal from BFC that they are targeting not only the domestic league but also the Asian competitions. 

The Blues have an ongoing campaign in the AFC Cup; they are to play Tampines Rovers in the quarter finals in September. Come January, the Champions of India will play in the AFC Champions League qualifiers. This signing will go a long way to attract quality foreigners to their squad and help them further their ambition of projecting themselves as a formidable force in Asian football.