Barcelona bring Thiago Alcantara back as first-team coach

Barcelona have confirmed that former midfielder Thiago Alcantara has returned to the club in a first-team coaching role, rejoining Hansi Flick’s backroom staff after a brief spell with the Spanish side last year. The 34-year-old, who retired from playing after leaving Liverpool, will work at the club’s training base, bringing playing and multilingual experience to a coaching group that has so far been light on personnel steeped in Spanish football.

Thiago first helped Flick and his staff during preseason last summer, a move designed to smooth the new manager’s adaptation to Barcelona. He left that short-term role later in 2024 after deciding to pursue coaching education and because he needed to reside in the United Kingdom for tax reasons, according to local reports and club statements at the time. The club now says he has accepted a permanent coaching position and will resume that work on a full-time basis.

The appointment reunites Flick and Thiago after their successful spell together at Bayern Munich, where Thiago was part of the squad that won the 2019 treble under Flick. It also marks the former Barcelona academy graduate’s first official post-playing role. Thiago came...