Barcelona name iconic defender as new Barca Atletic coach | OneFootball

Barcelona have named former defender Juliano Belletti as the new manager of their B side, Barca Atletic, for the upcoming season. The Brazilian has been given the tough task of getting the affiliate side promoted after a disappointing season.

Belletti is most famed for scoring the winner for Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal during his three-year spell at the club. He left in 2007, joining Chelsea, then Fluminense and Ceara before his retirement, in 2011. Now aged 48, Belletti is making progress as a manager.

Belletti’s return to Barcelona

He returned to the club in 2023 as an assistant for the under-19 staff. Belletti, would then spend six months alongside Rafael Marquez as an assistant in 2024, and last summer took over the under-19 side as the head coach. Now he makes his return to Barca Atletic as the main man, having previously held roles in the youth setup at Sao Paulo and Cruzeiro.

The former had reportedly sounded him out for a head coaching role, but nothing came of it, and now Belletti has a one-year contract with Barca Atletic. This season with the under-19 side, Belletti lifted the treble, including the UEFA Youth League.

Barca Atletic coming off relegation

Things were much less rosy for Barca Atletic, who last season were in the play-offs. After Marquez’s exit, Albert Sanchez took over, but struggled for most of the season. With two months to go, things improved under Sergi Mila, but he could not save them from relegation on the final day of the season. It marks a descent into the fourth tier of Spanish football for the first time since 2008, when Pep Guardiola won them promotion back to Segunda B.

That was their only dabble so low down the pyramid in Spanish football since 1974, four years after the team was founded. Mila is set to move into a directorial role at La Masia.