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Basketball
09.06.2008 14:09
Faith in the work done and the results
www.fcbarcelona.cat
What Xavi Pascual has done with AXA Barça corroborates the job he has been doing since he joined the club in the 2004-05 season to take charge of the EBA League team and coordinate the youth sides.
Xavi Pascual was born on 9 September 1972 and is an engineer by trade. He started out in basketball at CB Gavà (1990-91) in the mini-basketball category. In 1994 he moved to CB Cornellà where he was head coach of the under-20 and senior B teams. From 1995 to 1997 Pascual was Agustí Cuesta’s assistant coach at Cornellà, when the team were runners-up and then finished third in the League and won the EBA Catalan League.
From Cornellà Pascaul went to Sanfeliuenc and later on to CB Olesa, where his side got promotion to the EBA League in his first season. In the second campaign they came second.
Pascual left Olesa for Aracena, where he won the EBA Catalan League and got promotion to the LEB-2. In 2002-03 his side retained their LEB-2 League title and won promotion to the LEB. The following season, and in spite of winning the Catalan League, the team was relegated.
Gets team into ACB final
The Catalan coach took over at AXA FC Barcelona on 14 February 2008, when the club cancelled the contract of his predecessor Dusko Ivanovic. Pascual had been Ivanovic’s assistant since 2005-06.
Xavi Pascual’s first game was the debut in the Top 16 of the
Euroleague. AXA Barça were hosting Unicaja from Màlaga at the Palau Blaugrana. The final victory by
64-62 was the start of a turnaround for the team in a tough season.
The Catalans got through the Top 16 and were knocked out of Europe’s premier competition by Maccabi from Tel Aviv in the quarter finals. In the ACB League, AXA Barça ensured a spot in the Euroleague by reaching the final, where they lost to TAU from Vitòria.
A club man
Xavi Pascual has always seen himself as a man of the club. The Gavà native came to FC Barcelona in
the 2004-05 season and since then, as coach of the EBA League team, as assistant to Dusko Ivanovic
and then as head coach, Pascual has been consistent in what he says and what he does. “I
think that my players are the best in the world,” he said when he took over the AXA Barça
first team. “You will never hear me say anything different.” This positive approach and
a feeling of unity are two of the key factors in the way he does his job.
