Barcelona star Xavi excited to train 500 youngsters in Egypt
Karim Farouk , Sunday 21 Dec 2014


Barcelona star Xavi said on Sunday he is excited to train hundreds of Egyptian football youngsters, a practice he has never carried out outside of Catalonia.

Egypt is Xavi's first destination of a world tour as he moves oversees after 16 years of holding Campus Xavi in Girona, Spain.

"It's the first time to hold it out of Catalonia. We try to teach the children football and human values," the 34-year-old central midfielder, who is one of the mainstays of a hugely-successful Barcelona side, told a news conference in Cairo.

"Today marked the first training session with the kids, it was a great day and great experience for me. I'm trying to transmit my experience to the kids.

"You can immediately spot the talented players and it's very important to have a good eye. We give the kids the basic needs, like for instance how to mull your options before intercepting the ball and what to do afterwards."

Xavi will train the 500 Egyptian youngsters in the 6th of October City’s Palm Hills Club on the outskirts of Cairo.

"As I said before, the importance is that kids enjoy their game," he added.

The former Spain midfielder, who helped his country win their maiden World Cup title in 2010 and announced his international retirement following their group-stage elimination from the 2014 edition in Brazil, said he has no plans to hang up his boots.

"I want to play for years to come. People stop because their bodies give up, but for me I want to continue as much as I can."

"I still don’t want know what I will do with my career later [after retirement]," said Xavi, who visited Egypt in 2007 when Barcelona thrashed Cairo giants Ahly 4-0 during the Red Devils' centennial celebrations.

Xavi also said he was surprised to find out that Barca have a large fan base in Egypt. In recent years, Egyptian fans who support Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid have been poking fun at each others on social media.

"I was very surprised to know that Barcelona have such a fan base here. I'm proud of that," he commented.

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