Xavi Hernandez responded with humour after being told he was the Netherlands’ third choice for their head coach position, following Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot.
The former Barcelona manager was appearing at his official unveiling in Zeist when Nigel de Jong, the technical director of the Dutch Football Association, revealed details of the recruitment process.
De Jong, seated alongside Xavi, said the association had initially approached Guardiola, but the Manchester City manager had chosen to take a year away from coaching. The Netherlands then turned to Slot, who preferred to remain focused on club football, before appointing Xavi as their third option.
The disclosure immediately caught the attention of Dutch reporters, who saw an opportunity to test Xavi during his first formal engagement with the national team, widely known as the Oranje.
After De Jong had finished speaking, one journalist asked Xavi how it felt to know he had been selected only after Guardiola and Slot. The question appeared designed to place the Spanish coach in an awkward position at the start of his tenure.
Xavi, however, answered with a smile and the confident humour for which he is known.
“Came after Guardiola and Slot? The important thing is that I was on the podium! I do not care at all if I was the third choice, this appointment is a badge of honour for me.”
His response carried an unmistakable sporting reference. Rather than presenting himself as someone who had missed out, Xavi compared his position in the process to winning a bronze medal: not first, but still among those who finished on the podium.
De Jong then moved to explain why the Dutch FA had ultimately settled on Xavi. He said the 46-year-old viewed himself as a continuation of the Dutch football philosophy and shared a commitment to attacking football based on possession, control and taking the initiative.
Those qualities made Xavi, in the association’s view, the best fit to lead the Netherlands’ rebuilding project after Ronald Koeman’s departure. Koeman left following the disappointing elimination by Morocco in the last 32 of the World Cup.
Xavi’s composure during the exchange was perhaps unsurprising given his long association with Barcelona. As a player, he spent years operating under intense scrutiny and leading the club through some of its most difficult periods. As a manager, he also faced strong criticism from the media after poor results.
That experience meant the questions in Zeist were unlikely to unsettle him. Having dealt with the pressure of the Catalan and Spanish press regarded as among the most demanding in Europe Xavi appeared comfortable treating the “third-choice” revelation as a light-hearted opening test rather than a serious setback.
His first public appearance as Netherlands manager therefore ended with the new coach turning an potentially uncomfortable detail about his appointment into a confident statement of intent.
