Two years ago, the Spanish women’s soccer team emerged during the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, capturing the championship with a flair- and speed-based style. Meanwhile, back home, FC Barcelona has been dominating the club scene, taking the last two UEFA Women’s Champions League titles and compiling a 127-7-5 record since falling in the 2021-22 final. Among those taking notice were the Washington Spirit of the NWSL, hiring Barcelona coach Jonatan Giraldez, and last year finishing second to the Orlando Pride. Now, Boston’s NWSL entry could be following suit with the addition of general manager Domenec Guasch, former head of management for women’s football at Barcelona, in preparation for fielding a team in 2026. Trying to replicate the Barcelona blueprint in Boston might be unrealistic, but Guasch is unfazed. During a February interview at the team’s Copley Plaza offices, Guasch expressed a strong understanding of the US soccer system and the difficulties of establishing the game at the club level. “We want to be a team that is the protagonist on the field,” Guasch said. “We want to be an attacking team. We want to be a team that normally sets the tone in a game. And we know that sometimes we will fail at that, but that’s our aim and that’s what we want to be. That’s the part of my DNA and my culture that even if I try to step away from, it’s my nature. “But at the same time we will have to adapt, because there are a certain type of players here that are different than the youth players we would be getting from Barcelona.” Guasch’s responsibilities, according to the team bio, include, “first team performance, scouting and recruitment, player acquisition, player care, medical and performance, analytics, soccer operations and administration, compliance.” That might be a lot to ask of Guasch, 33, considering he has had only one year of top-level club experience. Guasch, though, seems to have been preparing for such a role since first stepping into coaching in his Begues hometown, outside Barcelona, at age 16. Guasch joined the Barcelona development staff in 2011, and three years later the club sent Guasch to Brazil to run the academy program, then expanded his duties to New York. Last year, Guasch returned to Barcelona as the women’s team won the Champions League. Guasch, hired in December, first set out to assemble a coaching staff. On Tuesday, reports indicated the Legacy had hired Filipa Patão of Portugal as head coach. “It’s about how they see the game, and how they execute that. We’re looking for a coach that can bring that vision in and prove they can execute it and align the players to execute it,“ Guasch said prior to hiring a coach. ”But at the same time it has to be a coach that understands we have to adapt in a league like this and with the players we have. “So, it’s a coach that not only focuses on the technical side and in developing that style of play and that playing idea, and [the coach is] there not just focusing on winning games — [the coach is] focused on building a culture that will persist and will support the club no matter who is part of the club in the future.” Although the US’s tactical and technical flaws were exposed in the Women’s World Cup, the Americans recovered to win the Olympic gold medal last year. “No country has more players coming from the youth system than this one,” Guasch said. “So statistically you have those players that can play the game. It’s about, ‘OK, how do we play?’ That’s probably the main difference here. “The influence of other sports has sometimes been more of an individualistic perspective — I want to make it to college; I want to get better — and not as much as the collective perspective of us getting better as a team and then myself getting better as a result of the collective getting better.” Guasch hopes to tap into the talent of New England, which produced the reigning US women’s player of the year (goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher) and young player of the year (Ally Sentnor). But Guasch will not have history on his side. At the club level three incarnations of the Boston Breakers, from 2001-17, failed to survive — victims of failings of their own or their leagues (the WUSA and WPS folded), plus limited fan support despite boasting several international stars, including all-time caps leader Kristine Lilly. “I’ve talked to players that were part of that and all of them have a good feeling about their times in the team, even though they can point to many things that were not done properly,” Guasch said. “A lot of them are retired and all expressed if I can be part of this I will be happy to go back to Boston because there are great memories. “Boston is a great city, so that’s the easy part for me in the sense that, hey, a lot of players see a move to Boston as something cool and positive.”
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