 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pere Romeu Sunyer | ||
| Date of birth | 1993 (age 31–32) | ||
| Place of birth | Barcelona,Catalonia, Spain | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | FC Barcelona Femení (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Europa | |||
| Sarrià | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Sarrià B | |||
| Sarrià | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| Sarrià under-10 | |||
| L'Hospitalet under-15 | |||
| L'Hospitalet under-16 | |||
| 2017–18 | Barcelona under-10 (assistant) | ||
| 2018–19 | Barcelona Cadet B (assistant) | ||
| 2019–20 | Barcelona Cadet A (assistant) | ||
| 2020 | Viitorul (assistant) | ||
| 2021–24 | Barcelona Femení (assistant) | ||
| 2024– | Barcelona Femení | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Pere Romeu Sunyer (b. 1993) is a Spanishassociation football coach and former footballer who is the current head coach ofLiga F teamFC Barcelona Femení. He has previously coached atLa Masia.
Pere Romeu Sunyer was born in 1993 inBarcelona.[1] He has a variety of artistic interests, including music, film and architecture – his father is an architect, his mother alandscape architect, and his brother works in film. Romeu "started to become aware of football" whenFC Barcelona was experiencing its best period in the 2000s, and considersPep Guardiola his managerial idol.[2]
In his playing career, Romeu was adefensive midfielder who spent two years in the youth sections ofCE Europa, up to under-16 level, before joining amateur clubCP Sarrià. He played at Sarrià in the under-17s before moving up.[2] In his second year in the under-18 team, he suffered ananterior cruciate ligament injury.[3] The injury kept him from playing for the rest of the season, and half of the next season; he stayed around the team and made suggestions to the coaching staff before returning to play at the end of the season and helping the team to win their league and gain promotion,[4] and playing some games with the first team.[5]
His football idol was alwaysDeco.[2] In 2024 his former Sarrià coach compared his playing style to that ofKeira Walsh, describing Romeu as a pivot with good vision but who rarely advanced,[3][4] even becoming "more aggressive defensively" as he progressed.[5]
Romeu began his coaching career in the youth sections of his club, CP Sarrià. Having offered coaching suggestions while out with injury, and being good with children, the club directors asked him to coach the under-10 (benjamín [es]) youth level.[4] He then moved to coach atCE L'Hospitalet,[1] taking on both the under-15 and under-16 sections together. As L'Hospitalet competed at a higher level, its youth ranks were more demanding. Romeu travelled around Spain to meet other coaches and learn new methods.[2]
FC Barcelona coaching staff noticed Romeu at L'Hospitalet and were impressed with his vision of the game. In 2017, he joined Barcelona'sLa Masia, initially working with thebenjamín squad. After a season, his dedication saw him named the assistant[4] toSergi Milà in coaching the 2004 generation – includingGavi,Ángel Alarcón,Ilias Akhomach andAleix Garrido – in their successive sections for the next two years.[1][4]
Romeu stepped up to coaching senior football in 2020, as an assistant toRubén de la Barrera atFC Viitorul Constanța in Romania,[1] afterGheorghe Hagi left the head coach position – between Hagi and presidentGheorghe Popescu, the team had Barcelona connections, and was committed to developing young players, which Romeu found rewarding.[2]
During the2020–21 season, Romeu was assistant for 12 games before Viitorul (in the top division) sacked its entire coaching staff in November 2020[6][7] and merged with the otherConstanța team, second-divisionFC Farul Constanța. The new entity continued playing at Viitorul's stadium but the rest of Viitorul was effectively replaced by Farul, with Hagi becoming owner and coach.[8]
He returned to Barcelona whenJonatan Giráldez became head coach ofFC Barcelona Femení in 2021, as one of Giráldez' assistants along with Rafel Navarro. Romeu worked in analytics and game preparations, with the club considering him important to the dominance they experienced under Giráldez,[9][10] winning ten of the twelve available trophies.[1]
As assistants, Romeu and Navarro were considered equal, and were both considered to take over as head coach when Giráldez left the club in 2024. Romeu, noted for a strength in analytics and his strong relationships with players, was selected;[1][10] he was reported to have been internally chosen in February 2024,[11] and took over after the conclusion of the perfect2023–24 season in June.[9] Romeu's appointment was the third successive time Barcelona Femení promoted one of their assistants to be head coach (followingLluís Cortés and Giráldez); the team's success since beginning this pattern in 2019 prompted faith in continuity.[10]