Xavier "Xavi" Bartolo Moliné (born 7 October 1968) is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is the current sporting director of

CE Atlètic Lleida Club Esportiu Atlètic Lleida is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded on 22 June 2019, they play in , holding home games at ''Camp de Futbol Municipal Ramón Fa ...

Playing career

Born in

Bellver de Cerdanya ; ) is a town in the comarca of Cerdanya, province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of . Integrated villages and hamlets *Baltarga, 38 inhabitants *Beders, 14 inhabitants *Bellver de Cerdanya, 1.314 inhabitants *Bor (Bellver de Cer ...

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Bartolo spent several campaigns with the reserves before making his first-team debut during the 1989–90 season, achieving promotion from

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. After a one-year loan to

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

side

UD Fraga Unión Deportiva Fraga is a Spanish football team based in Fraga, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1947 it plays in , holding home games at ''La Estacada'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History The club was founded in 1926. ...

, he returned to Lleida in July 1991 and was definitely promoted to the main squad. Bartolo made his professional debut on 1 September 1991, starting in a 0–3

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

away loss against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

. Fourteen days later he scored his first goals in the category, netting a brace in a 3–1 win at

UE Figueres Unió Esportiva Figueres is a Spanish football team based in Figueres, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1919 and refounded in 2007 it plays in the , holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Vilatenim'', with a seating cap ...

. Bartolo achieved promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

in the 1992–93 campaign, scoring a career-best eight goals in 29 appearances. He made his first appearance in the main category on 5 September 1993, starting in a 0–1 away defeat to

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. Bartolo left Lleida in 1995, and signed for

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

in the third division. The following January, he joined second level side

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

, but featured rarely. In 1996 Bartolo agreed to a contract with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

, and retired with the club in 1998 at the age of just 30.

Coaching career

In June 2009, Bartolo was named assistant of Javi López at

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

, after previously working for Lleida,

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

, Gimnàstic and

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

as a fitness coach. He was also

Luis César Sampedro Luis Ángel César Sampedro (born 3 May 1966), known as Luis César, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently manager of Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Playing career Born in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Province of Pontevedra, ...

's assistant at ''Nàstic'' before moving to

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

and reuniting with López. Bartolo subsequently worked as a fitness coach for

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

before being appointed manager of EF Valls' youth setup on 4 March 2014. In July, he joined

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before ...

as a fitness coach, and became the assistant manager of

Aritz López Garai Aritz López Garai (born 6 November 1980) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently manager of the Mauritania national team. He amassed Segunda División totals of 325 matches and 13 goals over n ...

in 2017. In May 2018, Bartolo replaced López Garai at the helm of Reus as the latter had a

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

surgery. of On 23 June, he was definitely appointed manager. Halfway through the 2018–19 season, Bartolo, along with the rest of the Reus players and staff, left the club after it was expelled by the LFP. On 16 May 2019, Bartolo returned to Gimnàstic after being named manager for the 2019–20 campaign. He was dismissed on 17 November, with the club having spent three weeks in the relegation zone.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartolo, Xavi 1968 births Living people People from Cerdanya (comarca) Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players UE Lleida players Levante UD footballers CD Leganés players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Spanish football managers CF Reus Deportiu managers Gimnàstic de Tarragona managers Footballers from the Province of Lleida 20th-century Spanish sportsmen