Vicente Javier 'Xavi' Valero Verchili (born 28 February 1973), is a Spanish former
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 ...
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
and current goalkeeping coach for
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
team
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
.
Football career
Player
Valero was born in
Castellón de la Plana
Castellón de la Plana (in ), or simply Castellón (), is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Costa del Azahar by the Mediterranean Sea. Th ...
in the
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...
. He played 67 games in
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 ...
, winning promotion with
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
(1997),
Real Murcia (2003) and
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 ...
in 2006, despite not being first-choice in any of those campaigns. He also represented
Córdoba in that division, and played 92
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 ...
matches, mainly for his hometown club
Castellón.
Released by Córdoba in 2004, but still training with the club, Valero moved abroad for the only time as a player in January 2005, to sign a one-month non-contract deal with
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
in
Football League One
The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...
.
Manager
Denis Smith signed him based on video footage.
[ As first-choice Andy Dibble had a thigh injury, Valero made his debut on 11 January in a 2–2 draw at Peterborough United.][ He made two more league appearances for the Red Dragons, as well as a 2–1 win in the ]FAW Premier Cup
The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Wales, Welsh association football, football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English fo ...
quarter-finals away to Haverfordwest County on 18 January, and shared teams with compatriot striker Juan Ugarte.
Goalkeeping coach
After retiring from playing, Valero took his coaching badges, gaining a Masters in Goalkeeper Coaching from the Royal Spanish Football Federation
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid.
RFEF organizes the natio ...
(RFEF) and a Master of Sports Psychology UNED in Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
.
After José Ochotorena decided to return to Spain to work with Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, Rafael Benítez
Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo.
Beníte ...
appointed Valero head goalkeeping coach of Liverpool in July 2007. He was praised by Liverpool striker Fernando Torres
Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...
as one of the biggest reasons for his goals; during training, he instructed the players on how goalkeepers in future games react to one-on-one situations.
Valero remained in Benítez's coaching staff at Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...
, Napoli
Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...
and Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
. In June 2018, he was named as goalkeeping coach as part of Manuel Pellegrini
Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...
's staff at West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
.
References
External links
*
Xavi Valero
at BDFutbol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valero, Xavi
1973 births
Living people
Footballers from Castellón de la Plana
Spanish men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
CD Castellón footballers
RCD Mallorca B players
RCD Mallorca players
CD Logroñés footballers
Real Murcia CF players
Córdoba CF players
Wrexham A.F.C. players
Recreativo de Huelva players
UDA Gramenet footballers
English Football League players
Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff
Real Madrid CF non-playing staff
West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff
Expatriate men's footballers in Wales
Spanish expatriate men's footballers
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Wales
Association football goalkeeping coaches
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy