Joan Vilà Bosch joined F.C. Barcelona at the age of 17 and has belonged to Barça almost ever since. He’s played for them, he’s coached them, and he served as Director of Methodology from 2011 to 2018. At Barça’s famous La Masia youth academy, still in his teens, he met a coach named Laureano Ruiz “who was quite ahead of his time and whose teachings on football stayed with us for good. He devoted time to each of his players, not just to the team as a whole.”

When his time as a footballer came to an end – at 30 and due to injuries – he first considered becoming a coach. Three decades after, his company Go Up pioneers “individual focus” in European football and can showcase some impressive success cases among elite players. Vilà will coordinate the Performance track at World Football Summit 2022.