COACH IN FOCUS: David Badía

David Badia has built a diverse coaching career across several countries and cultures, including Turkey, Cyprus, Poland, and his home country Spain, where he was part of FC Barcelona’s youth setup and worked as an assistant coach at UD Almería. Throughout his career, he has often taken over teams in challenging situations, guiding them to stability and competitiveness in both the short and long term at clubs such as Antalyaspor, Ethnikos Achna, AEK Larnaca, and Lechia Gdańsk. In our conversation, David Badia shares his observations on the differences in football and culture across countries, the principles that define his teams on the pitch, and the strategies he relies on to make teams perform under pressure.

You have worked as a coach in different countries and cultures - including Turkey, Cyprus, Poland and your home country Spain, where you were part of FC Barcelona’s youth setup and worked as an assistant coach at UD Almería. What differences have you noticed in football itself, but also in daily life and the cultures of these countries? What surprised you the most and what has had a lasting impact on you, both as a coach and as a person? Was there a particular country or club that significantly changed the way you see football?

David Badía: Having worked in environments as diverse as La Masía (FC Barcelona), the Turkish Super Lig, or the Polish Ekstraklasa has taught me that football is a universal language, but the dialect changes across every border. In Spain, and specifically during my formative years at Barcelona and first team in Almeria, the focus is obsessively tactical; the "how" we win matters just as much as winning itself. Making the leap to Turkey or Cyprus, you encounter a passionate style of football, where dressing room management and hierarchy often outweigh the tactical board. In Poland, however, I was surprised by the physical discipline and verticality; the player there is an athlete who executes orders with military precision, which forces you to be very direct in your instruction.

What has impacted me the most, both personally and professionally, is not what happens during the 90 minutes, but the cultural importance of "Invisible Training" (nutrition, rest, lifestyle). The biggest challenge as a foreign coach is convincing the local player that their profession lasts 24 hours, not just the two they spend on the pitch. Adapting that message to the local culture without aggressively imposing it has been my greatest learning experience.

This transition from the academy to the international elite transformed my vision: Positional Play remains my foundation, but traveling taught me that possession without verticality in physical leagues is sterile. Today, I value pressing after loss and transitions with the same importance as organized attack. My international experience has shaped a coaching profile that does not attempt to "copy and paste" a system, but rather arrives with a clear methodological structure capable of adapting to the club's idiosyncrasy to extract maximum immediate performance.

A recurring pattern in your career is that you often take over teams in difficult or even critical situations and manage to stabilize them in the short term or develop them over the longer term - whether at Antalyaspor, Ethnikos Achna, AEK Larnaca or Lechia Gdańsk. In your opinion, what is the key to making a team competitive quickly under pressure and what do you focus on most as a coach in those moments?

David Badía: When taking over a team in a critical situation or mid-season, as has happened in various stages of my career abroad, time is the scarcest and most valuable resource. The key to competing immediately does not lie in overloading the player with complex information, but in drastically reducing their cognitive load to increase their reaction speed. My experience in demanding contexts like Turkey or Poland has taught me that, in moments of crisis, the player needs certainties, not doubts; therefore, my first intervention is always to simplify the game model to its most essential and practical principles.

My absolute priority in the first weeks is to stop the competitive "bleeding" by organizing the team from back to front. We focus obsessively on defensive structure and, above all, on rest defense - protecting spaces while we have the ball. If we ensure that every player knows exactly where to position themselves on the pitch - what I call "Fundamentals by Ubication" in my methodology - the team regains security. A block that is difficult to beat gains the time and confidence needed to learn how to win. I do not seek immediate aesthetic perfection, but competitive solidity, establishing non-negotiable behaviors such as intensity in pressing after loss and rigorous order in tracking back.

Chaos generates insecurity, and insecurity leads to individual errors. To combat this, I use role clarity as my main psychological tool. Each player receives a clear and concise description of what is expected of them in their specific position, eliminating ambiguity. When the footballer understands that their responsibility is delimited and manageable, anxiety decreases and natural performance emerges. We transform the dressing room mentality by stopping playing "not to lose" and starting to play with a structure that protects them, which paradoxically frees them to be more daring in attack.

On a methodological level, even if we simplify the tactics, we never negotiate on intensity. From day one, we install training sessions that faithfully replicate the conditional demand of the real match. We train exactly as we want to play. By increasing the demand and concentration in daily sessions, the team habituates itself to the rhythm of competition that the league requires. Ultimately, my approach in these high-pressure moments is based on coherence: offering a clear game plan, defined roles, and maximum standards in the day-to-day work, allowing us to get immediate results while, silently, we build the tactical and physical foundations of the team for the long term.

If someone were watching your team play without seeing the shirt colors, the club badge or the name, how would they recognize that it is your team? What footballing principles and values do you stand for as a coach and what must your teams show on the pitch for you to feel satisfied on the touchline?

David Badía: If someone were watching my team play without seeing the shirt colors, the club badge, or the names on the back, they would recognize us instantly not by a specific formation, but by the relentless energy and the collective intent of our actions. Football is, above all, a spectacle, and we are the actors responsible for the show. For the crowd to go crazy in the stands, the players must first genuinely enjoy themselves on the pitch. You would see a team that has fun playing precisely because they dominate the ball, they dictate the rhythm, and they are not afraid to take risks in their pursuit of the opponent’s goal.

This identity is built on a modern, protagonist style designed to maximize individual player development. We apply what I call "Fundamentals by Ubication," which gives the player a clear understanding of where to stand and how to move. Far from restricting them, this structural order is exactly what gives them the freedom to express their talent. You would see players who constantly offer solutions, looking for the "third man" to break lines and occupying the "pockets" of space to hurt the opposition. It is a style where the goalkeeper is an outfield player and the striker is the first defender; everyone is connected by a shared brain.

Defensively, the trait that defines us is bravery. We do not speculate or wait for the opponent to make a mistake; we force it. You would see a team that defends forward, suffocating the opponent in their own half with an aggressive high press and an immediate reaction after losing the ball. We live in the opponent's territory, shrinking the playing field to keep the game far from our goal. This intensity is contagious; it transmits a sense of hunger and ambition that the fans immediately perceive and appreciate.

Ultimately, you would recognize my team because the boundary between the pitch and the stands disappears. The fans vibrate because they see a group of players who treat every possession as an opportunity to attack, not just to rest. I am only satisfied on the touchline when I see that we have delivered a performance where the players have grown professionally during the 90 minutes, enjoying their role as protagonists, and the fans leave the stadium proud of the bravery and the spectacle they just witnessed.

Thank you very much, David, for your time!