Before Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, and Lamine Yamal, the first La Masia graduate to become a Barcelona icon was Guillermo Amor. Born in Benidorm, Amor received an invitation to Barcelona’s fledgling academy in January 1980 after scoring in the youth league against the Blaugrana. Amor rose through the ranks and eventually made his debut under new manager Johan Cruyff in 1988/89, scoring 13 goals in 36 games and helping the Blaugranas win the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. The following season, however, would see Amor break the deadlock as Barcelona won 2-0 against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. This would prove a turning point as Barcelona ended Real Madrid’s domestic dominance and won four consecutive league titles, as well as the European Cup (now the Champions League).
Amor did not stop at club level, scoring the winner against Romania to lead Spain to the quarter-finals of Euro 1996, before playing in all three of their matches at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Scoring four goals in 37 games for Spain between 1990 and 1998, after returning from France, Amor was frozen out of the first team under Louis van Gaal, leaving Barcelona as the club’s most decorated player and spending the next two seasons at Fiorentina.
Then he returned to LaLiga with newly-promoted Villarreal helping the newly-promoted side cement their position in the top flight, before enjoying a duck song with Scottish outfit Livingston. Since retiring in 2003, he has enjoyed four separate spells with Barcelona in addition to a spell as Adelaide United’s Technical Director and Head Coach. Now 58, Amor spends his time in Barcelona, working with his eldest son (a licensed FIFA agent) in his player consultancy business. Football España sat down to pick Amor’s wealth of brains in football.
What does a typical 9-to-5 look like in the life of Guillermo Amor?
Well, the truth is that it’s been a few years since I left Barcelona, but it was good that I dedicated myself a little to what I’ve always done – things related to football. After leaving Barcelona in 2021, I started my own consulting and player representation business. I started with a group of people, but due to the circumstances, we ended up going very slowly on our journey. My eldest son, who is 30 years old, got his FIFA agent’s license, and from then on, we both work together. We do the daily things during the week, Monday to Friday, we look at what we are doing with the boys we are managing, and we plan the weekend, which is a non-stop series of games on Saturday and Sunday when we go from pitch to pitch, follow our players a little bit and discover other skills.
Back when you were growing up, Barcelona had never won the European Cup… Since its inception, it has won five. How proud are you to have played a key role in their transformation into one of the biggest clubs in the world?
I’m so proud… you won’t believe how proud I am. It is the highest level that a professional footballer aspires to reach: first, to reach a certain level, whether it is Segunda or La Liga. But to be able to reach the first team of Barcelona, as one of the many local players who have been with Barcelona since the age of 11/12 years, who have been fighting and struggling and fighting to reach the first team, well, if it happens, I think it is very good. I think it is the greatest thing that can happen to a soccer player… after many years and effort, to finally reach the first team, especially your team.
Getting to the top is one thing, but it’s another thing entirely to end up with a team you feel like you belong to and want to play for. This is why I believe that Barcelona has a unique and special strength, because it relies heavily on local talent and is very active in the development of youth football at the grassroots level. It focuses on young players from the academy and gambles on them, as we see in the multi-talented first-team players today, and so do we, we know what it’s like to play for your club, the one you love, the one you care about and defend to the death – this idea of, “Don’t touch my club.” Here, you have to die for the club, and that gives you strength, apart from talent and other things: loving your club and playing for your team is the best thing.”
You managed to make your mark at not just one, but two Spanish clubs – why did you decide to leave Fiorentina and move to Villarreal?
There was a player I played with in Barcelona, and later I faced against Sampdoria in the European Cup Final, Victor Munoz, who ended up being the manager of Villarreal, and he asked me, “Hey, do you want to come here? We will work well together.’ Ultimately, if a coach calls you and shows interest, I think that’s the best thing. People may want to sign you, but when the coach trusts you and says, “Hey, come, we’ll work well together,” that’s what motivated me to come back to Spain and be close to my family and my home.
📸 Pablo Gavi is making progress with his recovery. [@FCBarcelona] pic.twitter.com/zFRlioAqyz
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 18, 2026
Villarreal was in a very good league and a very good project, and I think we did very well in our first season, although the second season was very difficult. But I also really appreciate it, I’m happy about it, and I don’t regret it at all, on the contrary. I participated in a few games and I felt good, because when you get older and you see that you still feel good and you can play, it makes you happy. It’s not like when you’re 23 and you’re like a rocket compared to 33. When you’re 33 years old and you’re still going, you think, “Wow, I’m still here, I’m still going to train,” and I thanked him as a professional.
Finally, when it’s all said and done, what do you think your legacy will be on and off the field? What do you want people to remember you for?
I don’t know. I think each person will have different memories, but if they remember something, that’s already good. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but if they remember it, or in some way, that means they were moved by something, even if they were caught in that moment. As someone who always tries to do the best he can, and who may have made mistakes along the way, when someone remembers that you were able to lend them a hand at some point, that’s nice too. That’s the most important thing: that the people you’ve had around you, have had a good time with you at some point, somehow.”
“I don’t even say that they have learned anything, because I don’t like the idea of teaching: it’s not about going around teaching people, but those times you spend with many people in clubs, whether you’re young or veteran, their memory saying: “Hey, we had such a good time! What a great teammate! How well we worked together! How well behaved we were!” That kind of thing is always great. On a personal level, it’s always about, above all, seeing that your family and your children are doing well, and that your children, thank God, are also pursuing careers, becoming independent, happy on their own, and that they’re good people…I think that’s great.”
