The Kerala Blasters recently announced the appointment of David Català as their New Head Coach on a one-year deal till 2026. The Spaniard arrived at Kochi earlier this morning and will soon join with the team to prepare for the upcoming Super Cup campaign.
At just 44 years of age, David Català is the youngest coach in the history of the Blasters and also the second Spaniard in history to coach the Men in Yellow. This appointment also marks Català’s first managerial venture out of Europe, as the Spaniard’s relatively short managerial career only took him across 3 countries that being Cyprus, Croatia and Spain.
A former youth product of Spanish side Espanyol, his playing career as a defender spanned over 500 games including stints at Celta Vigo, however, his longest stint came at Cypriot side AEK Larnaca, where he eventually retired in 2019.
His coaching career picked off from where his playing career stopped, as he was soon appointed as the Head Coach of the U-19 Team of AEK Larnaca just months after announcing his retirement from playing football. After nearly a year in that role, David quickly rose through the ranks to become the Head Coach of the Senior Team in 2021.
In his first season as the manager of a Senior side, David managed to remain under charge for 29 games, losing only 5 out of them. However, he couldn’t complete the year/the season as the manager as he was sacked midway by Larnaca following a dry spell of 6 consecutive draws and 2 losses in the initial 3 playoff games.
His next assignment as a Head Coach was again in the Cypriot First Tier, this time with Apollon Limassol, who were the reigning champions when he arrived at the helm. He failed to make the expected impact there as he was sacked midway yet again before the completion of a year in the head coach role as the reigning champions struggled under him, finding themselves in the 5th spot in the league while also losing out on continental competitions.
He was called upon by relegation-threatened Croatian side NK Istra next but he failed to make an impact yet again as Istra remained in the relegation zone with 9 losses from the 17 games under him. He was yet again sacked midway and Istra went on to barely survive relegation after his dismissal.
After a break period of 5 months following his last assignment, David was appointed as the manager of the newly relegated Spanish 4th-tier side Sabadell CF, marking his first managerial stint in his homeland. David had a promising start, but his downfall came quickly as Sabadell struggled with injuries and the team’s performance dipped – going winless in 7 games (6 Draws, 1 Defeat). This winless run along with some clashes between him and the fans, marked his time at Sabadell as he was yet again sacked mid-season by the Spanish side who were in search of a quick promotion.
This trend of his inability to stay in a managerial role for a year has continued throughout his managerial career, which is making some of the KBFC fans question his appointment as the Head Coach, as a section of the fans believe this to be a step down from their previous managerial appointments.
Just to cut some slack for David, his former clubs Larnaca, Limassol, Istra and Sabadell have had 9, 13, 9 and 8 Head Coaches since 2020, indicating a lack of patience from the above clubs to give their managers a chance to prove themselves. However, The Blasters are no strangers to sacking coaches midway either as the Kochi-based ISL outfit has seen 11 managerial sackings in its nearly 11 years of existence.
David’s teams are known for playing beautiful, possession-based football but all focus will be on whether or not the Spaniard can secure silverware as the Blasters are currently the only team in the Top Tier without any trophies. His experience in working in high-pressure conditions makes him a good fit for the head coach role of the Blasters, given the immense pressure it’s under from the fans lately.
The Blasters are coming directly from an off-color ISL season which saw one of the worst ever performances by the club in their history as the men in yellow finished 8th, with a record 11 losses in a single season.
The relationship between the fans and the management is also on rocky waters, as the management is under direct scrutiny by the fans over several decisions mainly over the sale of key players without proper replacements, the perceived lack of spending to strengthen the squad and their inability to find a proper successor to their most successful manager, the fan-favorite Serbian Ivan Vukomanović, whose contract was terminated at the end of 2023-24 season. Whether or not David can handle that last ‘Goliath’ will form the crux of his tale at the Blasters.
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