BIOGRAPHY
Seldom has a player been so tightly linked with one club as Xavier O’Callaghan. The Spanish left wing joined Barcelona as a junior and retired almost 30 years later as a legend of the Palau Blaugrana, with a trophy cabinet packed with titles and 15 years on the club’s elite team.
O’Callaghan was born in Tarragona and joined Barcelona as a junior in 1986. By the late 1980s he was already contributing to the club’s success, for example in the Catalonian league. His first Spanish league title came in 1991, and his last in 2003.
On the European scene, O’Callaghan formed part of Barça’s golden generation which saw continued success in the 1990s and early 2000s. The club, including O’Callaghan, won the Cup Winners’ Cup twice, before the first of their EHF Champions League titles in 1996 - kickstarting a five-year streak that was only broken in 2001 by Portland San Antonio.
Fittingly, O’Callaghan was still part of the squad when Barcelona brought the trophy back home in 2005 as they beat Ciudad Real in the final.
Barcelona retired O’Callaghan’s number four jersey in 2010, but the former player remains linked to the club and has held several non-sporting roles, including establishing Barça’s New York office in 2018.
For Spain, O’Callaghan played two Olympic Games and won bronze in Sydney 2000.
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