Ramón Tribulietx, the Spaniard who was in eight Club World Cups

There is only one Spaniard who can boast of having won eight Champions, seven in a row. He is Ramon Tribulietx (San Vicente dels Horts, 1972) and did so for a decade in which he led Auckland City to permanently reign in Oceania. Between 2011 and 2017, the 'Navy Blues' found no rival on the island continent. “It was not easy at all because the qualifiers are a single game. When you go to play it on a field in Fiji or Tahiti, where the grass is not very good, it is extremely hot and you play at two in the afternoon with terrible humidity, it is very easy to have an accident “, explains Ramón, aware of having established a record” difficult to match “. “We find ourselves with hostile environments and fields with more than 20,000 people cheering against. It would have been easy to lose any of those eight Champions”, adds the Catalan, for whom winning “ended up becoming an obligation.” After leaving the Auckland bench in 2019, Ramón Triblietx took a break to “reflect and collect thoughts.” It was not until that moment when He became aware that his legacy in New Zealand will last forever.

Tribulietx exhausted his career as a footballer in New Zealand. That's why he didn't think twice when he was asked to return to the oceanic country, this time as a coach. At first, however, he directed in the shadows. “There was another coach and the club signed me without his approval. The relationship was complicated, but we ended up becoming friends. Months later they put Paul Sosa in. He appeared as coach, but he was the one who managed the players. The one who trained the team on the field. It was me “, reveals Ramón, who traveled to the antipodes with a clear objective: to implement his philosophy. “When I arrived, the players who had been there were used to direct English style play. Ball to the back of the wing, second plays … They had only seen that. The club took me there to change the style, but at first it was difficult. the third season the transformation was brutal. I went to play 4-3-3 and I said: 'This is what it is, who does not like it already knows where the door is'. Everyone criticized us, but we ended up winning the Champions League and nobody dared to raise their voices “, recalls a Tribulietx that inspired his style in Guardiola:” He is a teacher for me. I liked what he raised and I thought, 'This is my thing.' And that's how it was. “With the philosophy established by Ramón, Auckland won 26 titles, including eight Champions of Oceania that gave the world a showcase with each Club World Cup.

At the controls of Auckland City, Ramón Triblulietx participated in eight Club World Cups, an annual event that was presented as “an opportunity to show that we were improving”. “In 2009”, recalls Tribulietx, “we lost 3-0 against Atlante de Solari, who were the CONCACAF champions. They gave us a review with the ball. In 2014 we played the match for third place against Cruz Azul, who was also coming winning the CONCACAF Champions League, and we went to halftime winning 1-0 and with 55% possession. It was a beastly change. And we had just lost in the semifinals against San Lorenzo, champion of the Libertadores. They beat us 2-1 in extra time. A New Zealand team taking the ball from the best team in South America … Unheard of. ” That third place in 2014 “It was the culmination of the work that many people did over the years to show that in New Zealand we also knew how to play football.”. “Despite being small, there we are,” adds Ramón, who fondly remembers the moment when he told Paul Gothard, his goalkeeper between 2009 and 2012, that he should start playing the ball short: I explained he looked at me like I was crazy. He came from England and the shortest serve he had made was 60 meters. It was very difficult to convince the players, but When Spain won the World Cup, the whole world began to see it differently. There came a time when if we didn't make 20 passes before scoring a goal, it seemed like it wasn't worth it. “

Ramón Tribluietx is the Spaniard with the most Champions League titles and it will be difficult for another coach to match his eight Club World Cups. Their successes, however, are sometimes undervalued by the fact that they were produced on the unknown ocean floor. “It is something that does not concern me”, explains the Catalan, “it does not even interest me.” “Everything I have lived and won I have in my memory and I will never forget it. You hear that, being Oceania, it has less merit. But I know what it has cost. The proof is in the number of gray hairs that have come out since I took the bench in Auckland City“completes a coach who would never have imagined spending 11 years of his life in New Zealand.” My idea was to go for a season and see how I adapted. In fact I was there for 11 seasons and I renewed year after year. Not even finishing third in the Club World Cup did I sign for more than 10 more months. Now that a while has passed I look back and realize that what I have achieved is spectacular. I would not have imagined it in my life. It was a prodigious decade “, he values. 12 years after his departure to the antipodes, Ramón Tribulietx hopes for a bench in which to continue doing what he likes the most:” In Spain it is complicated because the market is very saturated with coaches, but I have many open fronts and I hope that this 2021 will return me to the benches. I really want to”.

Tribluetx and Roca led the way

Since Ramón Tribulietx left for Oceania, there have been several Spanish footballers who signed for Auckland City. The first to arrive was Xavi rock, who traveled with the Catalan coach but only lasted one year in New Zealand. He is followed by Manel Expósito, Ángel Berlanga, Albert Riera, Iván Díaz, Andreu Guerao, Gustavo Souto, Pedro Santa Cecilia, Cristóbal Márquez, Iván Carril, Óscar García, Mikel Álvaro, Diego Rivas and Eñaut Zubikarai. “At first it was difficult to convince people, but participating in the Club World Cup made things easier and we ended up having players from the First Division,” recalls Ramón. The Spaniard recalls with special affection the cases of Albert Riera, the backpacker who could not flee from football or in the antipodes, and Ángel Berlanga, who ended up becoming the player with the most matches in Auckland's history: “The two were in the the right place and time. “