Bojan Krkic: “I want to play for a few more years and also start planning my future”

Bojan Krkić assures that he is enjoying the Master in Sport Management Online at Johan Cruyff Institute he started seven months ago. “I want to play for a few more years and also start planning my future,” says the player, who sees himself as as sports director

When his friend Javier Mascherano retired on November 15, 2020, Bojan Krkić wrote on his Twitter account: “The greats never leave football, they just stop playing.” The footballer from Liñola still thinks the moment to follow in the Argentinean’s footsteps is far away, but he is preparing for it. At 30, Bojan is studying the Master in Sport Management Online at Johan Cruyff Institute. “I want to play for a few more years and also start planning my future,” says the player.

Bojan Krkić’s career has been marked by precocity, and with time he also wants to prepare the moment when he decides to start a new stage of his life in professional football. In 2007, at the age of 17, he made his debut with the first team of FC Barcelona, the third youngest player in the history of the club. That same year, at 17 years and 51 days old, he became the youngest player in the history of Barça to score with the first team and, at 17 years and 217 days old, the second youngest player in history to score in a European competition, specifically the Champions League. For three years now, he has held a new record of precocity: in 2017 he became the first Spaniard to score in the four major European leagues (LaLiga, Serie A, Premier League and Bundesliga).

Bojan Krkić joined the MLS team Montreal Impact in August 2019, a club with which he has celebrated reaching 400 matches as a professional player since his debut with FC Barcelona. At the age of 30, Bojan has decided to resume his studies. “I had been thinking about it for a while. As a footballer, you have a lot of free time when you are not playing or in the training facility, and this season, when the Covid started, I felt that it was the moment to start studying. I also want to play some more years, but I’m also at that age when I start thinking about after football. So, sports director is one of the things that I would like to do and that’s why I decided to study,” explains Bojan.

The first seven months of the program have confirmed that his decision was right. “It’s been amazing, really nice. The hardest thing is to study again. It’s been a long time that I haven’t studied, but it’s also nice to study something that you like and you know. There are some modules that are easier, some of them are a little bit harder, but when you realize that you are improving and learning new things it’s really gratifying,” says Bojan.

“It’s nice to study something that you like and you know; when you realize that you are improving and learning new things it’s really gratifying.”

Krkić started playing and excelling in football at a very young age. He arrived at FC Barcelona and spent seven years in the youth categories, where he aroused Frank Rijkaard’s interest. He was promoted to the first team and from there his projection was unstoppable, playing for AS Roma and AC Milan (Serie A), AFC Ajax (Eredivisie), Stoke City (Premier League), Maguncia (Bundesliga), Deportivo Alavés (LaLiga) and Montreal Impact (MLS). But the years go by very quickly and he doesn’t want to wait until the last moment to plan his future. “The day when you decide not to play anymore is when real life starts and you have to realize you are already there. You cannot wait until the last day to decide what you want to do. You need to plan something and that’s why I decided to study the master’s. Now, I like to talk with sports directors to see and understand why they do things. It’s nice and like a good exercise to prepare myself for when I decide not to play anymore,” says Bojan.

“The day when you decide not to play anymore is when real life starts and you have to realize you are already there. You cannot wait until the last day to decide what you want to do.”

Many of his professional colleagues choose to leave the playing field and coach from the bench, but the role of coach is not something that appeals to Bojan. He describes himself as “a very passionate and transparent person. I want to do the right things. I like to understand people, to help people, and that’s also why I feel that the role of sports director is the most gratifying for me, rather than being a coach. You can have a more human relationship with your players, coaches and the staff. For me, the human side is really important.”

“The role of sports director is the most gratifying for me, rather than being a coach. You can have a more human relationship with your players, coaches and the staff. For me, the human side is really important.”

Bojan still has a lot of football to offer, although the message he left for his friend Mascherano on his Twitter account was also, in a way, a personal reflection. “I want to be in an environment where I can help people, to do things that are good for myself and the people around me. I feel the same enthusiasm as when I was young and started playing football. That’s good for me, I’m not scared to stop playing football. I still have a lot of energy to keep playing, but I also have energy to be in another world to help people.” As of this year, he is preparing for that.