Xavier Escaich Ferrer (born 6 September 1968) is a former Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Escaich began playing youth football for hometown club

UE Castelldefels Unió Esportiva Castelldefels is a Spanish football team based in Castelldefels, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1948 it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at ''Municipal Els Canyars' ...

, before moving to

CF Gavà Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922 it plays in 1ª Catalana – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats. Histor ...

and CF Blanca Subur. In 1987, Escaich began his senior career with Gimnàstic in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, scoring 25 goals in 36 games. A year later, Escaich joined Hospitalet, before signing for

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

club

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. Escaich stayed at Espanyol for five seasons, joining Primera División club

Sporting Gijón Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *AC Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *Real Sportin ...

in 1993. In 1994, Escaich joined

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

as a replacement for departing forward

Julio Salinas Julio Salinas Fernández (; born 11 September 1962) is a Spanish former footballer who played during the 1980s and 1990s. A tall, lanky centre forward with skills, he was best remembered for his spell at Barcelona – having started his career ...

. Escaich found opportunities at Barcelona limited under manager

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

, playing just three league games, and despite featuring for the club in pre-season the following season, Escaich was sold to

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

following the signing of

Meho Kodro Mehmed "Meho" Kodro (born 12 January 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He spent most of his 16-year senior career in Spain, mostly with Real Sociedad (four seasons) and Tenerife (three) ...

. Escaich played for

for two seasons, before signing for

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

, retiring at the club due to an ankle injury.

International career

Escaich represented

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

twice, scoring once.

References

1968 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers CE L'Hospitalet players RCD Espanyol footballers Sporting de Gijón players FC Barcelona players Albacete Balompié players Real Murcia CF players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players People from Castelldefels Footballers from the Province of Barcelona {{Spain-footy-bio-stub