Gerard Pique wants to turn FC Andorra into Barca Lite. Can the country keep up?
Ruben Bover remembers when FC Andorra resembled a ragtag bunch of friends playing a pickup game.
The team didn’t have a designated place to practice, so training sessions were held on whichever pitch was free in the tiny principality on a given day. Bover, having seen enough, called his agent. He was ready to leave.
“The players didn’t have any clothes for training. One was wearing a Milan shirt, another one Real Madrid, another one Barcelona,” the Spanish midfielder told theScore.
A turbulent spell with English lower-league side Barnet almost extinguished Bover’s love for the game. He nearly quit altogether. So it was hard to envision his passion being rekindled near the bottom of Spain’s fifth division with FC Andorra.
Except the club had a trick up its sleeve. Gerard Pique, one of the most decorated footballers in history, was on the line.
“They made me feel like the best player in the world,” Bover recalled of his conversations with FC Andorra owner