Óscar Hernández Romero is a Spanish football coach, analyst, and scout with over two decades of experience across elite clubs and national teams. He is widely respected for his tactical intelligence, player development expertise, and sharp talent identification, most notably credited for discovering Lamine Yamal.
Hernández began his coaching journey at FC Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, where he spent more than ten years nurturing generations of elite talent. He played a pivotal role in the early development of players such as Takefusa Kubo, Xavi Simons, Eric García, Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Héctor Fort, Marc Guiu, and Iker Bravo. In 2015, while coordinating the pre-benjamín (U8) category, he sent the decisive email that ensured Lamine Yamal stayed with Barcelona instead of moving to Espanyol, a move that proved vital as Yamal went on to become one of the brightest young stars in world football.
Beyond Barcelona, Hernández contributed to the global development of the game. He spent two years giving lectures on FC Barcelona’s methodology and game model, and advised the methodology department and first-team scouting at Bayer Leverkusen. He later joined Albirex Niigata in Japan as assistant coach under Albert Puig, where he helped implement a modern game model that laid the foundation for the club’s eventual promotion to the J1 League.
In 2021, Hernández accepted a dual role in Argentina, working with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) as both assistant coach for the U20 national team and head of the AFA’s Methodology Department. Collaborating with Javier Mascherano, he supported the development of a golden generation of Argentine talent, including Alejandro Garnacho, Nico Paz, Valentín and Franco Carboni, Facundo Buonanotte, Matías Soulé, and Luca Romero. His contributions coincided with Argentina’s major international triumphs at Copa América 2021 and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022.
In 2023, he joined Girona FC as assistant coach and Head of International Scouting within the City Football Group structure. His work was instrumental in the club’s historic qualification for the UEFA Champions League, the best league finish in Girona’s history. Currently, he serves as Technical Assistant and Analyst at Real Zaragoza, working alongside Gabi Fernández to build a competitive, tactically disciplined team.
Hernández is known for combining deep tactical knowledge with a methodical, player-first approach to coaching. His philosophy centers on creating environments that empower young talents to develop confidence, adaptability, and performance under pressure. A strong believer in holistic development, he integrates psychological and cognitive growth as core components of player and team evolution. With a UEFA Pro License and experience across Europe, Asia, and South America, Óscar Hernández remains a key figure in modern football’s coaching and development landscape.
Our Exclusive Interview with Óscar Hernández Romero
Who is Óscar Hernández outside of football, and how have your personal experiences shaped your coaching approach?
I am a very hardworking, methodical, calm, and respectful person, married and the father of a nine-year-old girl to whom I try to instill the values I consider fundamental in her growth and education, such as humility, empathy, and effort, which have allowed me to grow both personally and in sports.
For example, in the sports field and based on my experiences, I consider it essential to understand the philosophy and culture of the project being undertaken above personal interests, to understand its people, that empathy I mentioned, whether with the fans, management, players, in other words, everything that encompasses the club and the city. To summarize, adaptability would be the word; without it, it is very difficult to achieve short-term goals and even more difficult to reach the highest objectives in the long term.
To adapt does not mean to give up one’s core principles. On the contrary, I identify with a specific style and model when working, but it must be flexible within the work model or methodology in relation to the surrounding environment to achieve the best performance for the institution, the team, and personally.
What core values guide your work with young players, especially when helping them transition into elite environments?
I would say the same values I try to instill in my daughter when raising her: conveying dedication, effort, perseverance, and the ability to be very self-critical, not thinking you are superior to anyone.
There are many factors involved in the process, not just in football, but in life. Virtues and the resulting talent must be accompanied by discipline, dedication, excellent guidance, and most importantly, the ability to listen and make decisions, which is essential to turn something good into something optimal. Patience is another aspect that is being lost and must continue to be taught. We are living in the era of immediacy, which is a big mistake, since these processes should be measured by their effectiveness, and in many cases, the real perspective is lost by trying to speed up the timing. Everyone wants to move up very quickly, but that path is reserved for only a few “chosen ones.”
How did your years at La Masia influence the way you see talent, development, and long-term player success?
It is a very interesting question because the way things are done at F.C. Barcelona is unlike anywhere else. This is not an opinion, it is information, my experiences allow me to speak in these terms.
Let me explain. This success comes from paying attention to the smallest details, both on a human and sporting level. Talent exists all over the world. The difference lies in how that talent is managed. At early ages, I prefer to speak of conditions or virtues, which later become talent when a player reaches semi-professional or professional football. That process, turning conditions or virtues into real talent through development, is vitally important.
We must provide young players with the tools to continue enhancing their innate strengths, optimize potential weaknesses, and allow hidden aspects of their abilities to surface. For this, the work methodology is key. No aspect of the game should be overlooked, but there must be interrelation and progression in its application over the years. In this, F.C. Barcelona is different, always following the same pattern and method of work, evolving it across the player’s developmental stages.
The goal is not to rush the process, as I mentioned earlier. In F.C. Barcelona’s case, it is the method itself that ensures its effectiveness. That is why many young players manage to reach the first team at such an early age, which is the primary objective of the club’s development model.
As an anecdote, I’ll say that when people tell me F.C. Barcelona succeeds because it signs the best, I always respond the same way: it is impossible to know whether an eight, nine, or even sixteen-year-old will become a professional player. The club signs players with good technical qualities, and it is the process and the method that refine them and help them understand and interpret the different situations of the game, thus turning those virtues into talent. I consider this an intelligent process.
Can you walk us through the moment you decided to intervene and keep Lamine Yamal at Barcelona? What made him stand out?
Scouts don’t really discover anyone. It is the players who discover themselves. We are simply facilitators of opportunities, and in 2014, as a coach and scout for F.C. Barcelona, I was able to facilitate such an opportunity. Lamine was a child like many others I had observed and signed, with very good abilities and who stood out football-wise compared to other children his age. When I made the decision to propose him for a trial with F.C. Barcelona, I was already convinced he was a player for the club, but a protocol must be followed, so I submitted the trial request accordingly.
I had been following him for an entire month together with Isidre Gil, the scouting area coordinator. We both agreed on Lamine’s virtues and abilities, and as the final decision-maker, I decided to accelerate the process to sign him since other clubs were also interested. The head of youth football, Albert Puig Ortoneda, approved our decision, and about ten days later, Lamine committed to the club.
His technical skills stood out above the rest, which anyone could see, and that alone could justify a positive decision. But other very important aspects were also evaluated, such as his determination in the game, decisiveness, courage in attacking duels, defensive effort to win the ball back, and spatial awareness. He didn’t just chase the ball; he positioned himself in areas where he could make the most of his actions, which is very rare to see in a child his age, as egocentrism is a common trait at that stage, usually resulting in constantly chasing the ball.
Under the methodology we had at the time, Lamine was a player with the potential and ability to grow within F.C. Barcelona.
Working across Argentina, Japan, and Spain, what have you learned about adapting your methodology to different football cultures?
I am one of those who believe that an identity and style of play can be applied anywhere in the world, but with cultural and sporting nuances. It is essential to understand the history and philosophy of the club or federation where you begin a project and adapt your own style and model of play to the characteristics and abilities of the players.
It is also true that, generally, when you are signed by a club or federation, it is because they are attracted to your knowledge and footballing vision. Being aligned with the leadership is crucial when starting a project.
Having knowledge of other working contexts or cultures allows you to integrate aspects into your idea or model of play, and that is the main adaptation I personally incorporate into my methodology for future projects. In other words, conveying a personal footballing philosophy that the player can identify with.
For example, in Argentina, when I was with the U20 national team alongside Javier Mascherano, I learned a lot from Matías Manna. There, the game is more free-flowing, known as functionalism or relationalism. Not limiting the player in any way and allowing him to step outside of structural order is important to bring out his maximum performance. In Japan, on the other hand, the coach’s idea is prioritized, and players need very specific instructions regarding the game and the behaviors they must adopt to perform at their best. It is one of the countries where I have seen the most individual talent. In Spain, for example, we find a hybrid between the two approaches, depending on the player.
In conclusion, the different experiences I have had have allowed me to learn and stay open to improving an idea for the benefit of the player and, therefore, the team.
What is your vision when building or contributing to a team’s game model, both tactically and psychologically?
In my approach, the ball is the axis through which the game is managed. What I mean is that I prioritize spending more time in the offensive phase than in the defensive one. This does not mean I value one more than the other, but I do try to control the rhythm of the match through possession and generate constant superiorities, whether numerical, positional, or qualitative. This aspect allows me to gain more advantages over the opponent. I like teams that take initiative, where the main goal is to progress in the game. I do not aim to win the possession stats; my primary objective is to use possession as a tool to create advantages and reach the opponent’s goal as quickly as possible, or to control the game’s tempo, for example, keeping the ball to defend.
Regarding the defensive phase, I learned a lot from Gabi Fernández, former Atlético de Madrid player who was coached for seven years by Cholo Simeone. From him, I acquired an approach that prioritizes high pressing, trying to defend forward, as far away from my goal as possible. Aggressive counter-pressing and staying very compact with constant support are essential in each of these concepts. I value double efforts or double pressures, instilling in the player the need to have the capacity to make intense efforts with the goal of recovering the ball quickly and returning to the offensive phase. The players know these efforts are necessary and punctual because the sooner we regain the ball, the more rest we will get while in possession.
In daily training, I stress the importance of being proactive rather than reactive, because that allows you to have two or three solutions in the same game situation. I insist to my players that the most important thing is to decide before receiving the ball, not once they already have it. I believe that the game is not something to be understood intellectually, it is something to be played. What is important is that the player understands the environment around him in relation to the ball, his teammates, and the opponents, within a specific spatial location and the time available to execute the two or three solutions he has identified.
On the psychological side, it is essential to transmit optimism, that the player feels you are a winner and that any challenge is possible. There must be no doubt at any time. As a leader and group manager, the player must know that your support is available to him at all times, both personally and professionally. And above all, not treating everyone the same, because each player is different and needs personal and specific treatment. This is achieved by getting to know the person, talking to them. Communication is part of the closest success. This aspect will help us improve the person and the player. It is important to convey a sense of belonging to the group. If things go well for the team, they will go well for the individual too.
How do you balance your dual focus on player development and team performance in your current role at Real Zaragoza?
To be honest, at Real Zaragoza we arrived in a very difficult situation where the main objective was to save the team from relegation, and fortunately, that was achieved. This scenario does not allow for the development of a logical process based on a desired and concrete footballing idea. You must adapt to the current situation, to its environment, and prioritize improving the aspects that are causing the team to be stuck in a negative dynamic.
As a priority, we focused on the mental aspect, helping the players regain confidence and positivity, because let’s not forget we are dealing with excellent footballers who had fallen into a very negative spiral, which made them perform below their potential. On the footballing side, we aimed to make the team more compact defensively. We identified that it was a very stretched team, offering too much space to the opponent and conceding many goals. Offensively, we worked on better ball management to help the team feel more comfortable based on the characteristics of the players. Obviously, no two opponents are the same, and we tried to guide the players before each match on where the free spaces were and their possible solutions to progress in the game by getting to those spaces and identifying who could arrive to take advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses. We are pleased because in eleven matches we maximized the process and were able to offer players new roles they had not previously taken on. They discovered new aspects of their game that they didn’t know, such as repositioning a midfielder as a right back or a winger as an attacking midfielder or forward.
Looking ahead, what are your personal and professional ambitions in football? What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind?
I’ll be honest. After more than 23 years of experience working in top clubs and federations, serving as an assistant coach and contributing in areas such as team and opponent analysis or scouting, I believe my next step, sooner rather than later, is to become the head coach of a professional team. I want to lead with my own footballing vision as the main identity and apply everything I have learned alongside excellent professionals.
The title or role is just a label. Even without being the head coach and depending on the situation, I have had to plan entire seasons, run daily training sessions, coach and lead the group, give halftime talks, and speak to players individually for various reasons. In other words, as an assistant coach, I have often acted as a head coach for full seasons. I am ready for that step and hope the opportunity comes, whether nationally or internationally.
Legacy? The best legacy you can leave behind is to be seen as a good person, someone who helped others regardless of their role, and who showed dedication and sacrifice for the good name of the institution. That goes beyond any victory. It is a victory in itself.
