We have asked an exclusive interview from David Babunski, the player of Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC who started his young football career in La Masia, the youth system of FC Barcelona, where he spent 10 years. Although he didn’t make it into the first team, he played 48 matches in Barça Athletic (the former Barça B). The North Macedonian midfileder shared the dressing room with players like Adama Traore, Sergi Samper or Alejandro Grimaldo therefore he was able to tell us first-hand about his years in the Barcelona academy, his teammates during this exclusive interview with eurobarca.hu which his club also approved to make. We publish the interview in 3 parts in Hungarian and English languages. In this 1st part Babunski talks about the beginning of his football career and the connection between him and Barça.
The 2nd and 3rd part of the interview can be found at the end of this article.
Bruno Zoltan Korodi (Eurobarca): Thank you for spending this afternoon with us. First, as a warm-up question, I would like to ask, because we are making this interview in English, which other languages could we make it? I guess you speak a lot of languages. Can you tell us about this?
David Babunski: You are welcome. Thank you also very much for coming all the way to Mezőkövesd to meet me, and yes, we could do this interview in English, in Spanish, which is my first language, or Macedonian, my home language, or Serbian, which I also speak because my wife is from Serbia, Catalan obviously from Catalunya, yeah, I learnt that one there, and these are the 4-5 languages what I can speak fluently.
Bruno: Fluently… And what about the other ones?
David: I started to learn Japanese when I was playing in Japan, that was not very easy, but it was something I really liked to do. Romanian, when I played there, I almost understand Romanian entirely as well, because it is Latin language, and it is pretty similar to Spanish, Bulgarian, because it is similar to Macedonian and Serbian, I also understand basically all of it. And Hungarian… Very difficult, I found it the most difficult to be honest, but well, maybe I put some effort and I learn at least some basic level.
Bruno: Congratulation for your new contract in Mezőkövesd, I know that when I started to be in contact with you, you didn’t have a club, and now you are at the same club than before. What was your motivation to continue here?
David: Thank you. It has been before the world cup, and the break, I was here for one and a half months in Mezőkövesd, and then I had this period, one and a half month, I was maybe about to move to another clubs, I was thinking about my next step in my career, and I had several options, on the table, but at the end I decided to come back to Mezőkövesd and extend my contract here because I felt that this was the best place where I could continue developing myself as a player obviously, also because I felt the love from this club, and the trust in me, and this is something that I appreciate a lot.
Zoltán Brúnó Kóródi (on the left) and David Babunski at Mezőkövesd stadium / Photo: Efraim Balogh
Bruno: This is not your first club in Hungary, you played also in Debrecen before. How do you like Hungary in this one and a half year?
David: To be honest, both myself and my family are very happy, very satisfied with the country. We were very happy in Debrecen, for the year we lived there, when I was playing in Debrecen. We love Budapest as well, when we have the chance, I have one or two days off, we go there and visit this beautiful city. So for now we are very satisfied with our experience here in Hungary, after travelling around the world, and experiencing different cultures and places, we are very happy here.
Bruno: Before starting with your story. Do you still define yourself as a culer?
David: Absolutely (laughs).
Bruno: Why did you become a culer and when?
David: Well, it started a long time ago. When I was probably around six, my mother chose for us to live in Barcelona. My father was playing in second division in Spain, back then in Logroñes, a club in the north of Spain, and in the summer we were in holidays near Barcelona, my father had to go to Germany to play for another club, but my mother decided that we would stabilize there, she liked the city obviously and the country, Spain, so we decided to stay at Barcelona.
Bruno: You are not the only football player in the family, your father was a player, and your brother is still an active footballer. At the beginning, was it “decided” that you should be a football player?
David: Well, I guess it had some influence as a kid to watch my father to play football, and we were travelling as a family all around the world to support his career, but at a very early age I was very passionate about football, so it came very naturally to me, and I started kicking the ball at a very early age. My mom says that I was born with a ball between my feet already. So we are a football family, because of my father’s career, and of course my brothers and mine, it happened that we became football players, so we are a sporting family.
Bruno: Your father was a defender, your brother is a forward, and you are a midfielder. Did you always play in the midfield? Why did you become a midfielder?
David: Mostly yes, maybe because my characteristics as a player, from the beginning my position was this, the coaches thought that I could bring the most value on the pitch, and I feel myself there the most comfortable. It was more an attacking midfielder at the beginning, and then obviously I could play all the positions in the midfield area.
Bruno: When you were children, you started to play in the Gramenet, in Catalunya. How did you get there? Who helped you to get to this club?
David: Well, my mother thought, that we were totally into football, so she looked around some clubs where I can play after school and practice and play, first I played at a smaller club and later I went to the Gramenet as you mentioned, I was there for 2 years, from 10 to 12. From there Barça recruited me. They had this recruitment system, where they closely watched the talents from Catalunya, the clubs all around Catalunya besides Barça, and if they think, somebody could fit into the club, they make an offer to him. And that is how at the age of 12, after a tournament with the selected team of Catalunya, where I was a member, they called me and asked me if I would like to join the Barça academy.
Bruno: Before starting the next chapter, I would have one question about your brother. After the Gramanet and the Cornellá, he started to play in Real Madrid. Did he choose Real Madrid, or he didn’t have an offer from Barça?
David: There was also a tournament, where Cornellá was participating, there was Barça , and Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid were also, Espanyol, and my brother showed himself very well, I think it was a Nike cup, and the scouts of Real Madrid really liked him, offered him to take him to Real Madrid.
Bruno: But is he still a culé?
David: I think, he was, but he didn’t have any choice and had to become a Real Madrid fan (laughs). We had friends from early childhood who, most of us are Barça fans, but he has a lot of friends of Real Madrid, and now he is a fan of Madrid.
Bruno: Let’s talk about you. I have heard an urban legend that Barça and Espanyol wanted to sign you, and you chose Barça because you are culé. Is this true, or what was the reason?
David: Yes, this is absolutely true. After the tournament both of the clubs called me to join their academies, and I decided, it was not a very difficult choice, I mean, it is impossible to say no to the best football club in the world or in the history of football. Also I was already growing up as a culé, so there a dream came true. But all respect for Espanyol, because they have a great academy as well, and the rivalry is very big in the youth categories between Barça and Espanyol. It is like a derby, as the one between the first teams.
Bruno: When you accepted what was your feeling? Like a dream coming true, isn’t it?
David: Exactly. It was like one dream coming true, then I decided to live this dream for ten years. I was there for a decade, and it was not easy, because at the end of every year there is, let’s say, an exam about to move on to the next year, and this exam is very hard, because the best young players from Catalunya are there, and for me it was a huge pleasure and privilege to be there.
Bruno: Did you live in La Masía?
David: La Masía was more for the players who were living far, their families were living away, that is why they used La Masía to sleep there, and since my parents were already living in Barcelona, in Castell de Fells, I lived there, at home with my parents.
Bruno: If I am correct, there were strict rules at La Masía… How did they look, how did you behave yourself?
David: Yeah… But more than strict rules, there were these human values they wanted to teach us from the beginning. How to be humble, how to be respectful, to not want to boast about you playing forFC Barcelona, to keep your feet on the ground. Overall they were teaching us how to play the best football that exists, and they also wanted to teach us the human values that help us become good people.
Bruno: And what about your haircut?
David: Well, yes… (laughs) There was this coordinator, Albert Benaiges, he told us, that the Barça didn’t want you to show off, to stand out to the eye, for anything that is not about your football qualities. So anything, like yellow hair, piercings, earrings, long hair, they thought that something could be attention-seeking, and they just wanted to keep things simple, and humble, and just play your football. That was for the youngsters, as you grew older, they allowed more freedom to each one to express themselves. For the first time it was difficult to accept. I had long hair for all my life actually… Until I joined Barça I had long hair, in the Gramenet, like Ronaldinho used to have. But now actually I am happy with the choice, it turned out, and my parents as well (laughs).
David Babunski (in the middle) with long hair
Bruno: After a decade spent in La Masía, could you tell me, what does it mean for you “Més que un club”?
David: Més que un club, this means, as I told you some details, it is not only about football in FC Barcelona, it is all about the human values, that we want to be an example, we want to cultivate in ourselves. While we are at the club, and spread these values beyond the club, so that we can serve as an example for the younger generation of the world, of human values, of good character, noble behaviour on and off the pitch. This is why Barça is considered more than just a football club, because we, oh, I am sorry saying we (laughs), because I feel part obviously of the club. Yes, this is why it is more than a club, for example you can choose the president in a democratic way, and the members have all the possibility to express their desires about whom they want to represent them, these are all the things why Barça is considered to be more than a football club.
Bruno: And do you spread this theory, for example in the Mezőkövesd?
David: Yes, of course, wherever I go, I try to take with me what I learnt in the Barça, and share it with my teammates in every club which I formed part of, and obviously with my kids, so definitely… I know this is a thing that others should say about me, but I always try to live by all these values that I have learnt at FC Barcelona.
Bruno: If I think about Hungarian football, you have teammates like my personal favourite, Molnár Gábor, who we know is a different type of football player than you. Is it easy to share the theory with players like them?
David: Of course, and he is really open-minded. While someone is opened to learn and exchange the values, because there are a lot of things that I can learn from the culture of Hungary, from the teammates, as I had many things I could learn in Japan, in Romania, I absorbed from all over the world the positive things and I learnt from the other cultures as well.
Bruno: And could you tell me about the well-known Barça DNA?
David: At the Barça we are trained from the very beginning for the same philosophy for the same style of football, and the way of understanding football. That’s how we are coached from the beginning, so that what is the DNA Barça, that are the characteristics, our style of playing, the understanding of the game, everybody knows it is based on ball possession, to play the game in such a way to maximise the position, the control of the ball, the attacking mentality.
You can read the second part of the interview below
