Unai Emery’s father, Juan, was a goalkeeper. Unai’s grandfather, Antonio, was one too.
But, although goalkeeping is in the Emery genes, Unai took a different path when his own playing career started in Spain.
“In my house, when I was young, football was the conversation between us every day,” recalled our head coach.
“But my first idea when I had the ball was to play with my feet. Then I would start to play with my left foot as well, like a player. My father and grandfather were goalkeepers but I started playing with the ball at my feet, like an [outfield] player.”
Unai forged a career as a left-sided midfielder before injury forced him to retire at the age of 32. But that famous family tradition has been continued - by Unai’s son.
“Now my son is different to me because he is a goalkeeper, and his first memory is of playing with my father as a goalkeeper,” he said.
“I spoke with him about my grandfather also being a goalkeeper, and now he’s playing as a goalkeeper. My son is continuing this position and, for me, it’s also good news because he wants that.”
A goalkeeper’s duties have changed dramatically since Juan and Antonio Emery were between the posts. A change to the backpass rule in the nineties transformed the role, and the technical requirements have increased considerably.
“First, the goalkeeper [just] had to be safe and to be in the goal with a good performance, that meant he was ready,” said Unai. “Now, it’s true that the goalkeeper has a lot of demands to play with their feet and link up with other players in the game.
“The role is changing but I think it’s a good process in football.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
