LB presents the Full Story of a Football Legend best known by the Nickname; ‘don Andrés’. Our Andres Iniesta Childhood Story plus Untold Biography Facts brings to you full account of notable events from his childhood time till date. Analysis involves his life story before fame, family life and many OFF and ON-Pitch little known facts about him.
Yes, everyone knows about his abilities but few considers Andres Iniesta Biography Story which is quite interesting. Now without further adieu, lets Begin.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts -Early Life
Andrés Iniesta Lujánwas born on the 11th day of May, 1984 in the quaint village of Fuentealbilla, Spain by father, José Antonio Iniesta (Business mongol) and Mother, María Luján Iniesta (house keeper).
He was born as both lucky and rich child. Rich as to his parents and lucky to come from a wonderful Municipality of Albacete, Spain. He grew up in the municipality of Albacete which is known for two things; the high percentage of local Spanish speakers and their fine wine.
Andres had everything he needed and wanted in life as a young kid. In turn, he respected his parents’s wish for him.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –Early Career
He started playing at the age of 10 with Albacete Balompié, a local club in his hometown Albacete.

At the age of 12, when playing in a tournament, he attracted the attention of football clubs around Spain. Iniesta’s parents had a connection with the FC Barcelona coach Enrique Orizola.
Given that their son was gifted at the game, they convinced Orizola to consider admitting Iniesta into the Barcelona Youth Academy.
In a recent interview, Iniesta’s dad remembers the moment he was asked.. “How do you remember the moment in which Andrés had to pack up his bags and move to Barcelona?”. According to him..It was quite a long process in which he made the final decision. We received FC Barcelona’s offer and he had to go to La Masia, the club’s academy, by himself, as we could not leave our hometown of Fuentealbilla. He did not want to leave the family and told me very clear he did not see himself going away. I told him these kinds of opportunities did not come often, that he would receive a good formation in the academy… A couple days after that Andrés came to me and said: “Dad, I am going to Barcelona”. I was confused, so I asked him why he had changed his mind. And he told me something really shocking. He said: “I am going, because you want me to go, because it is your dream”. From that moment I can say I have learnt a lot of things from my son. He taught me a lot when he was only 12.
He travelled with his parents to visit the prestigious La Masia academy for young footballers, after which,his parents decided to enroll him at the academy. After his photo shots, his parents left for home. This happened in the year 1996.
Unlike many academies, FC Barcelona houses all their players from out of town in their own hostel from the age of 13 or 14. However, Iniesta was just 12 and it was highly unusual for the club to sign someone that young. Despite some objections, the club went forward with recruiting him and can rest assured it was one of the best decisions they could have taken for themselves and the player.

Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –The Difficult Start
A young Iniesta struggled living away from his parents, was often homesick and kept to himself.
Iniesta says he “cried rivers” the day he left for La Masia and struggled being separated from his parents. He was very shy and kept to himself while there.

Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –Rising to Fame
He captained the Barcelona Under-15 team to victory in the Nike Premier Cup of 1999, scoring the winning goal in the last minute of the final, and was named player of the tournament. Below is a picture of Guardiola presenting to Iniesta, his trophy.

His style, balance and skill led Spain to win the UEFA European Under-17 Championship 2001 and the Under-19 Championship the following year.
Just after Iniesta arrived at the club, then-captain Pep Guardiola famously told fellow midfielder Xavi: “You’re going to retire me. This lad [Iniesta] is going to retire us all”
He only ended up retiring Guardiola from his 11 year career at the club which spanned from 1990 to 2001.

The rest, as they say is now history.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –Family Life
Andres Iniesta comes from a humble and wealthy family background. A typical Spanish family.
His dad business mogul who started out from the scratch. José Antonio Iniesta started out as a construction worker before owning business empires. When he had no work to do, he used to move to the coast to work as a waiter.

He has always been a lover of soccer and made all the efforts, so his son Andrés could carve out a dream of having a ball in his feet.

From his early days at small town Fuentealbilla in Spain until reaching the summit of world soccer, José Antonio has been next to his son.

He is known to cry when seeing his son either in pains or injured. According to José Antonio Iniesta,
“Yes, a lot. I cry easily. I cry when my Andres is hurt or seeing him in pains knowing something is not going right. More so, there were lots of moments for crying when Andrés was away from home to start his career at FC Barcelona.”
Despite being in the top handful of players in the world, Iniesta still has time for the family business.

Currently, José Antonio runs the family winery Bodegas Iniesta. When people ask him to compare his son with a wine, he says “it would be a wine of good quality, sincere and discreet.”
Iniesta Sr. explains how his son has only ever been focused on his football and performing well for club and country.
“He never aspired to be the leader or captain of anything,” he says. “There are captains who win their role with their bravery and others that do so with their humility, they are chosen by their team-mates. My son Andres is just both.”
MOTHER: María Luján pictured below is the mother of Andres Iniesta.

María Luján isn’t much of a media person but someone who is known to have watched almost every single game her son has played since the start of his career.
SISTER: Maribel Iniesta is the only sister and sibling to Andres Iniesta. She grew up in the area where the wine business still flourishes. She resembles her him unlike her dad.

Maribel still sticks to her roots as the currently manages her family’s wine company.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –Relationship Life
Andres Iniesta’s Love Story and life surrounds just one woman. She is no other than the beautiful one, Anna Ortiz.

Anna Ortiz is a Catalan and a specialist in professional make-up, image consultating,
hair dressing, beauty and health, She currently works as an interior designer at Coton et Bois.
They meet during a time Iniesta had an injury on his tight in the year 2008. He fell in love with her while she offered him some physiotherapy health service.
In September 2010 Andrés Iniesta confirmed that Anna was pregnant with his child. She gave birth to Valeria Iniesta Ortiz. Below is a picture of Valeria with her parents.

Andres iniesta and Anna Ortiz after four years of staying happily together decided to get married in 2012. The marriage took place at the castle of Tamarit near Tarragona.
Among the famous names present at the wedding were Lionel Messi, as well as ex-Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o.
Shortly after the wedding revealed the news to his 3.9million followers on Twitter, posting a picture of himself with his wife and tweeting: ‘Amazing day! Just married.’

Andres Iniesta and his new wife Anna Ortiz spent their honeymoon on the beach in Cancun, Mexico. There, the onetime newlyweds appeared extremely blissful and relaxed as they made the most of the sunny weather.

On the 31st of May, 2015, Andres and Anna has their second child and first son. His name is Paolo Andrea Iniesta.

Andres Iniesta is a good father who loves to spend quality time with his kids. He always try to let the world know that. He is a real parent who puts his children above his own needs and wants.

Just like Radamel Falcao and Robert Lewandowski, Andres Iniesta have has lived a happy family life.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts-Wine Company
Yes, Former Premier League managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp were well known for their love of wine, but none of them went so far as to own a vineyard or winery.
More so, today’s football players are more likely to put their riches into sports cars or flashy apartments, than invest in anything as esoteric as the cultivation of the grape.
But perhaps less well known, due to his quiet demeanour, is Andres Iniesta who have put both his time and money into wine production.

During his wedding, he made all his visitors drink his Iniesta’s wine which is named after his daughter Valeria.
Its a family business for him. If you lived in Spain you might also see his face beaming out from advertisements promoting wines from his family business, Bodega Iniesta. This is big business and all the family is involved in it.
The family already owned the business before he became a successful football player, and as he has grown up he has also become involved in its expansion.
In fact, Iniesta is the third generation from his family to take a role in the wine business, which was established by his grandfather Jose Antonio.
In total, his family has over 180 hectares of vineyards, and all the wines are made from its special fruits.

The business is located in Albacete, which is two hours’ drive from Valencia, and two-and-a-half hours from Madrid, its biggest market. His company employs 35 people, 25 in the winery, and 10 full time in the vineyards where special wine fruits are harvested.

As at time of writing, his company sells a wine that is named after his daughter Valeria, and another after his son Paolo Andrea.
He also introduced another wine called “116” which commemorates the minute in the match when he scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final.
Overall, 1 to 1.2 million bottles of wine is produced in his company per year. His wine is available in 33 countries, including East Asia, south, central and north America, and west and east Europe. In the UK they sell for £6.50 to £17.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –He was once a Madrid Fan
Like every other young football fan, Andres Iniesta supported his local club, Albacete and Barcelona was a close second because he absolutely worshipped Michael Laudrup. When he was just six, the Catalonian giants defeated his beloved side 7-1 and he developed a deep animosity for the side that could only be satisfied by shifting his allegiance to their most hated rivals Real Madrid.
His change in loyalties was further rewarded when Laudrup moved to Real Madrid in 1994. As revealed earlier, It was his dad who made him to get attached with FC Barcelona.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –Highly Respected
As at time of writing, Andres Iniesta is without doubt the most respected footballer in Spain. His wine sell very well in Madrid, the home of his arch rivals.
In Catalonia he is respected as the captain of Barcelona, and in the rest of Spain he is respected as the guy who won the World Cup for Spain.
Also, he is a typical Spanish family guy, which people appreciate. And he does not get involved in political controversy, which some other Barcelona or Real Madrid players sometimes do.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts –He once never wanted FC Barcelona
Barcelona star Andres Iniesta has sensationally revealed he initially did not want to join the Catalan club as a youngster because of his strong family bonds with the club. He wanted a new challenge, a quest to move far away home.
In his words, “I did not want to come because I considered my family bond with them. I needed to go to a place so far away without them,” Iniesta told beIN SPORTS.
The passage of the weeks and talk with my father made him to turn around.
Iniesta continued…“With my father I have a lot of confidence, a lot of affinity and I know that when he tells me things, he usually succeeds. I respect my father and I knew I had to take the plunge. After my decision to play for FC Barcelona, I saw the worst months of my life as a person, but with the help of everyone, day by day, it was much better.”
Needless to say, Iniesta’s initially terrifying decision has worked out incredibly well.
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts-His many Nicknames
Iniesta has a number of nicknames. The Spanish Press often refer to him as Don Andres while some call him El Ilusionista (The Illusionist) because of his ability and willingness to play in any position on the pitch.
Others call him El Cerebro (The Brain) because of his exceptional footballing intelligence.
In a dig at Real Madrid’s infamous Galacticos, the down-to-earth Iniesta has also been dubbed El Anti-Galactico.
Finally, Iniesta’s palid complexion has also earned him the nickname (The Pale Knight).
Andres Iniesta Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts–Once Stole an IG Account
Andrés Iniesta uses Instagram just like anyone else. “I am a father who likes to take pictures of his kids, yummy food, and interesting buildings,” he wrote in a recent Medium post.
One day, Iniesta suddenly found his account suspended, with Instagram claiming that he’d somehow violated the company’s terms of service with those family, food, and architecture photos.
Iniesta found that a bit strange, and the situation only got more concerning when his Instagram presence was, without warning, replaced with another Andrés Iniesta.
Iniesta tried reaching out to Instagram several times with no response from the company, even after his photos vanished and his username was handed off to someone else.
But eventually Instagram made things right, restoring Iniesta’s original account and forcing the soccer star over to another, slightly less desirable username.
In a statement provided to Gizmodo, Instagram doesn’t go into detail about how something like this managed to happen so quickly and without any clear or justifiable cause.
“We made a mistake here and restored the account as soon as we learned about it,” the company said. “Our apologies go out to Mr. Iniesta for the trouble we caused him.”