Alejandro "Álex" García Casañas (born 14 January 1970) is a Spanish retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, and the current assistant

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. He was associated to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

during his early years – although he appeared rarely for the first team – but spent most of his career in the lower leagues, representing

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

. Subsequently, García worked as a manager, including with his first club (youth only).

Playing career

Born in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, García joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

's youth system at the age of 14. He played two full seasons in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

with their reserves, after having appeared in one game in that tier in 1988–89. In the 1990–91 campaign, García played three matches for the ''Blaugranas main squad, both legs in the season's

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

(0–1 home loss, 1–4 defeat at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

, playing the full 90 minutes on both occasions) and 28 minutes in a 3–2 away win over

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

, after coming on as a second-half substitute for

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional Association football, football coach and former player. Renowned for his composure, passing, vision, technical skills, ball control, and dribbling ability, Laudrup is widely regarded ...

; after leaving in 1993 he resumed his career with

and

Palamós CF Palamós Club de Futbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Palamós, a town and commercial port in the ''Costa Brava'', in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in the late 19th century, it currently plays in , holding home matc ...

, suffering team relegation with both clubs, the former being his first and only experience in the top level, in 1993–94. Until his retirement in 2001 at the age of 31, García spent five seasons in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

and

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

, returning to his native region for one final year with amateurs UE Cornellà.

Coaching career

García begun working as a manager immediately after retiring, first being in charge of youth sides at Barcelona. In late June 2011, nearly two years after leaving, he was appointed at

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the most prom ...

, replacing the fired Kakha Kacharava. In January 2012, the board of directors of the Georgian club decided to dismiss García after a friendly loss with

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

. He then returned to the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

, working as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the first team under Tito Vilanova and

Gerardo Martino Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player who last coached Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He ...

. On 24 November 2014, García signed a contract until the end of the season at

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

. The following February, however, after only one win in nine second-tier matches, he resigned. In June 2020, García returned to Barcelona after being named head scout. He left the club roughly one year later, and became García Pimienta's assistant at

on 24 January 2022.

References

External links

* *
Stats at Cadistas1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Alex 1970 births Living people Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Rayo Vallecano players Palamós CF footballers Cádiz CF players Granada CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers UE Cornellà players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish football managers FC Dinamo Tbilisi managers Segunda División managers CE Sabadell FC managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Georgia (country) Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country) FC Barcelona non-playing staff