Alberto Gallego Laencuentra (born 16 March 1974) is a Spanish retired

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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Gallego was also a singer, and played under the name of Lanco.

Career

Born in

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Gallego represented

CD Binéfar Club Deportivo Binéfar is a Spanish football team based in Binéfar, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1922 it plays in 3ª – Group 17, holding home matches at '' Campo de Deportes de los Olmos'', with a capacity of 1,250 seat ...

, Alcobendas CF and UD Benabarre as a player. After retiring with the latter in 2009, he was named manager, and helped the side to promote to the ''Regional Preferente'' in 2012. In December 2012, Gallego resigned from his club to take over hometown side CE EFAC Almacelles, achieving promotion to

Primera Catalana The Primera Catalana is the 6th tier of the Spanish football league system and the highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 1991 to replace Regional Preferent as the first level of Catalonia and was split i ...

before leaving in 2014. In the 2015–16 season, he worked at

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

's staff while managing their ''Juvenil'' squad. In 2016, Gallego moved abroad and joined

Rayo OKC Rayo OKC, also known as Rayo Oklahoma City, was an American professional soccer team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the American soccer pyramid – beginning w ...

as their

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. In February 2017, he moved to

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

and worked as an assistant manager before returning to Spain in June 2018, after being named in charge of

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

side

CF Pobla de Mafumet Club de Fútbol Pobla de Mafumet is a Spanish football club based in La Pobla de Mafumet, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1953, it plays in Tercera Federación – Group 5, holding home games at ''Estadi Municipal'', which ...

. On 5 January 2020, Gallego replaced compatriot

Juan Ferrando Juan Ferrando Fenoll ( ca, Joan Ferrando; born 2 January 1981) is a Spanish professional football manager who is the current head coach of Indian Super League club ATK Mohun Bagan. Managerial career After several injuries as a footballer, Fer ...

at the helm of

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

side

Volos FC Volos Football Club ( el, Π.Α.Ε. Νέος Ποδοσφαιρικός Σύλλογος Βόλου) is a Greek professional football club based in Volos, Magnesia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super League, the first tier of footbal ...

. He was sacked on 25 February, with the club seriously threatened with relegation, and was replaced by his assistant Stefanos Xirofotos. On 24 July 2020, Gallego was appointed manager of

CD Ibiza Islas Pitiusas Club Deportivo Ibiza Islas Pitiusas, known as Ibiza Islas Pitiusas, Ibiza IP or simply Ibiza, is a Spanish football team based in Ibiza Town, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 2012, it plays in Segunda División R ...

in the fourth division. In June of the following year, after helping the side in their promotion to the new fourth tier, Segunda División RFEF, he left. On 18 June 2021, Gallego was announced as manager of

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

in Tercera División RFEF. He achieved promotion with the side after leading their group, but resigned on 13 April 2022, alleging "personal attacks". On 22 June 2022, Gallego took over

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

's reserves also in the fifth division. On 5 October, he became the interim manager of the first team, after

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de Asís was known as '' ...

was sacked. Gallego subsequently returned to his previous role after the appointment of

Jorge Almirón Jorge Francisco Almirón Quintana (born June 19, 1971), commonly known as Jorge Almirón, is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Career On July 26, 1997, Almirón made his Liga MX debut with A ...

, and left the reserves on a mutual agreement on 23 November 2022.

Musical career

While playing football at Lleida, Gallego also composed songs and had guitar lessons at his home. In 1994, he sang at the

Benidorm International Song Festival The Benidorm International Song Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm), until 2004 simply Benidorm Song Festival ( es, Festival de la Canción de Benidorm, links=no), was an annual song contest held in the city of Benidor ...

under the name of Alberto 'Lanco', but later refused a musical career to pursue a football one. However, after fracturing his nose at Alcobendas, he would record two albums under the name of Lanco, until reaching the finals of the

2005 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Mi Mente'' (1999, Vamm Records) * ''Amanece Pop'' (2004, O'Clock Music)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallego, Alberto 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Lleida Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Association football midfielders CD Binéfar players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Tercera División managers Tercera Federación managers CF Pobla de Mafumet managers Super League Greece managers Volos FC managers Recreativo de Huelva managers Elche CF Ilicitano managers Elche CF managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece Spanish musicians