Antonio Álvarez Giráldez (born 10 April 1955) is a Spanish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

Born in Marchena, Seville, and a product of hometown

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

's youth system, Álvarez made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

debut during the 1975–76 season, scoring once in eight games as the team finished in 11th position. In the following decade he would be more often than not an undisputed starter for the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns, eventually playing 370 matches all competitions comprised. At the end of the 1987–88 campaign, still with Sevilla in the top division, the 33-year-old Álvarez – having made just 17 league appearances – opted to move on, and signed with neighbouring

CD Málaga Club Deportivo Málaga was a Spanish football club based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It played twenty seasons in La Liga, before being dissolved in 1992. History Origins The first football club in Málaga was establ ...

. In summer 1991 he joined another club in the region,

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, 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 Foot ...

's Granada CF, eventually retiring at the age of 40.

Coaching career

After retiring, Álvarez eventually worked again with main club Sevilla, serving as assistant under several coaches, the first

Joaquín Caparrós Joaquín de Jesús Caparrós Camino (born 15 October 1955) is a Spanish football manager. After winning the Segunda División with Sevilla in 2001, Caparrós was a regular on the La Liga sidelines for the best part of two decades. He coached ...

in 2000. He was part of

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a Spanish former footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals o ...

' staff as they won two consecutive UEFA Cups and one

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, amongst other accolades. In March 2010, after roughly two years as Sevilla's director of football, Álvarez replaced former teammate Manolo Jiménez as first-team manager following his dismissal, after Luis Aragonés, recently departed from

Beşiktaş JK Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, declined an offer to coach the side. He led the team throughout the last ten fixtures of the season, winning six, losing four and robbing

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

of the fourth place which qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in the last minute of the last matchday, a 3–2 away win against neighbours UD Almería. On 19 May 2010, Álvarez was also on the bench as Sevilla won the Spanish Cup, with goals from youth graduates Diego Capel and

Jesús Navas Jesús Navas González (; born 21 November 1985) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right winger or a right-back for La Liga club Sevilla. He has spent the vast majority of his career with Sevilla, playing 605 official matches ...

(2–0). Four months later, following two losses and one draw in three games (two in

the league ''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football league ...

and one in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

), he was sacked.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

: 2009–10 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Antonio 1955 births Living people People from Campiña de Morón y Marchena Sportspeople from the Province of Seville Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players CD Málaga footballers Granada CF footballers Spain amateur international footballers Spain B international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Sevilla FC managers Sevilla FC non-playing staff