Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal (born 6 December 1969) is a Spanish

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 ...

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 ...

and former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. During a 14-year senior career, he appeared in 134 matches in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

over five seasons, totalling 23 goals for Bilbao Athletic and Eibar. He added 216 games and 61 goals in

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 ...

, in representation of several clubs. Garitano started working as a manager in 2003, as an assistant at

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

. He went on to be in charge of four teams before being appointed at Leganés in 2013, which he led to promotions to the second tier and

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 ...

. He was head coach at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

and Alavés, also in the top flight.

Playing career

Born in

Bergara es, vergarés, vergaresa , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

, Garitano was an

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

youth graduate. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 2 September 1989, starting and scoring the winner in a 2–1 away win against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

in the

championship. After four full seasons (one of them on loan at

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

), Garitano left the Lions and signed for

Cartagena FC Cartagena Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the autonomous community of Murcia. They were formerly called UD Cartagenera. Founded in 1940, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 13, holding home games at ' ...

. In 1994, he moved to

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

also in the third division, and returned to Eibar in January 1996. Garitano subsequently resumed his career in the third tier and

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 ...

, representing

CF Gavà Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922 it plays in 1ª Catalana – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats. Histor ...

, Racing de Ferrol, Burgos CF,

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

and

Benidorm CF Benidorm Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Benidorm, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1964 and dissolved in 2011 it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Guillermo Amor'', which had a capacity of 6,000. ...

. He retired in 2003 at the age of 33, mainly due to injuries.

Coaching career

Shortly after retiring, Garitano started working as an assistant manager at former club Alicante. In October 2008 he was named manager, replacing the fired

José Carlos Granero José Carlos Granero Granero (born 27 May 1963) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right-back or a central defender, currently a manager. He was known as a promotion specialist, winning promotion four times each to Segu ...

. However, after only three matches, he was replaced by

Nino Lema Benigno 'Nino' Lema Mejuto (born 12 September 1964) is a Spanish retired Association football, football Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career Born in Vigo, Province of ...

and moved to the backroom staff. Garitano was appointed CD Castellón manager on 6 April 2010, after being previously working at the club as an assistant. He remained in charge until the end of the season, suffering relegation as last. On 7 July 2011, Garitano signed with third division side Orihuela CF. The following campaign, also as manager, he worked with CD Alcoyano, eventually losing promotion with both teams in the play-offs. On 28 June 2013, Garitano was named manager of

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

still in the third tier. In his first season, he achieved promotion to division two after defeating CE L'Hospitalet in the play-offs; another promotion followed in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, after finishing second in the regular season. On 24 May 2018, Garitano was appointed at the helm of

. On 26 December of the same year, he was dismissed following a poor sequence of results. Garitano became manager of

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

on 21 May 2019, replacing

Abelardo Abelardo is a masculine given name. It is an Italian form of the name ''Abelard''. Sometimes used as a variant of Abel. As a given name * Abelardo Aguilar, Filipino doctor and researcher * Abelardo Aguilú Jr. (c. 1870–c. 1940), Puerto Rica ...

who had resigned a day earlier. He was fired on 5 July the next year, after a run of five consecutive defeats. On 27 January 2021, Garitano returned to Leganés, with the club back in the second division. He was sacked on 30 October, leaving the side in the relegation zone.

Personal life

Garitano is not related to fellow manager

Gaizka Garitano Gaizka Garitano Aguirre (born 9 July 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of SD Eibar. Over 11 seasons as a player, he amassed Segunda División totals of 315 matches and 37 goals, main ...

, who also had playing spells with Bilbao Athletic and Eibar.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * *
Stats at Cadistas1910

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garitano, Asier 1969 births Living people People from Bergara Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Bilbao Athletic footballers SD Eibar footballers Cartagena FC players Cádiz CF players CF Gavà players Racing de Ferrol footballers Burgos CF footballers Alicante CF footballers Benidorm CF footballers Spain youth international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Alicante CF managers CD Castellón managers CD Alcoyano managers CD Leganés managers Real Sociedad managers Deportivo Alavés managers