César Ferrando Jiménez (born 25 July 1959) is a Spanish former

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 ...

, currently 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Tavernes de la Valldigna Tavernes de la Valldigna (, es, Tavernes de la Valldigna) is a municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain, located in the district of Safor, 54 km far away from Valencia. It is the biggest town in La Valldigna, a horseshoe shape valley ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, Ferrando started his professional career with local giants

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

, first spending nearly four years with the reserves. He made his first-team – 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 ...

– debut on 26 April 1981, playing the last minutes of the 3–1 home win against

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. After a further three full seasons with the ''Che'', Ferrando left in 1984 and went on to play professionally with

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdi ...

and

UD Alzira Unión Deportiva Alzira is a Spanish football team based in Alzira, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1946 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Luis Suñer Picó'', with a capacity of ...

, competing almost exclusively in the

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 ...

but appearing in seven top-division games with the second club in the 1986–87 campaign. He closed out his career in 1991 at the age of 32, retiring at lowly

Ontinyent CF Ontinyent Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Ontinyent, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1947 it held home games at ''Estadio El Clariano'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. On 28 March 2019, due to economic pr ...

in his native region.

Coaching career

Ferrando started coaching at amateur level, with his local club UD Tavernes. In 1997 he moved to

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 ...

, where he spent three years in charge of

CF Gandía Club de Fútbol Gandía is a Spanish football team based in Gandia, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1947 it plays in Tercera Federación, holding home matches at ''Estadio Guillermo Olagüe'', with a capacity of 6,000 seats. ...

. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, he led Valencia B to a return to the latter competition. Ferrando was appointed at second-tier

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

in summer 2002, achieving promotion to the top flight in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

and leading the team to safety the following season, which prompted his signing for

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. After the ''Colchoneros'' could only rank in 11th place, Ferrando was relieved of his duties in late May 2005. He subsequently returned to his previous club, for a further two second division campaigns. For the better part of the next years, Ferrando continued to work in the second tier of Spanish football, with

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 Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

and

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 ...

. He moved abroad for the first time in 2013, being appointed coach at

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n club

Johor Darul Takzim F.C. Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super ...

and switching to

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 ...

afterwards. Ferrando returned to Albacete on 13 March 2016, with the team seriously threatened with relegation from division two. On 21 July 2018, he was appointed head coach of

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

franchise

Jamshedpur FC Jamshedpur Football Club (, ) is an Indian professional football club based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian Football. Founded in 2017, the club debuted in Indian Super League during t ...

Personal life

Ferrando's younger brothers, Francisco (1962) and Juan Carlos (1965), were also footballers and midfielders. The former also played for Valencia.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

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CiberChe biography and stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrando, Cesar 1959 births Living people People from Safor Sportspeople from the Province of Valencia Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Valencia CF players UD Salamanca players CE Sabadell FC footballers CD Olímpic de Xàtiva footballers UD Alzira footballers Ontinyent CF players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Primera Federación managers Segunda Federación managers CF Gandía managers Valencia CF Mestalla managers Albacete Balompié managers Atlético Madrid managers Gimnàstic de Tarragona managers Elche CF managers Indian Super League head coaches Jamshedpur FC managers Malaysia Super League managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Malaysia Expatriate football managers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India