Esteban Vigo Benítez (born 17 January 1955) 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 ...

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 ...

. He played the vast majority of his professional career with Málaga and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ci ...

, amassing

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' ...

totals of 240 games and 24 goals over 13 seasons. Vigo became a manager in 1995, going on to coach several clubs.

Playing career

Known as Esteban during his playing days, he was born in

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez ...

, and had his first professional spell with local CD Málaga, achieving

promotion in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. He subsequently attracted attention from country giants

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

who signed him in December 1976 for 25 million pesetas, and he proceeded to be regularly used over one decade although never an undisputed starter (a maximum of 23 matches in 1980–81). He also scored the winner in a 3–1

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 footb ...

defeat of

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...

, in that same season. Esteban returned to his first club in 1987, retiring four years later at the age of 36. He earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

over a two-month span in 1981 as the nation prepared for its

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, but did not make the final cut. He also represented the country at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

Coaching career

Taking up coaching afterwards, Vigo began in his native

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

with

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

, and continued to work mainly in the region, also having an abroad spell in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. In 2009 he led

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

to their first top-tier promotion but, in July 2009, switched to another side in Segunda División, moving to Hércules CF and achieving the same as runner-up, with the

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 ...

club returning to the top flight after 13 years. Vigo was sacked by Hércules on 21 March 2011, following a 0–4 home loss against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

; it was the team's fourth consecutive defeat of the season, winning just one point out of 15 possible. He was named the new Almería manager on 4 April of the following year, replacing Lucas Alcaraz. In July 2012, Vigo returned to Xerez on a two-year deal with the option of two more. He and his three assistants were dismissed the following February, with the team last-placed and seven points from safety (and eventually relegated in that position). On 17 February 2021, Vigo returned for a fourth spell as manager of Xerez. He led the club to the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

from

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 ...

, but lost to AD Ceuta FC, leaving in the aftermath.

Outside football

Vigo released his autobiography, titled ''Ganador'' (winner), on 13 September 2010.Esteban presentó ayer su autobiografía en Jerez (Esteban presented his autobiography yesterday in Jerez)
Diario AS, 14 September 2010 (in Spanish)

Honours

Player

Barcelona *

: 1984–85 *

: 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83 * Supercopa de España:

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

* Copa de la Liga:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: 1978–79, 1981–82 Málaga * Segunda División: 1987–88

Manager

Xerez *Segunda División: 2008–09

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigo, Esteban 1955 births Living people People from Vélez-Málaga Sportspeople from the Province of Málaga Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Malagueño players CD Málaga footballers CA Marbella footballers FC Barcelona players Spain under-23 international footballers Spain amateur international footballers Spain B international footballers Spain international footballers Olympic footballers of Spain Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers UD Almería managers Xerez CD managers Córdoba CF managers UE Lleida managers Hércules CF managers Liga I managers FC Dinamo București managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania