Francisco Javier Pereira Megía (born 13 May 1966) is a Spanish football

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 ...

and former player who played as a

right winger 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

, Pereira only played amateur football during his career. After notably playing one match for Segunda División B side CD Badajoz in the 1984–85 season, he went on to represent UD Montijo,

CD Díter Zafra Club Deportivo Díter Zafra was a Spanish football team based in Zafra, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1930 it last played in 3ª – Group 14, holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de Zafra'', with a capacity of 5,000 ...

, AD Puebla Patria, CP Sanvicenteño and CD Guadiana. Pereira eventually retired at the age of just 28, after having degrees in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

and a job at the

Social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

of his hometown.

Managerial career

After retiring, Pereira started his managerial career in 2001, with former side Badajoz's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. On 18 July 2003, he was named manager 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 ...

side

CD Don Benito Club Deportivo Don Benito is a Spanish football team based in Don Benito, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1928 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 4, holding home matches at ''Estadio Vicente Sanz'', with a capacit ...

, achieving promotion to the third division in his first season but being sacked in March 2005; his club suffered relegation nonetheless. He eventually returned to Don Benito in 2006, but as a sporting director. In 2007, Pereira left Don Benito to join Juan Ignacio Martínez's staff at

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 blac ...

, as his assistant manager. The duo also worked together at

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 ...

before the appointment of Pereira as

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...

manager on 22 June 2009. Sacked by Alavés on 1 February 2010, Pereira returned to his previous role as ''JIM''s assistant at Cartagena, Levante and

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

. In 2014 he moved abroad, joining Óscar García's staff at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, and continued at the club despite García's departure, working as an assistant of subsequent managers

Billy McKinlay William James Alexander McKinlay (born 22 April 1969) is a Scottish football manager and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of West Ham United. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for ...

and

Slaviša Jokanović Slaviša Jokanović ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Јокановић, ; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Russian club Dynamo Moscow. A physical player considered strong in the a ...

. Pereira continued to work with Jokanović in the following three seasons, being his assistant at

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and Fulham. In 2018, after Jokanović was fired, Pereira joined

Jordi Cruyff Johan Jordi Cruijff (anglicised to Cruyff; born 9 February 1974) is a football coach and former player. He is the son of former player and manager Johan Cruyff. As a footballer, Cruyff played from 1992 through to 2010, including periods with ...

's staff at

Chongqing Lifan Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic () is a defunct Chinese football club. The team was based in Chongqing. The club was founded in 1995 as Wuhan Qianwei before making their debut in the newly developed fully professional Chinese football league syst ...

. On 30 January 2020, Pereira returned to Fulham as an Assistant Director of Football Operations. He moved back to China on 11 September, after being named manager of

Henan Jianye Henan Songshan Longmen Football Club (), previously known as Henan Jianye Football Club (), is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team ...

. He steered the club to safety in the relegation play-off, courtesy of four wins and two draws. In October 2021, Pereira rescinded his contract in Asia and came home to manage struggling

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' ...

side Levante UD for the rest of the season, with two more campaigns as option. On 29 November 2021, he was sacked by the club, with Levante bottom of the league and without a win.

Personal life

Pereira's father José Luis was also a footballer. 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 ...

, his professional inputs consisted of 31 appearances in three seasons with

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a capa ...

and Badajoz.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Javier 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Badajoz Spanish footballers Footballers from Extremadura Association football wingers Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Badajoz players Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Deportivo Alavés managers Chinese Super League managers Henan Songshan Longmen F.C. managers Levante UD managers Watford F.C. non-playing staff Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China