Javier Subirats Hernández (born 2 October 1957) is a Spanish retired

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 ...

. Most of his career was closely associated with

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, as a player and director. Over the course of 11 seasons, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 250 games and 24 goals.

Playing career

Born in

Paterna Paterna is a city and a municipality in the province of Valencia in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located northeast of the comarca of '' L'Horta de Valencia'', northwest of the inland suburbs of Valencia, and on the left bank of the riv ...

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 ...

, Subirats finished his youth 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 ...

. He made his

debut on 29 January 1978 in a 2–1 away win against

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 ...

, and finished his first season with eight first-team appearances (seven as a substitute). For the 1978–79 campaign, Subirats was loaned to

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

in the

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 ...

, because he had to perform

compulsory military service Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

in the city. After returning to the ''Che'', he immediately became an important member of the main squad, contributing five games and one goal in the victorious

1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1979–80 season was the 20th season of the European Cup Winners' Cup, a football tournament organised by UEFA for the cup winners from each of its member associations. The competition was won by Spanish club Valencia, who beat Arsenal of Engla ...

run, including 112 minutes in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

(0–0,

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

win). In 1986–87, Subirats posted career-bests of 41 matches and six goals, helping Valencia win 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 ...

championship. He finished his career with 354 official appearances for his main club, and retired in 1992 at nearly 35 after one-season spells with neighbouring sides

Orihuela Deportiva CF Orihuela Deportiva Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Orihuela, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1944 and dissolved 50 years later, it managed to play two seasons in Segunda División, the first in 1952. After finishing fi ...

(second tier) and CF Gandia (third).

Manager and director career

After retiring, Subirats began training in youth football, with Valencia. In the 1996–97 season he had his first experience with the professionals, coaching

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

through 20 games before being sacked, totalling six wins, four draws and ten losses. Subirats then returned to Valencia as

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 ...

, being in charge as the club won two leagues in the 2000s and the

2003–04 UEFA Cup The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia. Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and al ...

, under

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-1 ...

who was a personal bet of his. Afterwards, he worked in the same capacity with yet another side in his native region,

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

, promoting to the second division in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

after signing

Juan Carlos Mandiá Juan Carlos Mandiá Lorenzo (born 17 January 1967) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defender, currently a manager. Playing career Mandiá was born in Alfoz, Province of Lugo. Over a 16-year playing career he represented Real M ...

; following the dismissal of

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 Seg ...

and before Mandiá's appointment, he managed the team in two games. In 2005–06, Subirats rejoined Valencia as its sporting director, working with Hércules in the following two campaigns.

Honours

Valencia *

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 tournam ...

: 1979–80 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

: 1986–87

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Subirats, Javier 1957 births Living people People from Horta Oest 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 Girona FC players Orihuela Deportiva CF footballers CF Gandía players Spain under-21 international footballers Spain amateur international footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Villarreal CF managers Hércules CF managers Valencia CF non-playing staff