José Luis Mendilibar Etxebarria (born 14 March 1961) 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
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 ...
of
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...
.
He played no higher than
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 ...
, where he made 290 appearances and scored 34 goals mainly for
Sestao and also for
Logroñés. He managed for over 15 years in
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 ...
for
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 ...
,
Valladolid
Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...
,
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 ...
,
Levante,
Eibar,
Alavés and
Sevilla, winning the second division with the second of those teams in
2006–07.
Playing career
Mendilibar was born in
Zaldibar
Zaldibar (in Basque and officially, in es, Zaldívar) is an elizate, town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. Zaldibar is part of the ''comarca'' of Durangaldea and has a population of 3,043 inhabita ...
,
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 ...
. He enjoyed an average career as a player, never appearing for a club in
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 ...
and successively representing
Bilbao Athletic,
CD Logroñés
Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''.
Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...
,
Sestao Sport Club
Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats.
History
Sestao managed to p ...
and
SD Lemona
Sociedad Deportiva Lemona was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lemoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1923, it last played in Segunda División B, Se ...
.
Mendilibar was a key player in midfield for Sestao during the side's
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 ...
years – playing eight seasons with them in that level and appearing in nearly 300 competitive matches – narrowly missing out on promotion in
1986–87 under
Javier Irureta
Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano (born 1 April 1948), Irureta for short, is a Spanish retired football attacking midfielder and manager.
He had a distinguished playing career with Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, playing in 344 La Liga games ...
.
Coaching career
Early years
After retiring in 1994, Mendilibar worked in the youth categories of
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 ...
before being appointed head coach of
UD Lanzarote
Unión Deportiva Lanzarote is a Spanish football team based in Arrecife, Lanzarote, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1970 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 12, holding home games at the ''Ciudad Deportiva de La ...
and then
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 ...
. His success with the latter in the second division, on a very limited budget, translated into a
narrow miss on promotion in 2005.
Athletic Bilbao
Mendilibar returned to Athletic in June 2005, the club he supported as a child. His debut was the first
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
match of his career, a 1–0 loss at Romania's
CFR Cluj on 2 July in the
second round
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...
of the
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...
(aggregate draw, elimination on
penalties
Penalty or The Penalty may refer to:
Sports
* Penalty (golf)
* Penalty (gridiron football)
* Penalty (ice hockey)
* Penalty (rugby)
* Penalty (rugby union)
* Penalty kick (association football)
* Penalty shoot-out (association football)
* Penalty ...
); his first top-flight game was a 3–0 home win over
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 ...
in the
Basque derby
The Basque derby (in Basque ''Euskal Derbia'', in Spanish ''derbi Vasco'') is the name of the football local derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. It embodies the inter-city rivalry between Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, capit ...
on 27 August.
Having not added any more victories in the ensuing nine games of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, Mendilibar was its first manager to be sacked. He was replaced by
Javier Clemente on 31 October.
Valladolid
In June 2006, Mendilibar was appointed at
Real Valladolid
Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system.
The club colo ...
in the second division. His team won promotion as champions in his
first season, earning a record 88 points and going on a 29-game unbeaten run to secure their place in the top flight with eight fixtures remaining.
In the
same campaign, they reached the quarter-finals of the
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 footbal ...
with aggregate victories over
Gimnàstic de Tarragona and
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 ...
from the league above.
Mendilibar's team retained their league status from
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
to
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
. On 1 February 2010, after a 1–1 home draw against
UD Almería left them one point above the relegation places, he was dismissed.
Osasuna
In February 2011, Mendilibar returned to work, replacing the fired
José Antonio Camacho
José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager.
He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, i ...
at
CA Osasuna on a deal until June of the following year. His first game in charge was a 4–0 home defeat of
RCD Espanyol
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...
on 20 February, and the ''Rojillos'' stayed up on the final day of
the campaign with a 1–0 win over Villarreal also at the
El Sadar Stadium.
Mendilibar added a further year to his contract in March 2012, and again in May of the following year. On 3 September 2013, he was relieved of his duties after three losses in as many matches to kickstart
the new season
''The New Season'' is a collaboration album by American rappers Brotha Lynch Hung and MC Eiht. It was released January 24, 2006 on Real Talk Entertainment. The album was produced by Big Hollis, Brotha Lynch Hung, MC Eiht and Vince V. It peaked a ...
.
Levante
On 29 May 2014, Mendilibar was appointed at
Levante UD
Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community.
Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...
, signing a one-year contract with an option for a second season. On 20 October, after only one win in eight games, and no goals scored and 14 conceded from four home fixtures, he was dismissed.
Eibar
Mendilibar returned to Eibar on 30 June 2015, replacing
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 ...
. In
2016–17, he led the team to a best-ever
quarter-final finish in the domestic cup before an injury-stripped squad lost 5–2 on aggregate to
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 ...
; he and
Asier Garitano
Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal (born 6 December 1969) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward.
During a 14-year senior career, he appeared in 134 matches in Segunda División over five seasons, totalling 23 goals fo ...
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 ...
were joint recipients of the year's
Miguel Muñoz Trophy for best manager. The
following year they came ninth in the league, again a club record.
Alavés
In May 2021, shortly after
the team's relegation, Mendilibar announced that he would not renew his contract at Eibar. At the turn of the calendar year, he returned to the top division at relegation-threatened neighbours
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 ...
, being fired less than four months later with the side in last place.
Sevilla
On 21 March 2023, Mendilibar replaced
Jorge Sampaoli
Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football coach who is currently manager for Sevilla of La Liga. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury.
Sampaoli starte ...
at the helm of
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...
.
Honours
Valladolid
*
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 ...
:
2006–07[
]
Managerial statistics
References
External links
*
*
*
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendilibar, Jose Luis
1961 births
Living people
People from Durangaldea
Sportspeople from Biscay
Spanish footballers
Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community)
Association football midfielders
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
Bilbao Athletic footballers
CD Logroñés footballers
Sestao Sport Club footballers
SD Lemona footballers
Spanish football managers
La Liga managers
Segunda División managers
Segunda División B managers
Tercera División managers
CD Basconia managers
Athletic Bilbao B managers
SD Eibar managers
Athletic Bilbao managers
Real Valladolid managers
CA Osasuna managers
Levante UD managers
Deportivo Alavés managers
Sevilla FC managers