Juan Ramón López Muñiz (born 2 November 1968) 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Playing career

Muñiz was born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

. During his playing days, he represented hometown club

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

(making his first-team debut in the 1991–92 season, at already 23),

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

– scoring four goals from 40 appearances during 1998–99, which granted the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

side

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

promotion via the playoffs even though they finished fifth – and

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

. Muñiz retired at the end of the 2001–02 campaign at the age of 33, as the team from

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populatio ...

could only finish in 17th position in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. In 11 years as a professional, he appeared in 332 games and scored ten times (234 matches and six goals in the top flight).

Coaching career

Muñiz started as an assistant manager at Málaga in 2003, under

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a former Spanish footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals ...

. His first head coach experience arrived in early 2006 with lowly UD Marbella, and he subsequently returned to Málaga as the main manager for two seasons, achieving a runner-up place in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and thus promoting the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns to the top tier after a two-year

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: * Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure * Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes'' * G ...

. In July 2008, Muñiz switched to fellow league team

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

. At the season's end, he was released from contract and promptly returned to Málaga, replacing

Antonio Tapia Antonio Tapia Flores (born 13 November 1959) is a Spanish football manager. Career Born in Baena, Córdoba, Tapia had an unassuming career as a footballer, only representing Atlético Malagueño and amateurs UD Fuengirola. Still not in his ...

who took over relegated neighbours

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. In late June 2010, after leading Málaga to the 17th position, last above the relegation zone, Muñiz was sacked. Shortly after, he rejoined Ramos at

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

. Muñiz was appointed

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo Domingo, ...

manager on 8 June 2015, after four years in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Roughly one year later, he signed with fellow division two club

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

, achieving promotion at the first attempt as champions. On 20 June 2018, Muñiz returned to Málaga for a third spell after agreeing to a two-year contract. He was dismissed the following 14 April, following a 1–2 home loss against

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la ...

. On 5 July 2020, after more than a year without a club, Muñiz took charge of

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as 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 Basque ...

in the top division until the end of the campaign.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Levante *

: 2016–17 Individual *

Miguel Muñoz Trophy The Miguel Muñoz Trophy () is a association football, football award for team managers in Spanish football, established by Spanish newspaper Marca (newspaper), Marca in 2006, in memory of the legendary Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid manager Mi ...

(

): 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muniz, Juan Ramon Lopez 1968 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gijón Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Sporting de Gijón B players CD Izarra footballers Sporting de Gijón players Rayo Vallecano players CD Numancia players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Málaga CF managers Racing de Santander managers AD Alcorcón managers Levante UD managers Deportivo Alavés managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine 20th-century Spanish sportsmen