José Alberto López Menéndez (born 21 May 1982), known as José Alberto, is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

and former player who played as a defender, who is currently in charge of

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, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

Career

Born in

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

, José Alberto started his career at

Astur CF Astur Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Oviedo, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1923 and later re-founded in 1949, it plays in Tercera División – Group 2, holding home matches at '' Estadio Hermanos Llana ...

's youth setup in 2001 (later renamed ''Oviedo ACF''); at that time, he was playing as a senior for

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 Di ...

side SDR San Lázaro, but retired shortly after. In 2006 he took over CD Vallobín's under-19 squad, but returned to Astur in the following year. In 2008, José Alberto moved to

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, P ...

, being named assistant manager of the under-14s. He was appointed manager of the under-13 team in the following year, and subsequently took over the under-14s. On 12 October 2013, José Alberto was named manager of

side

CD Covadonga Club Deportivo Covadonga is a Spanish football team based in Oviedo, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1979 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Juan Antonio Álvarez Rabanal'', with a ...

, and led the side to fifth position during the campaign, one point shy of the play-offs. He resigned the following 19 May, and returned to Sporting on 2 June. On 9 June 2016, José Alberto was appointed manager of the reserves, freshly relegated to the fourth division. He achieved promotion to

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 ...

in his first season, and reached the play-offs to

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 ...

in his second. On 18 November 2018, José Alberto replaced

Rubén Baraja Rubén Baraja Vegas (; born 11 July 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer, currently manager of Valencia. A complete central midfielder with good tackling, technique, and offensive qualities, together with accurate passing and goalscoring abili ...

at the helm of the first team. His first match in charge occurred five days later, a 2–1 away win against

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

. He was sacked on 21 December 2019, after two losses against fourth-tier

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a c ...

in 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 ...

, and

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 Her ...

. On 27 July 2020, José Alberto was appointed in charge of

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División, holding home matches at ''Esta ...

, still in the second division. The following 1 June, he was named in charge of fellow league team

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

. On 24 January 2022, after a 5–0 home loss to

UD Ibiza Unión Deportiva Ibiza is a Spanish professional football club based in the town of Ibiza, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 2015, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Can Mis ...

, José Alberto was dismissed by the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, 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 ...

ns. On 13 December, he replaced sacked

Guillermo Fernández Romo Guillermo Fernández Romo (born 23 November 1978) is a Spanish football manager. Career Born in Madrid, Fernández Romo started his career working as a football teacher at EF Aluche in 1997. He then became a youth coach at SR Villaverde Boetti ...

at the helm of

, still in division two.

Personal life

José Alberto's younger brother Dani was a footballer. A

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he was a

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

youth graduate.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

;Sporting de Gijón B *

: 2016–17

References

External links

José Alberto profile
at BDFutbol

at BDFutbol * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jose Alberto 1982 births Living people Footballers from Oviedo Spanish footballers Association football defenders Tercera División players Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Sporting de Gijón managers CD Mirandés managers Málaga CF managers Racing de Santander managers