Juan Ignacio Martínez Jiménez (; born 23 June 1964), is a Spanish football coach and former player, who played as a left back, and is a current

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Playing career

Martínez was born in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

. After playing youth football for both Alicante CF and

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Es ...

he competed only at amateur level during his career, never in higher than the third division. He played for Elche CF Ilicitano, CD Benicarló,

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with a 8,000 c ...

– due to his

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 ...

– Alicante,

UD Vall de Uxó Unión Deportiva Vall de Uxó is a football team based in La Vall d'Uixó, in Castellón province, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1975, it plays in Regional Preferente – Group 1. Its stadium is ''José Mangriñ ...

, UD Almansa and FC Torrevieja. Martínez ended his career in 1990, at only 26.

Coaching career

Martínez began managing in 1997, his first stop being precisely Alicante. In the following years, he coached several teams in the lower leagues – also working in youth and women's football – his longest spell being three years with

AD Mar Menor-San Javier Agrupación Deportiva Mar Menor-San Javier was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in San Javier, Murcia, San Javier, in the Region of Murcia. Founded in 1980, it last played in Tercera División Groups 10-18, Tercera Di ...

in the fourth level, which he led to two consecutive playoff appearances albeit without any promotion. In the 2005–06 season, Martínez led

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

to the first position in division three. He first reached the professionals in the 2007–08 campaign, coaching

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 ...

to a final seventh place in the second tier. After another season in the second division, with

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 ...

, Martínez returned to Cartagena ( recently returned to that level). He led the Murcian club to the fifth position in his first year, and the 13th in his second. Affectionately known as "JIM" (his full name's initials), Martínez was appointed at Levante UD on 9 June 2011, replacing Getafe CF-bound Luis García. After two draws in the first two

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 ...

rounds he coached the team to seven consecutive wins, including a 1–0 home victory against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Martínez also led the

Valencians Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Au ...

to their first continental competition ever, by finishing sixth in 2011–12. After ranking only 11th in the following season he opted to not renew his contract, and signed a two-year deal with fellow league side

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 c ...

. On 24 May 2014, after the latter's relegation, Martínez was relieved of his duties. On 11 December he was appointed at the helm of

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

, replacing fired

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...

; on 5 April 2015, he was sacked by the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

ns after a heavy 1–4 home loss to his previous club Levante. After one month as working as a personal assistant to

Lorca FC Lorca Fútbol Club was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lorca, Spain, Lorca, in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2003, it last played in Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in the Region of ...

's new Chinese owner

Xu Genbao Xu Genbao (; born January 16, 1944 in Shanghai) is a Chinese football manager and a former international football player. He is the current founder, chairman and general coach of Shanghai East Asia football club as well as also being the owner ...

, Martínez moved abroad in November 2016 to manage

Shanghai Shenxin F.C. Shanghai Shenxin Football Club () was a professional football club that participated in China's football league system between 2003 and 2019 under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Jinshan District, Shangha ...

on an annual salary of €600,000. He left a year later, having finished seventh in

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

and reached the semi-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, where they were beaten by

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

's Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC. He remained in the country with Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. of the same league, being dismissed in September with the team third from bottom after 24 games. Martínez was hired by Al-Arabi SC of the

Kuwaiti Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...

in June 2019, working alongside Darko Nestorović. On 14 December 2020, he returned to his home country after being named at the helm of

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

in the second division. Martínez left Zaragoza on 30 May 2022, after avoiding relegation.

Personal life

Martínez's cousin,

José Bordalás José "Pepe" Bordalás Jiménez (born 5 March 1964) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. His playing career ended due to injury without a first-team appearance for Hércules, and he made his professiona ...

, is also a football coach."Somos como hermanos, pero buscaremos ganar" ("We are like brothers, but we will play to win")
Diario AS, 25 March 2010 (in Spanish)

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Juan Ignacio 1964 births Living people Footballers from Alicante (city) Spanish footballers Association football defenders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Elche CF Ilicitano footballers UD Melilla footballers Alicante CF footballers CD Torrevieja players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Alicante CF managers FC Cartagena managers CD Alcoyano managers UD Salamanca managers Albacete Balompié managers Levante UD managers Real Valladolid managers UD Almería managers Real Zaragoza managers Kuwait Premier League managers Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait