Luis Costa Juan (born 19 February 1943) is a Spanish former
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 ...
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
and manager.
Most of his professional career was closely associated with
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, as both a player and a manager.
Playing career
Costa 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 ...
,
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 ...
. After rising to prominence in amateur tournaments held in his hometown, he signed with
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 ...
from
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 ...
at the age of 17, spending four years under contract with the club as a senior but never appearing in competitive matches – whose forward line included the likes of
Francisco Gento
Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish footballer who played as an outside left. He was voted by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) as the greatest Spanish footballer ...
,
Raymond Kopa
Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...
,
Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...
,
Luis del Sol
Luis del Sol Cascajares (6 April 1935 – 20 June 2021) was a Spanish football midfielder and manager.
He played a total of 112 La Liga games for Betis and Real Madrid (28 goals scored), winning five major titles with the latter side and ear ...
and
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name.
People with the given name include:
*Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...
– also being loaned four times to three teams, including fellow
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 ...
sides
Córdoba CF
Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...
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 ''Estadi ...
.
[Luis Costa, el triunfo de la modestia (Luis Costa, the triumph of modesty)](_blank)
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
, 26 April 1986
In 1966, Costa left the ''Merengues'' and signed for Córdoba on a permanent basis, after an unassuming spell with Hércules in
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 ...
. From 1968 to 1971 he suffered three consecutive top flight relegations, with 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,
RCD Mallorca
Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...
and
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 La ...
;
he amassed top level totals of 188 games and 18 goals, and closed out his career at 33 after three years in
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 ...
with
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 ...
, having obtained his coaching license before he retired.
Coaching career
Costa's first job in the top level came with Zaragoza, which he coached in one game in the
1980–81 season, a 1–1 home draw against Hércules. After two complete seasons in
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 ...
, with
Palencia CF
Palencia Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Palencia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 5 March 2013, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Nuevo La Balastera'', with a capacity of 8,100 peopl ...
and
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 ...
, he returned to the
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
ese for
1985–86,
winning his first 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 ...
– 1–0 win over
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
– and being fired early into the
1987–88 campaign.
In the early 90s, Costa worked in the lower leagues with
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 ...
,
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 ...
and former club Córdoba. In 1994, he was appointed at
Zaragoza's reserves in
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 ...
, which he had already coached in the previous decade.
Costa was one of four managers in Zaragoza's first team in the
1996–97 season, with the team finally ranking in 14th position. He was in charge for the entirety of
the following campaign, which finished with the club one position above.
Having replaced
Juan Manuel Lillo
Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lillo Díez (born 3 November 1965) is a Spanish football manager, currently in charge of Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd SC.
Having started coaching before his 20s, he was the youngest manager in charge of a La Liga club, h ...
after the fourth round in
2000–01, Costa led Zaragoza to another
Spanish Cup conquest, now against
RC Celta de Vigo
Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...
. The team could finish 17th in the league however, being the first above the relegation zone (one of the few bright spots of the campaign was a 4–4 draw at Barcelona).
On 22 January 2002, Costa replaced
Txetxu Rojo at the helm of Zaragoza,
Luis Costa sustituye a Txetxu Rojo como entrenador del Zaragoza (Luis Costa replaces Txetxu Rojo as Zaragoza manager)
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, 22 January 2002 not being able however to prevent top division relegation (as last) after winning only twice in his ten games in charge.
Honours
Manager
Zaragoza
*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 ...
: 1985–86, 2000–01
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Luis
1943 births
Living people
Footballers from Alicante
Spanish footballers
Men's association football forwards
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Tercera División players
Real Madrid CF players
Elche CF players
Córdoba CF players
Hércules CF players
RCD Mallorca players
Real Zaragoza players
Girona FC players
Spain men's youth international footballers
Spanish football managers
La Liga managers
Segunda División managers
Segunda División B managers
RCD Mallorca managers
SD Huesca managers
Real Zaragoza managers
Girona FC managers
Real Oviedo managers
CD Málaga managers
Elche CF managers
Levante UD managers
Deportivo Alavés managers
Córdoba CF managers
Palencia CF managers