Luis Milla Aspas (born 12 March 1966) 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

defensive 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 Indonesian club

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Bandung'), commonly referred to as Persib Bandung, or simply Persib, is a professional football club based in Bandung, West Java, which competes in Liga 1, the top ...

. He represented three clubs – including

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

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 ...

– in a 16-year-professional career, where he won three

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 ...

titles (one with the former and two with the latter) and amassed totals of 298 matches and six goals. Milla later worked as a manager, being in charge of Spain's youth teams for several years.

Playing career

Milla was born in

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a ...

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 ...

. After finishing his development with

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 ...

he made his

debut in 1984–85, scoring in his only appearance of the season against

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 ...

as ''Barça'' pitched in a team majorly composed of youth players due to a general professional's

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

. Definitely promoted to the first team in 1988, Milla would be involved two years later in a sour contract renewal dispute with the board of directors and manager

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

, which eventually finished with his free transfer to

. He was seriously injured in his debut campaign, but bounced to back to be an important first-team element in the conquest of two leagues and one

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 ...

, being fairly used even after the 1994 purchase of

Fernando Redondo Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri (; born 6 June 1969) is an Argentine retired footballer. A defensive midfielder with the ability to contribute offensively and creatively, he turned professional playing for Argentinos Juniors and played one full ...

. Milla finished his career in June 2001 after four years at

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

, with more than 400 official appearances as a professional. Over a three-month period beginning in late 1989, he earned himself three

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for the Spain national team, the first against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in a

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

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Coaching career

Milla was first involved in professional coaching in 2007–08, assisting former Barcelona and Madrid teammate

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his pl ...

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. In the ensuing summer he was named the national under-19's manager, after

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

's appointment as the senior manager. In Milla's first tournament, the 2009 UEFA European championship, the team did not progress through the group stage. In the 2010 edition in France, however, he led Spain to the final, which ended in defeat to the hosts. Later in the same year, Milla replaced

Juan Ramón López Caro Juan Ramón López Caro (; born 23 March 1963) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager. He managed Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and Levante UD, Levante in La Liga, as well as RC Celta de Vigo, Celta and ...

at the helm of the under-21 side. Despite finding a delicate situation upon his arrival, he managed to qualify for the 2011 European championship after defeating

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in a two-legged

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In the final stages in

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, Milla led the Spanish under-21s to their third title, after only conceding two goals in five games (four wins and only one draw). He was sacked after his team failed to qualify from the group phase at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In February 2013, Milla was appointed at

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

Al Jazira Club Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League. History Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to st ...

. His first match in charge was a 3–1 loss at

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in the group stage of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. Milla returned to Spain in the 2015 off-season, signing as

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 ...

club

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

head coach and resigning in late February 2016 in unclear circumstances. The following season, in the same capacity, he joined Zaragoza also at that level, being dismissed after only four months in charge and six matches without a win. On 21 January 2017, Milla succeeded Alfred Riedl at the helm of the Indonesia national team by signing a two-year deal. In October 2018, he had his contract terminated by the

Football Association of Indonesia The Football Association of Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of Football soccer, football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930, fif ...

. On 19 August 2022, Milla was announced as the new manager of

Personal life

Milla's son, also named Luis, is also a footballer and a midfielder.

Honours

Player

Barcelona *

: 1984–85 *

: 1989–90 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1988–89 Real Madrid *La Liga: 1994–95, 1996–97 *Copa del Rey: 1992–93 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Valencia *Copa del Rey: 1998–99 *

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 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

runner-up: 1999–2000, 2000–01

Manager

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milla, Luis 1966 births Living people People from Teruel Sportspeople from the Province of Teruel Spanish footballers Footballers from Aragon Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Real Madrid CF players Valencia CF players Spain international footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Tercera División managers CD Lugo managers Real Zaragoza managers UAE Pro League managers Al Jazira Club managers Persib Bandung managers Spain national under-21 football team managers Spanish Olympic coaches Indonesia national football team managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Indonesia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates