Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, known as Míchel (; born 30 October 1975), 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

left 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 ...

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 ...

. In a 20-year senior career, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 182 matches and 25 goals, adding 169 games and 18 goals in the

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 ...

and playing mostly with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

(17 seasons, three spells).

Playing career

Míchel was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. A product of

's youth system, he appeared once for the first team in the 1993–94 season, then alternated between them and the reserves two more years. After one loan to

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 ...

in the

, Míchel returned to Rayo, being essential as the capital outskirts side finished ninth in the 1999–2000 campaign and qualified for the subsequent

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

through

fair play Fair play or Fairplay usually refers to sportsmanship. Fair play or Fairplay may also refer to: Media * ''Fair Play'' (1925 film), an American silent film * ''Fair Play'', a 1972 TV movie starring Paul Ford * ''Fair Play'' (2014 film), a Czech ...

, in a run that ended in the quarter-finals at the hands of fellow

club

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 ...

. The following season he scored a career-best ten goals in 33 games (all starts), as his team ranked 14th. Míchel moved in 2003 to

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

for a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

2,7 million fee, being relatively used in his first year, which ended in top-division relegation. He appeared very rarely, however, in his final two seasons, which included a six-month loan spell with

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, ...

in 2004–05, where he was also sparingly used. In July 2006, Míchel returned home and to Rayo, helping it return to the second tier in the 2007–08 season. He continued to be

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

and, during the 2010–11 campaign, still contributed with two goals in 20 matches as they returned to the top flight after eight years.

Coaching career

On 9 July 2012, after having appeared in only nine games as Rayo retained their league status – just 246 minutes of action – the 36-year-old Míchel retired from football, being immediately appointed coach of his main club's youth sides. On 21 February 2017, he 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, eventually achieving promotion to the top division in the 2017–18 campaign as champions. Míchel was dismissed on 18 March 2019, being subsequently replaced by

Paco Jémez Francisco "Paco" Jémez Martín (born 18 April 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the manager of Iranian club Tractor. Over 11 seasons, he played 269 La Liga matches in representation o ...

. On 1 June, he was named manager of

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in t ...

, recently relegated to the second tier. He and his side won another promotion, again in the top position. On 12 January 2021, as the team ranked in last place, Míchel was relieved of his duties. On 9 July, he signed as coach of

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Rayo Vallecano *

: 2017–18 Huesca *Segunda División: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel 1975 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Madrid Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Vallecano B players Rayo Vallecano players UD Almería players Real Murcia players Málaga CF players Spain youth international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Rayo Vallecano managers SD Huesca managers Girona FC managers