Nicolás "Nico" Estévez Martínez (born 29 January 1980) 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 ...

, who is the current head coach of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

Career

Born in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Estévez began his career with the youth categories of local side CF San José, at the age of just 19. In 2004, he was hired by

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 ...

to work in their youth setup. In July 2011, Estévez was appointed manager of newly-created side

Huracán Valencia CF Huracán Valencia Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Torrent, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 2011, it played in Segunda División B until 2016, when it was dissolved. History Huracán Valencia Club de Fútbol was founde ...

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 ...

. On 1 July 2013, after missing out promotion twice in the play-offs, he announced his departure from the club, and returned to Valencia three days later, after being named in charge of the reserves also in the third level. On 16 December 2013, Estévez was named interim manager of Valencia's first team, after

Miroslav Đukić Miroslav Đukić ( sr-cyr, Мирослав Ђукић, ; born 19 February 1966) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a sweeper, and a manager. He spent 14 years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of Deportivo ...

was dismissed. He was in charge of the team for two matches, a 1–0

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 ...

home win against

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

and a 2–3

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 ...

home loss 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 ...

; at the age of 33, he became the second-youngest manager in the history of the club, only behind Óscar Fernández, also an interim. Shortly after, he returned to his previous role with Mestalla after the appointment of

Juan Antonio Pizzi Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja (, ; born 7 June 1968) is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker, currently manager of UAE Pro League club Al-Wasl. He spent the bulk of his club career in Spain, mainly at Tenerife, helping to th ...

. Estévez was sacked by Mestalla on 7 April 2014, after nine winless matches, and was replaced by

Curro Torres Cristóbal Emilio "Curro" Torres Ruiz (born 27 December 1976) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of Estonian club FCI Levadia Tallinn. In his professional career, whose later years were blighted by sev ...

. In September, he moved abroad and joined American side

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an Soccer in the United States, American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference ( ...

, as a Director of Methodology. On 6 January 2017, Estévez was promoted to assistant coach of

Gregg Berhalter Gregg Matthew Berhalter (, ; born August 1, 1973) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is also the current head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. Berhalter previously coached Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soc ...

in Crew SC's first team. On 16 January 2019, he followed Berhalter to the

United States men's soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ...

, again as his assistant. On 2 December 2021, Estévez was announced as the new head coach of

side

. In his first season in charge of the side, he qualified them for the playoffs, finishing third on the Western Conference with 53 points, 20 more than last year; it was the biggest year-over-year improvement in the club's history.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual

Group 3 Best Coach (Ramón Cobo Award):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Estevez, Nico 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Valencia Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División B managers Huracán Valencia CF managers Valencia CF managers Columbus Crew non-playing staff FC Dallas coaches Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Valencia CF Mestalla managers Valencia CF non-playing staff