Francisco Martín "Pako" Ayestarán Barandiarán (born 5 February 1963) 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 ...

and coach, who is currently the assistant manager at

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He spent 11 years as assistant to

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-1 ...

at clubs including

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 ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Starting in 2013, he managed as head coach in Mexico, Israel, Portugal, and at Valencia and

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

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 ...

Career

Assistant manager

Ayestarán was born in

Beasain Beasain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. It has an important industry of railway vehicles and related equipment ( CAF) that ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, and had a short stint as a youth player at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. After starting his career as a fitness coach, he was appointed

's assistant at

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

, and remained behind the manager at

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

and

. On 1 September 2007, Ayestarán announced his departure from ''The Reds'' after 11 years partnering Benítez. Benítez accused Ayestarán of "betrayal" as Ayestarán "contacted other clubs behind his back" while Ayestarán rejected the accusations, claiming instead that Benítez "forgot his principles". Ayestarán joined Real Sociedad as sporting director in 2008, but left after a few weeks due to conflicts with the club president. He then served as fitness coach at Benfica and Valencia, leaving the latter in June 2010 for "professional reasons". In mid-2011, Ayestarán was named

Quique Sánchez Flores Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores (; born 5 February 1965) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of Getafe. He began his professional career with Valencia in 1984, going on to amass La Liga totals of 304 ga ...

' assistant at

Al-Ahli Dubai Shabab Al-Ahli Club ( ar, نادي شباب الأهلي) is a Emirati professional association football club based in Dubai, that currently plays in the UAE ADNOC Pro League. Al-Ahli is one of the most successful clubs in the UAE. Al Ahli FC ...

, but left the club roughly a year later.

Manager

On 24 August 2013, Ayestarán took up coaching, being appointed at the helm of

Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March 3 Stadium, named for ...

. On 29 May 2014, after failing to win promotion despite reaching the final of the tournament, Ayestarán announced his departure from Tecos, saying he had "no intention of continuing to manage in the

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX was the second tier of professional football in Mexico of the Mexican football league system. The champion of the competition was promoted to Liga MX (top-flight tier). The bottom team was relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). ...

". Ayestarán was appointed

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

manager on 26 August 2014, replacing fellow Spaniard Óscar García who had resigned due to the war in Gaza. He led Maccabi to a first-ever treble in Israeli football, winning the

(the club's third in a row), the

State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in Israel, Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first he ...

and the

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League ( Ligat Ha'Al), and the second division Liga Leumit. Fro ...

. On 20 August 2015, however, he resigned from the club. On 20 August 2015, Ayestarán returned to Mexico, being appointed at the helm of

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

. He and the club terminated his contract on 21 November "upon mutual consent" after a 15th-place finish in the Apertura 2015. It was announced on 14 February 2016 that Ayestarán would join

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

's backroom staff at Valencia. On 31 March, he was appointed manager of the club for the remainder of the season after the Englishman's sacking. He suffered defeat against

in his debut match before recording consecutive

wins over

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

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

Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat ...

in April. On 24 May 2016, Ayestarán was appointed Valencia manager until 30 June 2018. However, he was sacked on 20 September with the team in last place in the league table, having lost all four games of the season and 8 of his overall 12 fixtures. Ayestarán replaced Manolo Márquez as the new Las Palmas manager on 27 September 2017. He recorded 1 draw and 6 defeats before his dismissal on 30 November, as the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

club suffered relegation. On 29 May 2018, Ayestarán returned to Mexico's top flight to become manager of

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

. He was sacked on 20 January 2019, after missing the Apertura play-offs and underperforming three games into the Clausura season. Ayestarán returned to work on 10 August 2020 with a two-year contract at

Tondela Tondela () is a municipality in the central Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km². History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carvalho (1876–1951) wrote of the mun ...

in Portugal's

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. He succeeded his fellow Basque

Natxo González José Ignacio 'Natxo' González Sáenz (born 29 July 1966) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. After a brief playing career as an amateur, he began coaching and led Alavés to the Segunda División in 20 ...

in the job. With a 3–1 home win over

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has host ...

on 21 December 2021, he guided the team to the quarter-finals of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

for the first time in their history. On 16 March 2022, after a run of five losses and a draw in the league, Ayestarán was dismissed by Tondela. Nonetheless, the team had a 3–0 lead to take into their cup semi-final second leg against

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Repu ...

Assistant Head Coach

On 4 November 2022, Ayestarán was officially announced as assistant head coach to

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Tecos *

: 2014 Clausura ;Maccabi Tel Aviv *

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

: 2014–15 *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

: 2014–15 *

: 2014–15 Liverpool *

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 ...

: 2004–05 Valencia *

: 2003–04

References

External links

Liga MX profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayestaran, Pako 1963 births Living people People from Beasain Spanish football managers Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Tecos F.C. managers Santos Laguna managers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. managers Valencia CF managers UD Las Palmas managers C.D. Tondela managers La Liga managers Israeli Premier League managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Mexico Expatriate football managers in Israel Expatriate football managers in Portugal Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff