Francisco Gabriel Escudero Martínez (born 24 March 1966), commonly known as Paquito, is a Spanish retired

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The vast majority of his professional career was associated with Hércules, as he served the club as a player, coach and director of football.

Playing career

Born in Rafal,

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 ...

, Paquito started playing football in the neighborhood of La Florida. He made his senior debut with

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

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 ...

, going on to play two seasons with

Benidorm CF Benidorm Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Benidorm, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1964 and dissolved in 2011 it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Guillermo Amor'', which had a capacity of 6,000. ...

and helping the team promote (also finishing the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

as champions) to

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 ...

for the second time in their history. In 1990, Paquito remained in his native region and signed with

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 ...

, helping to promotion to

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 ...

in his third year. In his 11-year spell he appeared in 342 official games, contributing with 34 matches (one goal) as the club returned to

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 ...

after a ten-year absence and being again an undisputed starter the following campaign, which ended in immediate relegation; his top-flight debut occurred on 1 September 1996, in a 2–1 home win against

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at ''Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a capaci ...

Coaching career

Paquito suffered a serious injury during 1999–00, with Hércules in the third division, officially retiring from football in May 2001 at age 35. He remained with the club working in directorial capacities and, in 2003, began working as an assistant coach, a position he held under managers

José Carlos Granero José Carlos Granero Granero (born 27 May 1963) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right-back or a central defender, currently a manager. He was known as a promotion specialist, winning promotion four times each to Seg ...

Juan Carlos Mandiá Juan Carlos Mandiá Lorenzo (born 17 January 1967) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defender, currently a manager. Playing career Mandiá was born in Alfoz, Province of Lugo. Over a 16-year playing career he represented Real M ...

José Bordalás José "Pepe" Bordalás Jiménez (born 5 March 1964) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. His playing career ended due to injury without a first-team appearance for Hércules, and he made his professiona ...

and

Josu Uribe Jesús Uribesalgo Gutiérrez (born 25 May 1969), commonly known as Josu Uribe, is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager. Club career Born in Gijón, Asturias, Uribe began coaching at the age of 21, manag ...

. On 15 May 2007, following Uribe's dismissal, Paquito was named head coach until the end of the second division season, eventually avoiding relegation with two wins, one draw and two losses in his five games in charge. He was named

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

in the following campaign, remaining in charge for several years.

Personal life

Paquito's son

Andy Andy may refer to: People * Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds * Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and pi ...

is also a footballer. A winger, he was an

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

youth graduate.

Honours

Player

Hércules *

: 1995–96 Benidorm *

: 1988–89

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paquito Escudero 1966 births Living people People from Vega Baja del Segura Footballers from the Province of Alicante Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Alicante CF footballers Benidorm CF footballers Hércules CF players Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Hércules CF managers