Rubén Alfonso de la Barrera Fernández (born 18 January 1985) 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 ...

. He is the current head coach for the

El Salvador national football team The El Salvador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de El Salvador) represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT). In 1899, two teams from Santa Ana and San Sa ...

Managerial career

Born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Galicia, de la Barrera started his managerial career with Ural CF's youth categories in 2004, having previously represented the club,

Victoria CF Victoria Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in the municipality of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1943, they currently play in Preferente de Galicia – Group 1, holding home matches at the ''Campos M ...

and Orillamar SD as a player. After being in charge of Atlético Arteixo and Montañeros CF's ''Juvenil'' squads, he was named manager of

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 ...

side

GCE Villaralbo Villaralbo Club de Fútbol is a List of football clubs in Spain, football team based in Villaralbo in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 2001, it plays in Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in Castile and León, Primera Regiona ...

on 27 May 2010. De la Barrera took Villaralbo to two consecutive play-offs during his spell at the club, but still left in June 2012. After one full season without a club, he was appointed

CD Guijuelo Club Deportivo Guijuelo is a Spanish football team based in Guijuelo, Province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1974 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at the 1,500-seat ...

manager on 18 July 2013. In his debut campaign in

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 ...

, de la Barrera again reached the play-offs, being knocked out by

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

. On 30 June 2014, he was appointed at the helm of fellow third-tier club

Real Valladolid B Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol Promesas is the reserve team of Real Valladolid, a Spanish football club based in Valladolid, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1942, currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 1, h ...

. On 1 July 2015 de la Barrera returned to Guijuelo, but only finished the season in the sixth position. On 27 May of the following year he was appointed manager of Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, achieving 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 ...

as champions in his first campaign. De la Barrera's first professional match occurred on 18 August 2017, a 0–2 away loss against

Lorca FC Lorca Fútbol Club was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lorca, Spain, Lorca, in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2003, it last played in Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in the Region of ...

. On 8 June of the following year, after suffering relegation in the last round, he was named Asier Garitano's assistant 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 ...

. In December 2018, de la Barrera began his first job abroad, taking over on an 18-month contract at

Al Ahli SC (Doha) Al Ahli SC ( ar, النادي الأهلي الرياضي), also known as Al Ahli Doha is a Qatari multi-sport club based in Doha. It is most notable for its professional association football section. Their home ground is the Hamad bin Khalifa ...

who were 5th in the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotio ...

. Shortly before completing a year in the position, he left the 7th-placed club by mutual agreement. On 7 August 2020, de la Barrera took over Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

side

FC Viitorul Constanța Fotbal Club Viitorul Constanța (), commonly known as Viitorul Constanța or simply Viitorul, was a Romanian professional football club based in Ovidiu, Constanța County. They last played their home matches in blue and black kits at the Stadionu ...

, but left on 30 November by agreement with his employer. The following 12 January, he replaced Fernando Vázquez at the helm of Deportivo de La Coruña, in his country's third division. On 2 June 2021, de la Barrera was named manager of Albacete Balompié, freshly relegated to Primera División RFEF. He led the side back to the second level at first attempt, before leaving on a mutual agreement on 15 June 2022. On 19 September 2023, de La Barrera was named as the Head Coach of La Selecta.

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Cultural Leonesa *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrera, Ruben de la 1985 births Living people Footballers from A Coruña Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Primera Federación managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Guijuelo managers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers Albacete Balompié managers Real Sociedad non-playing staff Qatar Stars League managers Al Ahli SC (Doha) managers Liga I managers FC Viitorul Constanța managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Romania Men's association football players not categorized by position Spanish men's footballers