Víctor Muñoz Manrique (born 15 March 1957), known simply as Víctor as a player, 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 and manager. He spent most of his professional career with Barcelona, winning six titles and achieving La Liga totals of 332 games and 25 goals. In the competition, he also represented Zaragoza. A Spain international during the 1980s, Víctor represented the country at the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

and two

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. He later became a manager, leading four top-division teams and winning the Copa del Rey for Zaragoza in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Playing career

Club

Víctor was born in Zaragoza,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

. After starting off with hometown club Real Zaragoza and being relegated in his first professional season, he was purchased by La Liga powerhouse FC Barcelona, being a very important element for the Catalans in a seven-year spell; on 4 June 1983, he scored his team's first goal in a 2–1 win 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 ...

in the final of the Copa del Rey. Víctor was also one of the first Spaniards to ever play in Serie A, with two seasons with UC Sampdoria. Following a quick stint at St Mirren where he teamed up with his former ''Barça'' teammate Steve Archibald, he returned to Zaragoza to see out his career aged 34.

International

Víctor was a regular for Spain for most of the 1980s, making his debut on 25 March 1981 in a 2–1

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win over England and going on to earn a further 59 caps with three goals. He played for the nation at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

as well as the UEFA Euro 1984 (in a final runner-up position to hosts France) and 1988 tournaments, retiring from international duty immediately after that group-stage exit.

International goals

Style of play

An all-around midfield unit, Víctor was best known for his great physical strength that helped him tire his opponents in the early stages of the match.

Coaching career

Muñoz started working as a manager in the mid-1990s, being successively at the helm of

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, CD Logroñés, UE Lleida, Villarreal CF and Zaragoza. With the last of those teams, he won the 2003–04 domestic cup with a 3–2

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

victory over Real Madrid's '' Galácticos''. On 8 October 2006, Muñoz signed a two-year contract with Greece's Panathinaikos FC, becoming their 18th coach in ten years. However, he returned to Spain in June 2007 to take over at Recreativo de Huelva, from where he was sacked the following February. For the 2008–09 campaign, Muñoz was appointed at

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. Following a string of seven losses in nine games that left the team from the outskirts of Madrid one point above the relegation zone, he was dismissed in April 2009, making way for former Real Madrid player Míchel. In late December 2010, after more than one year out of football, Muñoz was named head coach of Russian Premier League side FC Terek Grozny. He left his post in

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

after less than one month due to failed contract negotiations, being replaced by Ruud Gullit. Muñoz returned to active in early September 2011, when he became Neuchâtel Xamax FCS's third manager of the season, replacing his compatriot Joaquín Caparrós. He continued his career in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, with a brief stint at FC Sion from December 2012 until the following February. On 19 March 2014, Muñoz returned to Zaragoza, succeeding

Paco Herrera Francisco "Paco" Herrera Lorenzo (born 2 December 1953) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and is a manager. His managerial career of over a quarter of a century was spent mostly in Segunda División, where he led 13 ...

at a club at risk of relegation 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 ...

. He was dismissed on 24 November with the side in 8th, one point off the play-offs.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Zaragoza *

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 ...

: 1977–78 Barcelona * La Liga: 1984–85 * Copa del Rey: 1982–83, 1987–88 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1981–82 Sampdoria * Coppa Italia: 1988–89 *UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1989–90; runner-up: 1988–89 Spain * UEFA European Championship runner-up:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Manager

Zaragoza *Copa del Rey: 2003–04 *Supercopa de España:

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Victor 1957 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Zaragoza Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Real Zaragoza players FC Barcelona players Serie A players UC Sampdoria players Scottish Premier League players St Mirren F.C. players Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's B international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers RCD Mallorca managers CD Logroñés managers UE Lleida managers Villarreal CF managers Real Zaragoza managers Recreativo de Huelva managers Getafe CF managers Super League Greece managers Panathinaikos F.C. managers Swiss Super League managers Neuchâtel Xamax FCS managers FC Sion managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Russia Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland