José Luis Mendilibar Etxebarria (born 14 March 1961) is a Spanish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

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 ...

, currently

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 ...

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

. He played no higher than

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 ...

, where he made 290 appearances and scored 34 goals mainly for Sestao and also for Logroñés. He managed for over 15 years in

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 ...

for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

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 ...

, Levante, Eibar, Alavés and Sevilla, winning the second division with the second of those teams in 2006–07.

Playing career

Mendilibar was born in

Zaldibar Zaldibar (in Basque and officially, in es, Zaldívar) is an elizate, town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. Zaldibar is part of the ''comarca'' of Durangaldea and has a population of 3,043 inhabita ...

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

. He enjoyed an average career as a player, never appearing for a club in

and successively representing Bilbao Athletic,

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

Sestao Sport Club Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats. History Sestao managed to p ...

and

SD Lemona Sociedad Deportiva Lemona was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lemoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1923, it last played in Segunda División B, Se ...

. Mendilibar was a key player in midfield for Sestao during the side's

years – playing eight seasons with them in that level and appearing in nearly 300 competitive matches – narrowly missing out on promotion in 1986–87 under

Javier Irureta Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano (born 1 April 1948), Irureta for short, is a Spanish retired football attacking midfielder and manager. He had a distinguished playing career with Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, playing in 344 La Liga games ...

Coaching career

Early years

After retiring in 1994, Mendilibar worked in the youth categories of

before being appointed head coach of

UD Lanzarote Unión Deportiva Lanzarote is a Spanish football team based in Arrecife, Lanzarote, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1970 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 12, holding home games at the ''Ciudad Deportiva de La ...

and then

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

. His success with the latter in the second division, on a very limited budget, translated into a narrow miss on promotion in 2005.

Athletic Bilbao

Mendilibar returned to Athletic in June 2005, the club he supported as a child. His debut was the first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

match of his career, a 1–0 loss at Romania's CFR Cluj on 2 July in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

of the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

(aggregate draw, elimination on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

); his first top-flight game was a 3–0 home win over

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 the

Basque derby The Basque derby (in Basque ''Euskal Derbia'', in Spanish ''derbi Vasco'') is the name of the football local derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. It embodies the inter-city rivalry between Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, capit ...

on 27 August. Having not added any more victories in the ensuing nine games of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, Mendilibar was its first manager to be sacked. He was replaced by Javier Clemente on 31 October.

Valladolid

In June 2006, Mendilibar was appointed at

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

in the second division. His team won promotion as champions in his first season, earning a record 88 points and going on a 29-game unbeaten run to secure their place in the top flight with eight fixtures remaining. In the same campaign, they reached the quarter-finals of the

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 ...

with aggregate victories over Gimnàstic de Tarragona and

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

from the league above. Mendilibar's team retained their league status from

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. On 1 February 2010, after a 1–1 home draw against UD Almería left them one point above the relegation places, he was dismissed.

Osasuna

In February 2011, Mendilibar returned to work, replacing the fired

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, i ...

at CA Osasuna on a deal until June of the following year. His first game in charge was a 4–0 home defeat of

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

on 20 February, and the ''Rojillos'' stayed up on the final day of the campaign with a 1–0 win over Villarreal also at the El Sadar Stadium. Mendilibar added a further year to his contract in March 2012, and again in May of the following year. On 3 September 2013, he was relieved of his duties after three losses in as many matches to kickstart

the new season ''The New Season'' is a collaboration album by American rappers Brotha Lynch Hung and MC Eiht. It was released January 24, 2006 on Real Talk Entertainment. The album was produced by Big Hollis, Brotha Lynch Hung, MC Eiht and Vince V. It peaked a ...

Levante

On 29 May 2014, Mendilibar was appointed at

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

, signing a one-year contract with an option for a second season. On 20 October, after only one win in eight games, and no goals scored and 14 conceded from four home fixtures, he was dismissed.

Eibar

Mendilibar returned to Eibar on 30 June 2015, replacing

Gaizka Garitano Gaizka Garitano Aguirre (born 9 July 1975) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of SD Eibar. Over 11 seasons as a player, he amassed Segunda División totals of 315 matches and 37 goals, main ...

. In 2016–17, he led the team to a best-ever quarter-final finish in the domestic cup before an injury-stripped squad lost 5–2 on aggregate to

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 ...

; he and

Asier Garitano Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal (born 6 December 1969) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. During a 14-year senior career, he appeared in 134 matches in Segunda División over five seasons, totalling 23 goals fo ...

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 ...

were joint recipients of the year's Miguel Muñoz Trophy for best manager. The following year they came ninth in the league, again a club record.

Alavés

In May 2021, shortly after the team's relegation, Mendilibar announced that he would not renew his contract at Eibar. At the turn of the calendar year, he returned to the top division at relegation-threatened neighbours

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

, being fired less than four months later with the side in last place.

Sevilla

On 21 March 2023, Mendilibar replaced

Jorge Sampaoli Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football coach who is currently manager for Sevilla of La Liga. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury. Sampaoli starte ...

at the helm of

Honours

Valladolid *

: 2006–07

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * *
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendilibar, Jose Luis 1961 births Living people People from Durangaldea Sportspeople from Biscay Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Bilbao Athletic footballers CD Logroñés footballers Sestao Sport Club footballers SD Lemona footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Basconia managers Athletic Bilbao B managers SD Eibar managers Athletic Bilbao managers Real Valladolid managers CA Osasuna managers Levante UD managers Deportivo Alavés managers Sevilla FC managers