Álvaro Cervera Díaz (born 20 September 1965) is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. A winger, he played 261 matches in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

over 12 seasons for

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

(in two spells),

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, scoring 17 goals. He won four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the 1990s. Cervera became a coach in 2002, going on to work with a number of clubs.

Playing career

Club

Born in Santa Isabel,

Spanish Guinea Spanish Guinea () was a set of Insular Region (Equatorial Guinea), insular and Río Muni, continental territories controlled by Spain from 1778 in the Gulf of Guinea and on the Bight of Bonny, in Central Africa. It gained independence in 1968 a ...

when both his parents worked in that country, Cervera was raised in

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

and played youth football for four clubs, finishing his development at

. He made his

debut on 9 September 1984 by playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, but only totalled seven games in his first two senior seasons, featuring much more regularly in 1986–87 but suffering relegation. In the summer of 1987, Álvaro – known by his first name during his playing days – signed for

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, remaining five years with them and being relegated twice from the top flight. In the 1988–89 campaign he scored a career-best six goals in 35 matches, helping the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

team to promote from

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. Álvaro moved to

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

in June 1992, following Mallorca's relegation. He made 32 appearances and netted three times in his first year (notably once in a 4–1 away victory over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

), but was more often than not a reserve from there onwards, for that and his following club Racing, which he left to play with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

in the second division. Álvaro retired in 2001 at the age of nearly 36, following a spell in the lower leagues.

International

Álvaro earned four

for

, in slightly more than one year. He made his debut on 4 September 1991, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute for Andoni Goikoetxea in a 2–1 friendly win against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

Coaching career

Cervera took up coaching in 2001, working with amateurs Catarroja CF in several capacities. From 2004 to 2011 he managed almost exclusively in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

, and his first job at the professional level arrived in 2011–12 when he was appointed at

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

in division two. However, in March 2012, he arranged to have his contract terminated when he received an offer from former side Racing Santander in the top tier, but he only collected three draws in his 13 games in charge to become the competition's worst ever debutant, and was not renewed. On 3 July 2012, Cervera signed with Tenerife where he had already played youth football more than 30 years ago. Shortly before achieving promotion to the second division in his debut season, he renewed his link until 2015, being however relieved of his duties on 2 February 2015 even though he had a contract running until 2018. On 18 April 2016, Cervera replaced

Claudio Barragán Claudio Barragán Escobar (born 10 April 1964) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. His professional career was closely associated to Elche, as both a player and manager, but he was also an important pa ...

at the helm of

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

, and managed to achieve promotion to the second tier at the end of the campaign. After coming fifth the following season, the team qualified for the play-offs for top-flight promotion, losing on regulations after a 1–1 semi-final draw with

in June 2017; promotion was finally gained in July 2020, ending a 14-year exile. A quote from Cervera, "La lucha no se negocia" ("The fight is non-negotiable" in Spanish), was adopted by Cádiz as a club catchphrase shortly after his arrival. On 11 January 2022, as the club was in the relegation zone, he was sacked. On 18 October 2022, Cervera replaced Bolo at

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

. He was dismissed on 21 September of the following year, after the start of the new season saw the side placed second-bottom. Cervera returned to Tenerife on 23 December 2024, as their third manager of the second-division campaign.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * *
CiberChe stats and bio
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cervera, Alvaro 1965 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Malabo Footballers from Santa Cruz de Tenerife Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Cantabria players Racing de Santander players RCD Mallorca players Valencia CF players Hércules CF players Águilas CF players UD Almería players CD San Fernando players Ontinyent CF players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Castellón managers Alicante CF managers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa managers Real Jaén managers Real Unión managers Recreativo de Huelva managers Racing de Santander managers CD Tenerife managers Cádiz CF managers Real Oviedo managers Villarreal CF non-playing staff