Diego Martínez Penas (born 16 December 1980) is a Spanish professional

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 ...

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 ...

and former footballer. He is the current manager of the

Galicia national football team The Galicia national football team is the official football team of Galicia. It is organised by the Galician Football Federation. The team is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and is, therefore, only allowed to play friendly matches. History E ...

. After starting his career in the lower divisions, he held several jobs at Sevilla, including as assistant and

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

manager. He later managed

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

and

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

, achieving promotion to

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 ...

with the second club.

Playing career

Born in

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

, Galicia, Martínez was a full back capable of playing on either side. He spent his youth career at

Celta CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL and EFL). It is provided by Cambridge Assessment English through authorised Cambridge English Teaching Qualification centres and can be ...

and

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, representing the former for nine years.

Managerial career

Early career

Martínez retired from professional football at the age of 20, and started his coaching career with Imperio de Albolote's youth categories, while also playing for their first team. During this time he also studied for a degree. In 2004, he moved to Arenas, being initially in charge of the youth setup. An assistant manager in the 2005–06 campaign, Martínez was appointed manager of the first team in July 2006, in

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. The following year he was named

Motril Motril () is a town and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The main settlement is located a few kilometers inland, separated from the Port of Motril by the Guadalfeo delta. Mo ...

manager, and remained in charge for two years.

Sevilla

In October 2009 Martínez moved to

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, immediately joining the backroom staff. He was in charge of the club's C-team the following season, and subsequently managed the ''Juvenil'' squad. On 22 May 2012, Martínez was named assistant at the first team, replacing Javi Navarro. On 13 June 2014, he was appointed at the helm of the reserves in

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 managed to achieve promotion to

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. After avoiding relegation with the reserve side, Martínez opted not to renew his contract, and was appointed in charge of

on 14 June 2017. The following 7 June, he left the club after failing to qualify for the play-offs.

Granada

On 14 June 2018, Martínez was named

manager, and achieved promotion to

at the end of the season. The youngest manager of the 2019–20 campaign, his side enjoyed their best-ever league start after achieving 20 points in ten matches, bringing the ''Nazaríes'' to the top of the tournament for two weeks. As a result, he was rewarded with a one-year contract extension through 2021 on 14 November 2019. Martínez was awarded with the

Miguel Muñoz Trophy The Miguel Muñoz Trophy () is a association football, football award for team managers in Spanish football, established by Spanish newspaper Marca (newspaper), Marca in 2006, in memory of the legendary Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid manager Mi ...

(shared with José Bordalás) by ''Marca'' on 16 December 2019, for his efforts in the previous campaign. With a seventh-place finish in his debut top-flight campaign, he qualified the team for the first time to the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. In that campaign, they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. On 27 May 2021, Martínez chose to allow his contract to expire. He then spent a season in England, watching football matches and learning from coaches including

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo. Beníte ...

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of English club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, one of Chelsea's greates ...

and Xisco Muñoz.

Espanyol

On 31 May 2022, Martínez was named manager of

also in the top tier, on a two-year contract. The following 3 April, after four consecutive defeats, he left the club.

Olympiacos

On 20 June 2023, Martínez was appointed as head coach of

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. On 5 December, with the club sitting fourth in the league table and eliminated from the

, he was sacked.

Las Palmas

On 8 October 2024, Martínez returned to Spain and its top tier, after being appointed manager of

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. On 5 June of the following year, after suffering relegation, he left.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Individual *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Diego 1980 births Living people Footballers from Vigo Spanish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks RC Celta de Vigo players Cádiz CF players CD Imperio de Albolote players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Super League Greece managers Sevilla Atlético managers Sevilla FC non-playing staff CA Osasuna managers Granada CF managers RCD Espanyol managers UD Las Palmas managers Olympiacos F.C. managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Spanish sportsmen