Fernando Vázquez Pena (born 24 October 1954) is a Spanish retired

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 lea ...

who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, currently a

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 ...

Managerial career

Born in the village of Castrofeito,

O Pino O Pino is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. The capital of the municipality is O Pedrouzo, which is 18 kilometres from Santiago de Compostela. Several of the runways of Sa ...

, Galicia, Vázquez was an English teacher in

Lalín Lalín is a municipality in the north of the province of 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 ...

where he began to get involved with the school's athletics, especially football. He started his senior coaching career with modest CD Lalín in 1986, but left for higher-profile

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

in 1991. Vázquez took over for various clubs from 1994 to 2004, most of them 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 ...

. With

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

he achieved

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

followed by straight

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, after a sixth place in the 2005–06 season. Vázquez was relieved of his duties as manager of Celta on 9 April 2007, on the eve of the

Galician derby The Galician derby () is the name given to any association football match contested between Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a ...

against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, with his side embroiled deep in a relegation fight which it eventually lost on the last matchday. Aside from coaching, Vázquez also worked as a pundit for

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

in their

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

coverage. While still at Celta, he took charge of the Galicia autonomous team together with

Arsenio Iglesias Arsenio Iglesias Pardo (24 December 1930 – 5 May 2023) was a Spanish football player and manager. Nicknamed ''O Bruxo de Arteixo'' ("The Wizard of Arteixo"), he had a five-decade professional career closely associated to Deportivo as both a ...

, longtime ''Depor'' manager. On 11 February 2013, after nearly six years away from club duty, Vázquez was appointed at Deportivo, taking

Domingos Paciência Domingos José Paciência Oliveira, known simply as Domingos as a player (; born 2 January 1969), is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He achieved success with both Porto and the Portugal national te ...

's place as the third manager of the campaign as the team ranked in 20th and last position. They eventually finished one place up, but still dropped down 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 ...

. Vázquez remained at the helm in an immediate promotion after finishing as runners-up and, on 1 June 2014, he renewed his contract until 2016. However, in July, after some statements in which he criticised the club's signing policy, he was relieved of his duties. On 19 January 2016, after nearly 18 months of inactivity, Vázquez was appointed

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, ...

manager. Seriously threatened with relegation, he managed to avoid the drop in the last matchday. Vázquez was sacked on 6 December 2016, after only one win in six matches. On 29 December 2019, after more than three years away from management, he returned to Deportivo for a second stint, replacing the dismissed

Luis César Sampedro Luis Ángel César Sampedro (born 3 May 1966), known as Luis César, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently manager of Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Playing career Born in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Province of Pontevedra, ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vazquez, Fernando 1954 births Living people People from Arzúa (comarca) Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of A Coruña Men's association football midfielders Men's association football player-managers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Racing de Ferrol managers CD Lugo managers SD Compostela managers Real Oviedo managers RCD Mallorca managers Real Betis managers UD Las Palmas managers Rayo Vallecano managers Real Valladolid managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen