Félix Sarriugarte Montoya (born 6 November 1964) is a Spanish former professional

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 forward, 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Sarriugarte represented

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 ...

for five seasons – having arrived at the San Mamés Stadium at age 16 – but only started featuring regularly for the first team in 1986–87, following a lengthy spell with the reserves where he scored regularly. He then spent another five years 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

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

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 ...

, where he was also never relegated (but totalled only three appearances in his last two seasons). Sarriugarte retired in 1996 at the age of 31 after playing one season with

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 ...

and splitting his last year with local

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

and

UDA Gramenet Unión Deportiva Atlético Gramenet is a Spanish football team based in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1945 it currently plays in , holding home games at '' Municipal de Sant Adrià'' in Sant Adrià ...

, with all the sides competing in the lower leagues. In the top flight, he amassed totals of 159 matches and 28 goals; his debut in the latter competition came on 9 September 1984 in a 3–0 away loss against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

, due to a

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

from the professional footballers.

Coaching career

Sarriugarte took up coaching in the early 2000s, with the various sides of his first club Athletic. On 8 July 2006, following the dismissal of

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

, he was appointed first-team manager by president Fernando Lamikiz. Just four months later, however, he was relieved of his duties after a 1–3 home defeat to Sevilla which saw them drop into the 18th position, and eventually again barely avoiding relegation. In June 2009, Sarriugarte signed at

CD Varea Club Deportivo Varea is a Spanish football team based in Varea, La Rioja, Logroño in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1967 and refounded in 2009, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Varea'', with a 2,000-s ...

– soon to be named

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estad ...

– recently promoted to

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 ...

, but stepped down before the campaign began. On 16 July 2012, after having led

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in , hosting home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 seats. History ''Sestao River Club ...

to safety in that level, he joined another team in the same tier, Oviedo; he was fired in March 2013 with his side in

third place In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include Church (building), churches, C ...

, and later took the club to court due to unpaid wages, losing his case.

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memoria ...

announced on 17 January 2019 that Sarriugarte had joined the technical staff of the club as an assistant manager, under

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is a Gaelic football coach, and former player, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as a player with, and later manager of, the Donegal county team. Since 2023, he has been manager, for ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarriugarte, Felix 1964 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Durango, Biscay Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Oviedo players UD Las Palmas players Barakaldo CF footballers UDA Gramenet footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Basconia managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers Sestao River Club managers Real Oviedo managers Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States