José Antonio Muñoz Lozano ( – 2 August 2016) was a Spanish businessman,

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 ...

, and sports manager who served as president for the two main clubs in Huelva,

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 ...

(1979–1984) and Cajasol Sporting Huelva Foundation (2006–13). He was noted for his promotion of local and youth players from the Huelva sports academy.

Biography

Born in

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

, Muñoz Lozano began playing football in modest teams based in his hometown, but when he finished his youth years, he stopped to dedicate himself to being 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 ...

, starting by founding the youth club ''Ibáñez Hermanos'', of which he was the manager for four years. He also collaborated with several clubs in the

province of Huelva Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is ...

, especially those at the grassroots level. For instance, he was part of the boards of directors of ''Ibáñez Hermanos'', ''Santa Marta'', and ''La Orden''. From there, he joined the ranks of Recreativo de Huelva, where he started as a coach in the club's youth system, where he worked with, among others, the Zambrano brothers (

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...

and Manolo),

Andrés Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres *Andres (song), "Andres" (song), a 1994 song b ...

, and

Joaquín Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956) (Joaquín Alonso González), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981) (Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez) ...

. After four years as a youth coach, Muñoz Lozano spent another five as president of the senior club, from 1979 to 1984, which at that time was playing in the

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 ...

. In 1979, he replaced Francisco de la Corte as the new president of the club, hold this position until 1984, when he was replaced by José Antonio Mancheño. His tenure was characterized by giving significant promotion to youth and local players, who had a notable presence on the first team. During that time he also held the position of sports vice-president of the Andalusian Football Federation for two years. In 2006, almost two decades after his last leadership position, the 63-year-old Muñoz Lozano was appointed as the president of Cajasol Sporting Huelva Foundation in the top national category of women's football, and under his leadership, the club achieved promotion. In 2011, the club's limited budget meant that they had to do a lot of juggling to survive, stating that "it is a miracle that we are still financially in the competition". He held the presidency of Sporting for seven years, until 2013, when he resigned due to personal and health reasons, stating that he had a chronic illness and that he "should have had an operation", having already postponed it twice. He also explained that he was "tired of knocking on many doors and not finding an answer". Outside football, Muñoz Lozano was also a businessman of recognized prestige in the capital of Huelva, mainly "thanks to his perseverance and ability to make the most opportune decisions at the most critical moments".

Death

Muñoz Lozano died in Huelva on 2 August 2016, at the age of 76. Following his death, Manuela Romero, the then president of Sporting, stated that "he was a person with character and very detail-oriented", who stressed that "people will always" be grateful for "what he contributed to the club". On the following day, he was buried at the New Funeral Home in Huelva.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muñoz Lozano, José 1940 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Huelva Spanish men's footballers Sportspeople from Andalusia 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish businesspeople