José Ángel "Cuco" Ziganda Lakunza (born 1 October 1966) 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 ...

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 player who played as a

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. He played 381

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 ...

matches over the course of 12 seasons (111 goals scored), representing

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Ziganda started working as manager in 2005, and eventually coached both clubs.

Playing career

Ziganda was born in Larraintzar,

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. A product of

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

's youth ranks, he first appeared for his hometown's first team on 13 December 1987, in a 0–0 home draw against

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

. An undisputed starter through

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, he scored 11

goals apiece over those seasons, thus attracting attention from neighbours

. At Athletic since the start of 1991–92, Ziganda netted 17 times in three separate campaigns, most notably a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

on 26 May 1993 in a 5–4 win. The

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

side achieved a fifth place in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Ousted from Bilbao due to the emergence of

Ismael Urzaiz Ismael Urzaiz Aranda (; born 7 October 1971) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. Best known for his physical strength and aerial ability, the unsuccessful youth graduate at Real Madrid went on to represen ...

, Ziganda returned to Osasuna in 1998, helping the club to achieve promotion in 2000 and retiring after another top-flight season. For his career, he scored 111 top-flight goals, 19 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 ...

, nine in 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 ...

and six in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. Ziganda played two games for the Spain national team, his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

consisting of four minutes in a 2–0 friendly loss against

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in Cáceres, on 17 April 1991.

Coaching career

Ziganda managed several of Osasuna's youth teams, including the reserves in 2005–06 and, after Mexican

Javier Aguirre Javier Aguirre Onaindía (; born 1 December 1958), nicknamed ''El Vasco'' (The Basque), is a Mexican football Manager (association football), manager and former Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently manag ...

(also a former club player) left

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

for

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, he became the head coach of the main squad. In that first season, with the team having already been eliminated in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of the

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 ...

, they experienced several league setbacks. However, the domestic situation gradually became better and they also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, establishing a new club record. In the following campaign, a 17th-place finish befell. On 13 October 2008, as Osasuna failed to win a single game from six into the new season, scoring just two goals, Ziganda was sacked, being replaced by

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and a former manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major ti ...

. In early July 2009, he became

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

's new manager after the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns had just attained a first-ever promotion to the top tier, replacing

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 ...

-bound Esteban Vigo and signing a one-year contract. On 12 January 2010, as the team ranked last with just seven points from 17 matches, he was relieved of his duties. In July 2011, former Athletic Bilbao teammate Josu Urrutia was elected as president of the club, and one of his first acts was to bring in Ziganda (who had been out of work for 18 months) as coach of the reserves. He managed to lead them to promotion in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

via the play-offs, returning to the second division after a 19-year absence. Ziganda's side was eventually

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

at the first attempt, after finishing 22nd and last. During his stint, several players made the step up to the main squad, including Yeray Álvarez,

Kepa Arrizabalaga Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta (born 3 October 1994), often referred to simply as Kepa, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Chelsea. After progressing through Athletic Bilbao's youth academy, Arrizabalaga be ...

Iñigo Lekue Iñigo Lekue Martínez (; ; born 4 May 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right or left-back for Athletic Bilbao. Developed at Athletic Bilbao, he made over 250 appearances, winning the Supercopa de España twice and als ...

, Unai López, Sabin Merino, Enric Saborit, Mikel Vesga and

Iñaki Williams Iñaki Williams Arthuer (born 15 June 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao and the Ghana national team. Developed at Athletic Bilbao's academy, he has made over 450 first-team appearances ...

. On 24 May 2017, it was confirmed that Ziganda would succeed the departing

Ernesto Valverde Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...

as Athletic's first-team manager, on an initial two-year contract. On 29 November, he oversaw a shock defeat to SD Formentera – a club experiencing their first-ever season in the third tier – in the opening round of the domestic cup, conceding the critical goal in

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

at the end of the second leg when a goalless draw would have been sufficient to progress. In May 2018, with the side in 14th position in the league table (although not threatened by relegation) and having lost both legs of their Europa League last-16 tie to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

, the club announced via a press conference that Ziganda would not continue in his position beyond the end of the campaign. The final total of ten league wins and 16th place in the table represented one of the poorest domestic seasons in the history of the organization. On 18 February 2020, Ziganda was hired 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 ...

for the rest of the second-division season, with the option of a further year. He succeeded Javi Rozada, who was dismissed with the

Asturians Asturians () are a Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage The Asturians have Celtic ( Astures) and Latin cultural origins, most notably f ...

in the relegation zone. On 8 June 2022, Ziganda announced his departure from Oviedo in a press conference, after his contract expired. Five days later, he took over fellow second-tier side

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

. Ziganda was dismissed on 7 October 2023, after starting the season with only one win in ten matches.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * *
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziganda, Jose Angel 1966 births Living people People from Ultzamaldea 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Navarre Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CA Osasuna B players CA Osasuna players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers CA Osasuna B managers CA Osasuna managers Xerez CD managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers Real Oviedo managers SD Huesca managers