Juan Carlos León Zambrano (born 24 January 1975) is an Ecuadorian

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

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 ...

. He is the current manager of Libertad FC.

Career

Born in Esmeraldas, León represented

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club (), internationally known as Barcelona de Guayaquil, is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. They currently play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of fo ...

, Calvi as a youth. After making his senior debut with Audaz Octubrino in 1999, he went on to play for

Panamá Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, Santos Ecuador,

Valle del Chota The upper valley of the Mira River (Ecuador and Colombia), Mira River, called the Chota River in its upstream portion, in northern Ecuador, and the small villages in it are usually referred to as 'El Chota', and it runs east–west between the t ...

, Paladín "S", 9 de Octubre and Liceo Cristiano. After retiring, León worked for Barcelona and Norte América's youth categories before joining

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí Ecuador that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club plays ...

in the middle of 2009. After winning several titles with the under-16s and under-18s, he led the under-20s to the

2018 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2018 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores () was the 4th edition of the U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''U-20 Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The tour ...

final, and was later named in charge of

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 ...

Alianza Cotopaxi for the 2018

Segunda Categoría Ecuadorian Segunda Categoría is the third division of the Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's v ...

. After winning the Segunda Categoría and promoting Alianza (later named Independiente Juniors) to the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, León renewed his contract with the club. On 2 January 2020, he was appointed manager of former team 9 de Octubre in the second division, and led the side back to the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

after a 25-year absence, also winning the title for the first time. On 2 August 2022, León was sacked by 9 de Octubre, and took over fellow top tier side Orense eleven days later. He left the latter on 3 December, after narrowly missing out a continental spot. León returned to 9 de Octubre for the 2024 season, but was appointed at the helm of Libertad FC on 19 April of that year.

Honours

Independiente Juniors *

: 2018 9 de Octubre *

Ecuadorian Serie B The Primera Categoría Serie B, shortened to Serie B or Primera B, is a professional football league in Ecuador. It is in the second tier of the Ecuadorian football league system. Currently contested by ten clubs, it operates a system of promotio ...

: 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Juan Carlos 1975 births Living people Footballers from Esmeraldas, Ecuador Ecuadorian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ecuadorian football managers Orense S.C. managers 9 de Octubre F.C. managers Libertad F.C. (Ecuador) managers