Juan Ignacio Martínez Jiménez (; born 23 June 1964), commonly known by his initials JIM, 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 ...

coach and former player, who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He last managed Foolad in the

Persian Gulf Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

. Having only played as high as

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 ...

, he began managing at age 33 and led Levante,

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

and

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

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 ...

, and four clubs 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 ...

. Abroad, he had spells in Kuwait, China and Iran.

Playing career

Martínez was born in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. After playing youth football for both

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

and

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

he competed only at amateur level during his career, never in higher than the third division. He played for Elche CF Ilicitano, CD Benicarló,

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with an 8,000 capac ...

– due to his

compulsory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

– Alicante, UD Vall de Uxó, UD Almansa and FC Torrevieja. Martínez ended his career in 1990, at only 26.

Coaching career

Martínez began managing in 1997, his first stop being precisely Alicante. In the following years, he coached several teams in the lower leagues – also working in youth and

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

– his longest spell being three years with AD Mar Menor-San Javier in the fourth level, which he led to two consecutive playoff appearances albeit without any promotion. In the 2005–06 season, Martínez led

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

to the first position in division three. He first reached the professionals in the 2007–08 campaign, coaching

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

to a final seventh place in the second tier. After another season in the second division, with

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 ...

, Martínez returned to Cartagena ( recently returned to that level). He led the Murcian club to the fifth position in his first year, and the 13th in his second. Affectionately known as "JIM" (his full name's initials), Martínez was appointed at

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

on 9 June 2011, replacing

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

-bound Luis García. After two draws in the first two

rounds he coached the team to seven consecutive wins, including a 1–0 home victory against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Martínez also led the

Valencians Valencians ( ; ) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Autonomy as a ''nationality'' "within the unity of the Spanish nation". ...

to their first continental competition ever, by finishing sixth in 2011–12. After ranking only 11th in the following season he opted to not renew his contract, and signed a two-year deal with fellow league side

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

. On 24 May 2014, after the latter's relegation, Martínez was relieved of his duties. On 11 December he was appointed at the helm of

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

, replacing fired

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

; on 5 April 2015, he was sacked by 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 after a heavy 1–4 home loss to his previous club Levante. After one month as working as a personal assistant to

Lorca FC Lorca Fútbol Club was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Lorca, Spain, Lorca, in the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2003, it last played in Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in the Region of ...

's new Chinese owner Xu Genbao, Martínez moved abroad in November 2016 to manage Shanghai Shenxin F.C. on an annual salary of €600,000. He left a year later, having finished seventh in

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

and reached the semi-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, where they were beaten by

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

's Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC. He remained in the country with Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. of the same league, being dismissed in September with the team third from bottom after 24 games. Martínez was hired by Al-Arabi SC of the

Kuwaiti Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as Zain Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Kuwait SC holds the best record in the competition, having won 20 times. History Th ...

in June 2019, working alongside Darko Nestorović. On 14 December 2020, he returned to his home country after being named at the helm of

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in the second division. Martínez left Zaragoza on 30 May 2022, after avoiding relegation. On 6 September 2023, he signed for

Foolad F.C. Foolad Khuzestan Football Club (, ''Bāshgāh-e Futbāl-e Fulād-e Khuzestān'') is an Iranian professional football club based in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, that plays in Persian Gulf Pro League. The club was founded in 1971 and is owned by Foolad Khuze ...

who had lost their first four games of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

Personal life

Martínez's cousin, José Bordalás, is also a football coach."Somos como hermanos, pero buscaremos ganar" ("We are like brothers, but we will play to win")
Diario AS, 25 March 2010 (in Spanish)

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Juan Ignacio 1964 births Living people Footballers from Alicante Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Elche CF Ilicitano footballers UD Melilla footballers Alicante CF footballers CD Torrevieja players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Alicante CF managers FC Cartagena managers CD Alcoyano managers UD Salamanca managers Albacete Balompié managers Levante UD managers Real Valladolid managers UD Almería managers Real Zaragoza managers Kuwait Premier League managers Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) managers Persian Gulf Pro League managers Foolad F.C. managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Iran Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Iran 20th-century Spanish sportsmen