Juan Francisco García García (born 15 July 1976), known as Juanfran, is a Spanish retired footballer, currently a manager. Mainly 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 could also play as a central defender. He started and finished his extensive professional career with Levante, which he represented in all three major levels of Spanish football, going on to amass

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 ...

totals of 382 games and six goals over 15 seasons and also appearing in the competition for

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Celta and

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. He also played in Turkey, the Netherlands and Greece. Juanfran represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the 2002 World Cup.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, Juanfran started his professional career at Levante UD, where he attracted the attention of local giants

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, signing after three seasons for €1 million. On 31 August 1997 he played his first

game, a 2–1 away loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, and went on to make 54 competitive appearances for the ''Che''. Juanfran joined RC Celta de Vigo prior to the 1999–2000 campaign for €4 million, where he was an undisputed starter in a Galician team that appeared 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 the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League (he scored in a 1–1 draw at Club Brugge KV to progress to the knockout rounds of the latter competition). However, in 2003–04, they would also be relegated to

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 ...

. After leaving Celta in 2004, Juanfran joined Turkish club Beşiktaş JK, but soon fell out of favour with team management – the coach who brought him to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, compatriot Vicente del Bosque, was dismissed midway through the season – and would spend the following campaign on loan to Dutch side

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

. In 2006–07, Juanfran returned to Spain and joined Real Zaragoza for €1.5 million, being a key defensive element to qualify for the

in that first year. The following season the player struggled individually and collectively, and the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese returned to the second division after a five-year stint. Juanfran agreed to sign a two-year deal with AEK Athens F.C. on 30 July 2008, earning approximately €1 million per season. He was used regularly during his spell in Greece but, in late January 2010, was loaned to his first professional team Levante until the end of the second-tier campaign; only weeks later, he bought out his contract with AEK and signed permanently until June 2012, contributing massively to the former's top-flight return after a two-year absence. The 34-year-old Juanfran was the most used player in his position in 2010–11 at 23 matches, as Levante eventually retained their status. He fared even better the following season, with the side finishing sixth and qualifying for the Europa League for the first time ever. On 20 September 2012, in Levante's European competition group stage debut, Juanfran scored the game's only goal at home against Helsingborgs IF, netting with his preferred foot from the corner of the penalty area. On 4 May 2016, after a further four top-tier campaigns – suffering relegation in the last – the 39-year-old announced his retirement.

International

Juanfran earned 11 caps for

, making his debut in a friendly with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 29 March 2000 after impressive displays at Celta. Subsequently, he was included in the nation's 2002 FIFA World Cup squad, and appeared in three matches out of five. Juanfran's last game was an UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in June 2003, playing the whole 90 minutes of a 0–0 away draw.

Coaching career

On 10 December 2018, in an interview with ''Marca'', Juanfran revealed he had signed for EFL Championship club Aston Villa as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, focusing primarily on Spain and Portugal. He stated "it is a privilege to work for a club like Aston Villa. Everyone identifies it as a big club in England and it’s a dream come true." Juanfran was hired in his first managerial job on 30 June 2020, succeeding Curro Torres at a CD Lugo team in the second division's relegation zone. His debut the following day was a 3–1 home win over CD Numancia; he managed to narrowly avoid relegation, but was dismissed on 11 October after four losses in the first five matches of the new campaign. On 10 April 2023, Juanfran returned to working in the same division at SD Ponferradina. He was their third coach of the season, tasked with its final seven matches, and left on 16 June after failing to prevent relegation. Juanfran returned to ''Ponfe'' on 19 March 2024, with the club now in the Primera Federación, on a deal until the end of the campaign.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Levante *

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 ...

: 1995–96 Valencia *

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 ...

: 1998–99 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Celta *UEFA Intertoto Cup:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Ajax *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2005–06 AEK *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

runner-up: 2008–09

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juanfran 1976 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Valencia Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Levante UD footballers Valencia CF players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Zaragoza players Süper Lig players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Eredivisie players AFC Ajax players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Primera Federación managers CD Lugo managers SD Ponferradina managers Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England