José Antonio Vicuña Ochandorena (born 20 November 1971), commonly known as Kibu Vicuña, is a Spanish professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

. He is the current manager of

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour is a town and municipality located in the South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, it serves as the administrative headquarters of the Diamond Harbour su ...

Coaching career

Early career

After playing for the

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

while coaching the youth squads, Vicuña was named in charge 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 squads in 2002. He left the club in 2005 to take over

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

side CD River Ega, where he coached for two years. In 2007, after a call to

Jan Urban Jan Urban (; born 14 May 1962) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He was most recently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. His professional career was closely associated to Górnik Za ...

to congratulate his appointment at

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, Vicuña was invited to become his assistant. He subsequently worked as Urban's assistant at

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by lo ...

, Legia, Osasuna,

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

and

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław (), is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Wrocław that plays in , the second level of the Polish football leagu ...

FK Trakai

Oleg Vasilenko was fired from Lithuanian club

FK Trakai Futbolo Klubas Riteriai, also known as FK Riteriai or as Riteriai, is a Lithuanian professional football club based in Vilnius. Until 21 February 2019, the club was based in Trakai and was known as FK Trakai. The team won the 2024 I Lyga and ear ...

in May 2018, and Vicuña appointed as the head coach of the club in June. He worked with the team in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

tournament, but left in October and went to

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (Wisła Płock S.A.), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship. They will compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2025–26 season after wi ...

Wisła Płock

On 10 October 2018, Vicuña was appointed as head coach of Polish club

. He left the club on 3 April 2019 after managing the team in 19 games.

Mohun Bagan

In May 2019, Vicuña signed a one-year deal for

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

. He won the

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

in his maiden season with Mohun Bagan. After the alignment of ATK and

, the new management chose ATK head coach Antonio López Habas as the manager of the new entity, and Kibu's contract was not extended.

Kerala Blasters

On 22 April 2020, Vicuña was appointed as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in India. The club was esta ...

. After a disappointing season with only 3 wins from 18 games, the Blasters and Kibu Vicuna decided to part away on mutual consent. He left the club on 17 February 2021, with two more games remaining in the season.

ŁKS Łódź

On 21 June 2021, it was announced that Vicuña was appointed as head coach of the

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

club

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, and in the past ice hockey, ...

for the

2021–22 I liga The 2021–22 I liga (also known as Fortuna I liga due to sponsorship reasons) was the 74th season of the second tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1949 and the 14th season of the Polish I liga ...

season. On 7 March 2022, two games after the winter break, with the team sitting ninth in the table, Vicuña was relieved of his duties.

Mohammedan

In December 2022, during the midway of 2022–23 I-League season, Vicuña was roped in as new head coach of another Kolkata-based club Mohammedan Sporting in place of

Andrey Chernyshov Andrey Alekseyevich Chernyshov (Russian: Андрей Алексеевич Чернышов; born 7 January 1968) is a Russian professional football manager and former player who most recently coached ISL club Mohammedan. Club career A centre ...

. He returned to I-League, after managing the newly formed

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

club

. He parted ways with the club on 21 February 2023.

Personal life

Born in Zizurkil, Basque Country to a business family which owns a steel factory in the town, Vicuña opted to work with football instead. His parents are from

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, and his brothers are from

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 ...

, city where he arrived at the age of nine. Vicuña's wife, Kasia Bielecka, is Polish. When asked in an interview about his relationship with current

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

coach

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Argote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish professional football manager and former footballer. He is the current manager of the Qatar national team. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing ...

, Vicuña said: "He is a bit senior to me and a good friend of my elder brother, Marcelino. Actually, his parents and my parents were friends. They used to travel together during vacations. When he was in charge of

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, I went to Porto and watched his style of coaching from close for two weeks. When he was in charge of the Spanish national team, then also we used to talk about a lot of things almost regularly. After I came here (India), he wanted to know about the interest level about the game here".

Managerial statistics

Honours

Mohun Bagan *

: 2019–20 Diamond Harbour *

I-League 3 The I-League 3 is an Indian men's professional football league. It forms the fourth tier of the Indian football league system, below the I-League 2 and above the State leagues. History For the first time, the AIFF introduced qualifiers for ...

: 2024–25 *

I-League 2 The I-League 2 is an Indian men's professional association football, football league. It is the 3rd tier of the Indian football league system, behind the Indian Super League and the I-League. It operates as a system of promotion and relegation ...

: 2024–25

References

External links

*
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vicuna, Kibu 1971 births Living people Spanish football managers Legia Warsaw non-playing staff Lech Poznań non-playing staff Mohun Bagan Super Giant managers Wisła Płock managers FK Riteriai managers ŁKS Łódź managers I-League managers Tercera División managers Ekstraklasa managers I liga managers Indian Super League managers Kerala Blasters FC managers Mohammedan SC (Kolkata) managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate football managers in Lithuania Expatriate football managers in Poland Expatriate football managers in India