Francisco "Kiko" Ramírez González (born 14 July 1970) is a Spanish professional

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 forward.

Playing career

Born in

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Ramírez never competed in higher than

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 his career with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

in 1989, but never managed to establish himself as a regular starter, only featuring more regularly after a loan to CFJ Mollerussa; his best input came in the 1993–94 season, where he scored 12 goals in 33 matches. Ramírez subsequently represented

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 ...

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

AD Ceuta Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at '' Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

, Cartagonova CF, Novelda CF and

UE Tàrrega Unió Esportiva Tàrrega is a Spanish football team based in Tàrrega, in the autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its St ...

, retiring with the latter side in 2002 at the age of 32. He scored a career-best 18 goals in the 1996–97 campaign while at Sabadell, and achieved his only promotion with Málaga the following year.

Coaching career

Ramírez took up coaching after retiring, acting as assistant at his first club Gimnàstic until 2007. In May 2010, after three years in charge of the ''Juvenil'' squad, he was appointed manager of the

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

, CF Pobla de Mafumet from

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 ...

. On 23 June 2012, Ramírez took the reins of the first team, recently relegated from

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 ...

. He was sacked on 14 October, after only one win in eight matches. In October 2013, Ramírez was named

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in , holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, wit ...

manager. He finished his first season as second, but missed out on promotion in the play-offs. Ramírez renewed with ''Hospi'' on 27 June 2014, but left the club the following 10 May after finishing out of the play-off places. On 20 October 2015, he took charge of

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

in the fourth division. He led them to a third-place finish in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, but fell short in the play-offs to

CF Gavà Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats. History The club was founded ...

, on penalties, thus resigning on 3 July 2016. On 3 January 2017, Ramírez moved abroad for the first time in his career, after being named manager of Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

side

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

. He was replaced on 11 December that year by compatriot Joan Carrillo. Ramírez returned to his native region in January 2019, taking over at his former club Sabadell. He was dismissed on 2 April, having taken seven points from 11 games and with the team in the relegation zone to the fourth tier. In the following years, Ramírez worked in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

and the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

. He was relieved of his duties at

Odisha FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

on 14 January 2022, after just two wins in the last seven matches. Ramírez returned to Poland and Wisła on 5 December 2022, taking on the role of

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

until the end of the season. Since his hiring, the club's transfer activity was mainly focused on bringing in Spanish players who were out of contract; for three consecutive transfer windows, eleven of his countrymen were brought in, and also-Spaniard Albert Rudé was appointed as manager in December 2023. During Ramírez's eighteen-month tenure, the side unexpectedly won the 2023–24 edition of the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

, but failed to earn promotion from

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 ...

twice. On 28 May 2024, he left by mutual consent.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramírez, Kiko 1970 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Tarragona Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers CE Sabadell FC footballers Málaga CF players AD Ceuta footballers FC Cartagena footballers Novelda CF players UE Tàrrega players Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CF Pobla de Mafumet managers Gimnàstic de Tarragona managers CE L'Hospitalet managers CD Castellón managers CE Sabadell FC managers Ekstraklasa managers Wisła Kraków managers Super League Greece managers Xanthi F.C. managers Indian Super League managers Odisha FC managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Poland Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Spanish sports executives and administrators Association football executives Wisła Kraków non-playing staff