Jesús Luis "Koldo" Álvarez de Eulate Güergue (born 4 September 1970) is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, currently

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 ...

of the Andorra national team.

Playing career

Born in

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in English) is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and of the provinces of Spain, province of Álava in northern Spain. I ...

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

, Basque Country, Spain, Álvarez spent his entire career in the country. He signed in the 1990 summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

from local

CD Aurrerá de Vitoria Club Deportivo Aurrerá de Vitoria is a Spanish sports club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1935 it currently plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Olaranbe'', with a 4,000 ...

, but struggled to appear even for the reserves. Due to injury to starter

Abel Resino Abel Resino Gómez (born 2 February 1960), sometimes known just as Abel, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and a manager. Nicknamed ''El Gato'' (The Cat) due to his reflexes,

, he was on the bench for the first team in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

1990–91 Copa del Rey The 1990–91 Copa del Rey was the 89th staging of the Spanish Cup. The competition began on 5 September 1990 and ended on 29 June 1991 with the final. It was won by Club Atlético de Madrid. First round Second round Third round Four ...

, 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, ...

. Álvarez resumed his career in the lower leagues, being second or third choice. In 1994, he joined

FC Andorra Futbol Club Andorra is a professional football club based in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, that currently competes in , in the Spanish league system. The club was founded in 1942 and currently plays its home fixtures at Estadi Nacional. In spite ...

who competed in the

Spanish football league system The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional, amateur and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid — Primera Di ...

, going on to remain 14 of the following 15 seasons with the club and retiring aged 39. After being naturalised, he began representing the Andorra national team, making his debut on 3 June 1998 in a 3–0 friendly loss to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. On 10 June 2009, Álvarez played his last international, a 6–0 defeat against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifiers; arguably one of the best players in the match, he received a standing ovation from the opposing fans for his efforts, after he was substituted in

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

. Previously, in November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's Jubilee, he was selected as Andorra's Golden Player by the

Andorran Football Federation The Andorran Football Federation () is the governing body of football in Andorra. It was founded in 1994 and joined as a member of FIFA and UEFA in 1996. It organises the football league, Primera Divisió, the Copa Constitució and Andorran Supe ...

as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

Coaching career

Álvarez was appointed as the Andorra national team's manager on 2 February 2010, replacing David Rodrigo. His first win (on his 49th game in charge) came seven years and 20 days later, 2–0 over

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

in a friendly. On 25 March 2017, nearly 12 years after the last point won in official matches, Álvarez led the side to a 0–0 draw with

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. On 9 June, for the same competition, a 1–0 win against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella is the capital and largest city of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, Andorran parish that surrounds the capital. , the city had a populati ...

was achieved, the first competitive one since October 2004.

Personal life

Álvarez's son, Iker, is also a footballer and a goalkeeper. He was coached by his father in the national team setup.

Career statistics

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

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 ...

: 1990–91

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Koldo 1970 births Living people Spanish emigrants to Andorra Naturalised citizens of Andorra Spanish men's footballers Andorran men's footballers Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Men's association football goalkeepers Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Aurrerá de Vitoria footballers Atlético Madrid B players CD Toledo players Atlético Madrid footballers UD Salamanca players FC Andorra players CF Balaguer footballers Andorra men's international footballers UEFA Golden Players Andorran football managers Andorra national football team managers