Luis Fernández Gutiérrez (born 29 September 1972) is a Spanish retired

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

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 ...

, currently a

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 ...

. In a professional career that spanned 17 years, he was best known for his time at Betis, totalling 271 appearances over one decade. He also had two spells at

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

Playing career

Fernández was born in Argomilla,

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

. After starting out at lowly

Gimnástica de Torrelavega Real Sociedad Gimnástica de Torrelavega is a Spanish football team based in Torrelavega, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded on 28 September 1907 it is the oldest football club in the region, and currently plays in , holding home ...

, he made his

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 ...

debut for local giants

against

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 ...

, on 24 April 1994. He went on to play 58 competitive games, before signing with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

of the same league for the 1996–97 season.El perfil: Luis Fernández (The profile: Luis Fernández)
Real Betis, 29 September 2016 (in Spanish) At Betis, Fernández consistently appeared as his team's main left-back for ten years. He featured in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

for the

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

club in 2005–06, having contributed 22 league appearances the previous campaign. Aged 34, Fernández returned to Racing ahead of 2006–07, playing 18 matches in his second season as they achieved a first-ever

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for 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 ...

. On 19 April 2009, as he was nothing more than a fringe player, he appeared in his 300th top-division game, a 1–0 loss at

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, and retired in the summer at the age of 37, continuing to work with the club 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 ...

in the following years.

Coaching career

In summer 2019, Fernández was appointed manager of

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 Cayón Club Deportivo Cayón is a Spanish football club based in Santa María de Cayón, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1915, it plays in , holding home games at Estadio Fernando Astobiza, which has a capacity of 2,700 spectators. ...

in his region of birth. He achieved two promotions during his spell, being relegated the same number of times and leaving in May 2024.

Honours

Betis *

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 ...

: 2004–05Dani delivers for Betis
UEFA, 11 June 2005

References

External links

* *
Betisweb stats and bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Luis 1972 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Cantabria Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Gimnástica de Torrelavega footballers Racing de Santander players Real Betis players Spanish football managers Tercera División managers Segunda Federación managers Tercera Federación managers