José Manuel 'Manolo' Díaz Fernández (born 30 August 1968) 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 ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a forward.

Coaching career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Díaz began his managerial career at the ''Juvenil'' squad of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, leaving the club in 2006 after the arrival of the new president

Ramón Calderón José Ramón Calderón Ramos (born 26 May 1951) is a Spanish lawyer who is the former President of Real Madrid.Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, being appointed at CDA Navalcarnero in summer 2008. Díaz was named coach of

Real Madrid C Real Madrid Club de Fútbol C, commonly known as Real Madrid C, is a Spanish association football team, and is Real Madrid's second reserve team. They play in , holding their home games at La Ciudad del Real Madrid in Valdebebas outside the cit ...

a year later, after Florentino Pérez's return as president. In 2011–12 he led the team to second place 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 ...

, and despite losing in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, saw them achieve promotion to

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 ...

due to administrative relegations. On 19 November 2013, Díaz replaced the fired

Alberto Toril José Alberto Toril Rodríguez (born 7 July 1973) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, who most recently managed Liga F club Real Madrid Femenino. He was mainly associated to Real Madrid during his ...

at the helm of the

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. His first match in charge was four days later, a 0–0 home draw against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

. Later that year, he finally took the reserves from the bottom position in

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 ...

, having won 13 out of a possible 15 points and four consecutive wins. In July 2014, Díaz was appointed at

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Primera Federación - Group 1, holding home ma ...

in the second division. On 31 January 2016, after the sixth loss in seven matches, he was dismissed; the campaign eventually ended in relegation. Díaz returned to the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

on 24 June 2017, being appointed youth system coordinator. In late October 2018, as Santiago Solari was named Julen Lopetegui's successor in the first team, he replaced the former at Castilla. On 8 September 2021, following a short stint in the Spanish third tier with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

, Díaz was announced as head coach of

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 ...

side

East Bengal FC East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of the Indian football league system. The cl ...

. He resigned at the end of the year due to a poor start to the season.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Manolo 1968 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players RSD Alcalá players Getafe CF footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Real Madrid C managers Real Madrid Castilla managers SD Ponferradina managers Hércules CF managers Indian Super League managers East Bengal Club managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Real Madrid CF non-playing staff 20th-century Spanish sportsmen