Manuel "Manolo" Márquez Roca (born 7 September 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

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who is currently the head coach of the Indian national football team.

Playing career

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

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 ...

, Márquez represented CE Cerdanyola, Santfeliuenc FC,

CF Montañesa Club de Futbol Montañesa is a Spanish football team based in Barcelona in the district of Nou Barris, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1927, it plays in the , holding home games at ''Camp Municipal de Nou Barris'', with a ca ...

, CD Granollers, FC Martinenc, UA Horta,

CF Badalona Club de Fútbol Badalona () is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903 it plays in , temporarily holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Badalona, with a capacity of 4,170 seats. Ba ...

and Penya Barcelonista Anguera as a player, retiring professionally at the age of 28.

Managerial career

Márquez started his career with his last club PB Anguera in 2002, as manager. After two spells at

AE Prat Associació Esportiva Prat is a Spanish football team based in El Prat de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1945 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi Sagnier'', with a 500-seat capacity. History The club w ...

and one season at

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 CE Europa, he was appointed manager of

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 ...

club Badalona on 5 June 2010. Márquez took Badalona to the play-offs during his two seasons in charge, missing out promotion in both, however. On 31 January 2013, he was appointed in charge of RCD Espanyol B. Márquez was sacked by the ''Pericos'' on 21 January 2014, being replaced by his assistant Sergio. On 4 November he returned to Prat for a third stint, but was relieved from his duties at the end of the season after failing to achieve promotion. On 29 June 2015, Márquez was named at the helm of

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

, also in the fourth division. He was dismissed on 26 October, and only returned to coaching duties the following 16 June, after being named

UD Las Palmas Atlético Las Palmas Atlético is the reserve team of UD Las Palmas, club based in Las Palmas, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. They play in , holding home games at ''Anexo del Estadio Gran Canaria'', which holds 2,000 spectators. The te ...

manager. Márquez achieved promotion to the third tier as champions with the B-team, and on 3 July 2017 he was appointed manager of the main squad in

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 ...

, after agreeing to a one-year contract. His first match in charge occurred on 18 August 2017, a 0–1 away loss against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

. On 26 September 2017, after just six league matches in charge, Márquez resigned as manager after overseeing a 0–2 home defeat against

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

just two days earlier. In June 2018, Márquez signed with Croatian side

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

for one campaign. However, he was sacked on 18 September after winning only one of the first seven games. At the end of 2018, Márquez agreed to manage Ratchaburi Mitr Phol F.C. in the

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

. He left a month later for personal reasons, before taking charge of a single game. In March 2020 Márquez tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He recovered 12 days later. On 31 August 2020, Márquez was appointed as the 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 ...

club

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. On 10 February 2021, he penned down a two-year contract extension, that tied him with the club till 2023. The announcement came after he had led the team in the 2020–21 season to a 5th-place finish on the league table, failing to qualify for the playoff by two points. Márquez led Hyderabad to their first ever ISL title in the 2021–22 season. The club qualified for the playoffs again in the 2022–23 season but lost to ATK Mohun Bagan in the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 28 March 2023, Hyderabad announced that Márquez would leave them at the end of the season. On 2 June 2023, Márquez was appointed as the head coach of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

on a multi-year deal. On 20 July 2024, Márquez was appointed as the head coach of Indian Football Team succeeding the post of

Igor Stimac Igor may refer to: * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name Arts, entertainment, and media *Igor (character), a stock character * Igors (''Discworld''), a fictional humanoid family in the ''Discworld'' ...

who was replaced by the

AIFF AIFF may refer to: * Audio Interchange File Format * All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India Film festivals * Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * Alexandria Internation ...

. As per his contract, Marquez would see out his

FC Goa Futebol Clube de Goa is an India, Indian professional association football, football club based in Fatorda, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of Football in India, Indian football. The club was established on 2 ...

contract by continuing his role as the head coach of the club concurrently with the national team job, before assuming the national team role on a full-time basis after the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. Alongside Marquez, Benito Montalvo was appointed as assistant coach, and Jose Carlos Barroso was appointed as the strength and conditioning coach. Both were also at

, and similar to Marquez, would do both jobs until the end of the season, before solely working for the national team. Marquez's first match with the national team was a 0-0 draw against

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, which Marquez himself described as "a boring game". After a 3-0 loss to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, the first goal of Marquez's tenure as Indian head coach came against

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, with attacker Farukh Choudhary scoring a chip over Vietnam goalkeeper Filip Nguyen. This was the equalizing goal, as India went on to draw the game 1-1. Marquez's first win with the Indian national team came on 19 March 2025, with a 3-0 win against

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, after goals from Rahul Bheke, Liston Colaco, and

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (, born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and captains the India national team. He is the all-time top scorer in Indian Super League history. He is ...

. This win ended the nation's 489-day winless streak.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Hyderabad *

: 2021–22 Goa *

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Individual *

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

India's Coach of the Year: 2022

References

Citations Further reading *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquez, Manolo 1968 births Living people Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Tercera División players CF Badalona players Spanish football managers La Liga managers AE Prat managers CE Europa managers CF Badalona managers RCD Espanyol B managers UE Sant Andreu managers UD Las Palmas Atlético managers UD Las Palmas managers NK Istra 1961 managers CF Montañesa players UA Horta players Croatian Football League managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate football managers in Croatia Expatriate football managers in Thailand Hyderabad FC managers Expatriate football managers in India Indian Super League managers FC Goa managers India national football team managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen