Miguel Muñoz Mozún (19 January 1922 – 16 July 1990) was a Spanish

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 ...

player and manager. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he spent the majority of his career at

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 ...

before going on to coach the club, where he is widely considered one of the most successful and greatest managers in football history, leading the team to two

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

victories and nine

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 ...

titles (winning seven major titles in both major competitions combined as a player). Muñoz later had a six-year coaching spell with the Spain national team, and led them to the final of Euro 1984.

Playing 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 ...

, Muñoz played for various junior teams in the area, but initially failed to attract the attention of

, going on to subsequently represent Logroñés, Racing Santander and Celta. In 1948, he, together with the likes of Pahiño, helped the latter finish fourth in

and reach the Copa del Generalísimo final, where he scored in the 1–4 defeat to

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

. The following season, both players signed for Real Madrid, and Muñoz went on to appear in 347 official matches with the club from the capital. Additionally, he won seven caps for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, but never appeared in any major tournament. Muñoz scored Real's first ever goal in the

, helping to a 2–0 away win against Servette on 8 September 1955. Subsequently, he captained the team in two consecutive competition wins in 1955–56 and 1956–57, and retired from football the following year at nearly 36.Biography at Real Madrid Fans

Coaching career

Muñoz served a brief apprenticeship as coach of Real's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, then named

Plus Ultra (, , ) is a Latin phrase and the national motto of Spain. A reversal of the original phrase ''non plus ultra'' ("nothing further beyond"), said to have been inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar (whic ...

, before being appointed coach of the main squad in 1959. His time in charge was one of the club's most successful eras as, under his guidance, it won the league nine times; this included a five-in-a-row sequence (1961–65) and another three consecutive. On the European front, Muñoz led Real Madrid to two more wins in the European Cup, in 1959–60 and 1965–66. As a result, he became the first person to win the competition both as a player and a coach, which was later matched by

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti (; born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Brazil national team. Nicknamed "Carletto" in Italy and "Don Carlo" in Spain, he is regarded as one of the greatest ...

, Frank Rijkaard,

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

and

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

; he left in 1974 after 16 seasons, as the side's longest-serving and most successful coach, before being surpassed by Carlo Ancelotti in the number of titles in 2024. After seven more club seasons (

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

and

), Muñoz took the reins of the Spain national team after their group stage exit in the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

, on home soil. Previously, he had had a four-game interim spell in the late 60s, and eventually led the country to the

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

runner-up place, as well as the quarter-finals of the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

Death

Muñoz died in Madrid aged 68, from bleeding due to

esophageal varices Esophageal varices are extremely Vasodilation, dilated sub-mucosal veins in the lower third of the esophagus. They are most often a consequence of portal hypertension, commonly due to cirrhosis. People with esophageal varices have a strong tendenc ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Real Madrid *

: 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58 *

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

: 1955,

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58

Manager

Real Madrid *La Liga: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1971–72 * Copa del Generalísimo: 1961–62, 1969–70 *European Cup: 1959–60, 1965–66 * Intercontinental Cup:

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Individual

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

14th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Miguel 1922 births 1990 deaths Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players CD Logroñés footballers Racing de Santander players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Madrid CF players Spain men's B international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Real Madrid Castilla managers Real Madrid CF managers Granada CF managers UD Las Palmas managers Sevilla FC managers Spain national football team managers UEFA Euro 1984 managers 1986 FIFA World Cup managers UEFA Euro 1988 managers UEFA Champions League–winning managers UEFA Champions League–winning players 20th-century Spanish sportsmen