Narcís Julià Fontané (born 24 May 1963) 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 defender, and a current

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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

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 ...

, Julià was a

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

youth graduate, and was promoted to the first team at the age of just 16. In 1982, he joined

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, being initially assigned to the reserves in

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 ...

. Julià experienced two consecutive promotions with the B-side, and made his first team – and

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 on 2 February 1986, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Dragi Kaličanin Dragi Kaličanin (; born 28 October 1957) is a Serbian football manager and former player. Background and career Born in Štavalj, Sjenica, in modern-day Serbia, he started and finished his playing career with FK Borac Čačak but his best yea ...

in a 6–0 home routing of

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

. In July of that year, he was definitely promoted to the main squad. Julià scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 13 September 1986, netting his team's only in a 1–3 away loss against

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 ...

. He went on to appear regularly for the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese side during the following campaigns, and announced his retirement in November 1993 mainly due to a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury.

Manager career

After retiring, Julià joined Zaragoza's staff; initially a manager of the youth sides, he was an assistant at both reserve and main squads. In 2001, he returned to Girona, being named

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

. On 6 June 2003, however, Julià was named manager of the ''Albirrojos'', with the side in Tercera División play-offs. After achieving promotion, he returned to his previous role. In the 2004 summer Julià was appointed

Víctor Fernández Víctor Fernández Braulio (born 28 November 1960) is a Spanish football manager. He had four spells with his hometown team Zaragoza, winning the Copa del Rey in 1994 and the Cup Winners' Cup a year later. He also led Tenerife, RC Celta de Vi ...

's assistant at F.C. Porto, and remained with the manager in his subsequent spell at Zaragoza. On 26 October 2009 he returned to Girona, taking over for sacked

Cristóbal Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic * Cr ...

. After narrowly avoiding relegation, Julià left the club and joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

's backroom staff.

Honours

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 ...

: 1985–86

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Julia, Narcis 1963 births Living people Footballers from Girona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Girona FC players Deportivo Aragón players Racing de Ferrol footballers Real Zaragoza players Spanish football managers Girona FC managers Catalonia men's international footballers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen