Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores (; born 5 February 1965) is a Spanish former

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 ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

. He began his professional career with

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in 1984, going on to amass

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

totals of 304 games and 16 goals over 12 seasons and also appearing for Real Madrid and

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in the competition, retiring in 1997. Internationally, he represented

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at under-18, under-21 and under-23 levels, appearing with the senior side at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

. In 2001, Flores began his managerial career when he took charge of Real Madrid's youth team. His first senior post came in 2004, with

. He returned to Valencia in 2005, being dismissed after two years and going on to work with Benfica, Atlético Madrid – where he won the 2010 Europa League – Al-Ahli,

Al-Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, before being appointed at Espanyol in 2016.

Playing career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Flores spent his first ten years as a senior with

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

, starting in 1984–85. The club was relegated in his second season, and when it returned to

in the 1987–88 campaign, finished 14th. However, from that point until

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

the team never ranked lower than seventh, with him as first-choice. Flores moved to Real Madrid in summer 1994, and stayed with the capital side for two seasons, winning the league title in the first one. Subsequently, he had a brief spell with

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 league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

, retiring from professional football at the age of 32 with Spanish top flight totals of 304 games and 16 goals; in his only season in Segunda División, as Valencia won the championship in 1987, he posted career-highs with 40 matches and nine goals. Flores made 15 appearances in the Spain national team, and was included in the 1990 FIFA World Cup squad. His debut came on 23 September 1987 in a 2–0 friendly win against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, in

Castellón de la Plana Castellón de la Plana (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló de la Plana), or simply Castellón ( ca-valencia, Castelló, link=no) is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east ...

Coaching career

Beginnings

Flores began his coaching career in 2001 by taking charge of Real Madrid's youth teams. After earning plaudits during his three seasons in the youth teams he caught the eye of the newly promoted Getafe CF, also in Madrid.

Valencia

After the 2004–05 campaign with Getafe, in which they finished in 13th place, Flores was given the opportunity to coach his former club Valencia, succeeding

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

. In his first year, he guided them to third place and thus qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

where the team went on to reach the quarter-finals, being knocked out by

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. In May 2007, the ''Che'' achieved a top-four league finish and consequently a place in the next Champions League. On 29 October, however, the board of directors dismissed Flores after a string of poor results.

Benfica

Flores was appointed as manager of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

on 24 May 2008. On 8 June of the following year he left the Primeira Liga side by mutual consent, after a

third place In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, clubs, public ...

in the league and winning the domestic league cup.

Atlético Madrid

On 23 October 2009, Flores signed for Atlético Madrid following the dismissal of Abel Resino, penning a contract until 30 June 2010. At the end of the campaign, he led the team to the ninth position in the domestic competition, but also to two cup finals: the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

against Fulham (2–1 win) and the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

, lost to

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

. Frequently clashing with star player

Diego Forlán Diego Martín Forlán Corazo (born 19 May 1979) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the best forwards of his generation, Forlán is a two-time winner of both the Pichichi ...

during

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, Flores announced his departure from the ''Colchoneros'' before the season ended, with the team finally qualifying to the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Al Ahli

In early May 2011, Flores was linked with a move to

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyn ...

. On 8 November, however, he was named new coach of

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

team Al Ahli Dubai FC, replacing Ivan Hašek. He left on 11 June 2013.

Al Ain

On 28 September 2013, only three months after leaving the country, Flores returned to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

, being appointed at

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club ( ar, نادي العين لكرة القدم; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many ...

. However, his tenure was brief as he was dismissed on 8 March 2014 due to poor results.

Return to Getafe

After nearly nine months without a club, Flores returned to Getafe on 5 January 2015 to succeed

Cosmin Contra Cosmin Marius Contra (; born 15 December 1975) is a Romanian football manager and former player. Primarily an attacking-minded right-back, he was also deployed as a midfielder. He played professionally in three countries his own notwithstanding, ...

as the new manager following the latter's departure to China. His first match in charge took place two days later, and it ended with a 1–1 away draw against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

for the domestic cup; on 26 February, however, citing personal reasons, he resigned.

Watford

On 5 June 2015, Flores was appointed the head coach of newly promoted

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side

, replacing

Slaviša Jokanović Slaviša Jokanović ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Јокановић, ; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Russian club Dynamo Moscow. A physical player considered strong in the a ...

and being the fifth man to hold that position in twelve months. In December, the team won three and lost only one of their league matches, earning him the

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

accolade; his forward

Odion Ighalo Odion Jude Ighalo (born 16 June 1989) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal and the Nigeria national team. After starting his career at Nigerian clubs Prime and Julius Ber ...

earned the equivalent award for his five-goal haul that month. However, despite going on to lead the team to a comfortable mid-table position and the semi-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, it was announced on 13 May 2016 that Flores would be leaving at the end of the season.

Espanyol

On 9 June 2016, Flores returned to Spain, signing a three-year deal to replace Constantin Gâlcă as manager of

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

. His second signing was

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in ...

, with whom he had previously worked at Benfica and Atlético. Flores was dismissed on 20 April 2018, after achieving poor results towards the end of the season. In July, he was on a four-man shortlist for the vacant Egyptian national team manager job.

Shanghai Shenhua

On 25 December 2018, Flores was appointed manager of Chinese club Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC. The following July, he left.

Return to Watford

Flores returned to Watford on 7 September 2019, replacing his compatriot

Javi Gracia Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (; born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He played 430 matches both major levels of Spanish football combined, in a 15-year professional career. Afte ...

who was dismissed the same day. His team completed a comeback from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 with Arsenal at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cas ...

in his first game back on 15 September. However, one week later, they were defeated 8–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium by Manchester City, with the opposition scoring five goals in the first 15 minutes for their biggest ever Premier League win. On 30 November 2019, Watford went away to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and lost 2–1. The next day, Flores was sacked after securing only a single victory in his second stint in charge.

Third Getafe spell

On 6 October 2021, Flores was presented as Getafe manager for the third time.

Personal life

Flores is the nephew of

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

singer and dancer

Lola Flores Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

. His father, Isidro Sánchez García-Figueras, was also a footballer and a defender, and

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

was his godfather.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Valencia * Segunda División: 1986–87 Real Madrid *

: 1994–95 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

Manager

Benfica * Taça da Liga: 2008–09 Atlético Madrid *

: 2009–10 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

: 2010 *

runner-up: 2009–10 Al Ahli * UAE League Cup: 2011–12 *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifies for the AFC Champions League. Hi ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Al Ain *

: 2013–14 Individual *

: December 2015

References

External links

* *
CiberChe stats and bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Flores, Quique 1965 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Madrid Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Valencia CF players Real Madrid CF players Real Zaragoza players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Getafe CF managers Valencia CF managers Atlético Madrid managers RCD Espanyol managers Primeira Liga managers S.L. Benfica managers UAE Pro League managers Al Ain FC managers Premier League managers Watford F.C. managers Chinese Super League managers Shanghai Shenhua F.C. managers UEFA Europa League winning managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Portugal Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Real Madrid CF non-playing staff