Antonio Rodríguez Saravia (born 28 January 1971), commonly known as Rodri, 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 forward, and

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 ...

. He is currently an individual development coach at

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

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 ...

, Rodri joined

's youth setup in 1988 from Santfeliuenc, but was released in the following year. He subsequently joined Martinenc, and in January 1990 he moved to

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel (province), Teruel Province. It had a population of 35,900 as of 2022, making it the least populated provincial capital in Spain. It is noted for its har ...

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 ...

. In the following five seasons, Rodri rarely settle into a club, representing Levante Las Planas,

Igualada Igualada () is a municipality and capital of Anoia county in Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Anoia River and at the western end of the Igualada-Martorell-Barcelona Railway. Igualada is the capital and central ...

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebro. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city ...

, Gimnàstic,

Tàrrega Tàrrega (, ) is a town and municipality located in the Urgell (comarca), Urgell Comarques of Catalonia, comarca, Province of Lleida, Catalonia. According to the 2020 census (Statistical Institute of Catalonia), the town has a population of It ha ...

and Santboià. In 1996 he signed for

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

Palamós Palamós () is a town and municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava, located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Palamós is located at the northern end of a large bay. The town is by-passed by th ...

, helping in their promotion to the third division in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Rodri also had a brief stint at

Gavà Gavà () is a municipality in the Baix Llobregat comarca, in the province of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It borders the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Viladecans and Castelldefels. Gavà has a beach and two population centers: the ci ...

during the 1999–2000 season, but returned to Palamós after appearing rarely. He resumed his career with

Peralada Peralada () is a village in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the home of the Frankish Counts of Peralada who controlled this portion of the Marca Hispanica before becoming part of the lands held by the Count of Barcelona. Figuer ...

and

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

, retiring with the latter in 2004, aged 33.

Managerial career

Rodri started his career as

Raül Agné Raül Agné Montull (born 24 May 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. Playing career Born in Mequinenza, Province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Agné never competed in higher than Segunda Divi ...

's assistant at

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 ...

in 2010. On 16 March 2012, he was appointed assistant manager at Olot, but was in charge of the first team along with Àlex Terma during his spell. On 10 December 2012, Rodri left Olot and moved to

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, again as Agné's second. On 25 November 2014 he returned to his previous club, now named first team manager. Rodri was sacked on 22 February 2016 due to his poor results, and reunited with Agné at

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 ...

on 28 October. On 22 June of the following year, he returned to ''Nàstic'' after being named Pobla Mafumet manager. On 9 September 2017, after

Lluís Carreras Lluís Carreras Ferrer (born 24 September 1972) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a left-back but also as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. He started his professional career with Barcelona, without much succes ...

' dismissal, Rodri was named interim manager of the first team 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 ...

. His first professional match in charge occurred eight days later, a 3–1 home win against

Albacete Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...

. After three wins in five matches, Rodri was confirmed as manager until the end of the season. On 29 January 2018, he was sacked. On 25 September 2018,

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

announced that Rodri would join the technical staff, working as an assistant coach. On 13 November, he was named

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

manager, with the club also in the second division; on 16 February 2019, he was dismissed. In November 2020, Rodri was named manager of Andorran

Primera Divisió The Primera Divisió (First Division), also known as Lliga Multisegur Assegurances for sponsorship reasons is the top level of men's football in Andorra. The league was launched in 1995 sponsored by the local federation ( Andorran Football Fede ...

club Inter d'Escaldes. He chose to depart the club on 22 February 2021, after being offered the role of development coach at

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 ...

club

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

. He subsequently followed Villarreal manager

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as o ...

to join

club

in the same role in November 2022.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Gavà profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodri 1971 births Living people Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Teruel footballers CF Balaguer footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers UE Tàrrega players FC Santboià players Palamós CF footballers CF Gavà players UE Olot players CF Peralada players Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers UE Olot managers CF Pobla de Mafumet managers Gimnàstic de Tarragona managers Extremadura UD managers Villarreal CF non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Andorra Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate football managers in Andorra