Sergio Sánchez Sánchez (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish former professional

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, currently a

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

Sánchez was born in Carbayín Alto,

Siero Siero is a municipality of the autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain. With a population of 52,194 as of 2023, Siero is the fourth most populous municipality in Asturias. It has a total of 29 parishes, with the largest being Lugones ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

. Having joined local

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

's youth system as an infant, he first appeared with the professionals during the 1998–99 season as the club was in the

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 ...

. Another spell at that level, with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, would follow, although he played almost no part in the ''Colchoneross return to

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 ...

in 2001–02 (three games). He was signed by the latter in October 1999, but remained on loan to the former until June of the following year. Loaned by Atlético to

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

in 2002–03– making his top-flight debut on 2 September 2002 in a 2–0 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 ...

– Sánchez would meet the same fate the following campaign, with

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

. There, he would appear in exactly half of the matches as the

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 ...

outskirts side achieved a first-ever promotion to the top tier, only collecting eight appearances during 2004–05. After an unassuming stint with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

, Sánchez signed for lowly

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with an 8,000 capac ...

, leaving shortly after for personal reasons. He finished the season with

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Sánchez returned to Gijón for 2007–08, featuring only once in the league as his team returned to the first division after a ten-year absence. He began the next season as the starter but, after conceding 19 goals in four matches (most in 50 years of competition), he would be relegated to the bench, being reinstated in late December following

Iván Cuéllar Iván Cuéllar Sacristán (born 27 May 1984), nicknamed Pichu, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Mallorca. Developed at Atlético Madrid, he spent most of his career with Sporting de Gijón, where h ...

's serious

ankle The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...

injury in a 3–0 defeat at

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. With

Iñaki Lafuente Iñaki Lafuente Sancha (born 24 January 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 146 La Liga games over ten seasons, mainly with Athletic Bilbao. He also represented Espanyol and Sporting de ...

's arrival on loan from that club in January 2009 and Cuéllar's recovery, he would be demoted to third choice, and was eventually released in July.

Coaching career

In 2010, after one year without a club, Sánchez retired from football at the age of 33. He had his first coaching experience with amateurs

Candás CF Candás Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Candás, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1948, it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio La Mata'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectators. Season to season ...

as assistant to another former Sporting player,

Abelardo Fernández Abelardo Fernández Antuña (; born 19 April 1970), known simply as Abelardo as a player, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. A player with good heading and marking ability, he was also known fo ...

. Simultaneously, he opened his own football school, ''Dorsal 13''. Sánchez returned to Gijón in 2011, being appointed reserves goalkeeper coach and youth team manager. On 25 January 2021, he replaced his former Sporting teammate

Samuel Baños Samuel Baños Cardín (born 16 August 1979), known simply as Samuel, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently assistant manager of Sporting de Gijón B. Playing career Samuel was born in Villaviciosa, As ...

as head coach of the B side, being relegated to the newly created

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''La Liga'', ''Segunda División'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''Segunda F ...

at the end of the season but being retained nonetheless. On 3 June 2023, Sánchez was appointed at neighbouring

Marino de Luanco Club Marino de Luanco is a Spanish football team based in Luanco, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1931 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Miramar'', with a capacity of 3,500 seats. History Marino Luanco was founde ...

in the

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Fede ...

.Sergio Sánchez, nuevo entrenador del Marino (Sergio Sánchez, new manager of Marino)
El Comercio, 3 June 2023 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Sergio 1977 births Living people People from Siero 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Asturias Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Atlético Madrid footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Getafe CF footballers Hércules CF players Eredivisie players ADO Den Haag players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Segunda Federación managers Tercera Federación managers Sporting Atlético managers