Playing position Height 1.72 m Years Team Position Forward | Name Ernesto Valverde Manages Athletic Bilbao Role Footballer | |
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Full name Ernesto Valverde Tejedor Date of birth (1964-02-09) 9 February 1964 (age 53) Place of birth Viandar de la Vera, Spain Current team Athletic Bilbao (coach) Teams coached Athletic Bilbao (Manager, since 2013), Valencia CF (Coach, 2012–2013) Similar People Aritz Aduriz, Markel Susaeta, Gorka Iraizoz, Iker Muniain, Josu Urrutia | ||
Valencia vs psg ernesto valverde post match press conference
Ernesto Valverde Tejedor ([erˈnesto βalˈβerðe]; born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a forward, and is the current manager of FC Barcelona.
Contents
- Valencia vs psg ernesto valverde post match press conference
- AskValverde Ernesto Valverde answers questions from the fans
- Playing career
- Spain and Greece
- Athletic Bilbao
- Barcelona
- Managerial statistics
- Player
- Manager
- References
Over the course of ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 goals, adding 55/9 in Segunda División. He played for six teams in a 14-year professional career, including Espanyol, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.
Valverde later went on to have an extensive spell as a manager, including being in charge of all three clubs.
#AskValverde: Ernesto Valverde answers questions from the fans
Playing career
Valverde was born in Viandar de la Vera, Cáceres, Extremadura. After having made his professional debuts in Segunda División – Deportivo Alavés and Sestao Sport Club – he was transferred to RCD Español in 1986, making his La Liga debut on 31 August in a 1–1 away draw against Atlético Madrid. In a season that included a second stage he ended with 43 league appearances, scoring seven goals; in his final year, he was part of the squad that lost the 1988 UEFA Cup on penalties, to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Subsequently, Valverde played two years at FC Barcelona, winning a Copa del Rey and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, although he appeared sparingly in the process (only 13 minutes against Lech Poznań in the latter tournament). However, in his second season he netted six times in only 12 games, including braces in consecutive wins over Sporting de Gijón (2–0) and Valencia CF (2–1).
Valverde left for Athletic Bilbao in 1990, being eligible although he was born in Extremadura (he moved to the Basque Country still an infant). He played six seasons with the team, scoring 20 league goals from 1992 to 1994 before moving to RCD Mallorca, where he was relatively used as the Balearic Islands club achieved top flight promotion, and retired the following summer aged 33; during his time at Athletic, he was nicknamed Txingurri (Basque for ant).
Valverde played once for Spain, appearing 20 minutes in a 2–1 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifier win against Iceland on 10 October 1990, in Seville.
Spain and Greece
Immediately after retiring, Valverde began his career as a manager in the youth departments of former club Athletic Bilbao. Four years later he became a co-trainer in the main squad and, in 2002, he again acted as head coach when he took over the B-side, being promoted to first-team duties the following year; in 2003–04, they finished fifth and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
After one year out of football, Valverde joined another old acquaintance, Espanyol. During his first season, the Catalans managed to reach another UEFA Cup final – nineteen years later – again losing on penalties, to fellow Spaniards Sevilla FC.
On 28 May 2008, Valverde was appointed coach at Superleague Greece club Olympiacos FC, winning the championship in his debut campaign and adding the cup for the double. On 8 May 2009, it decided not to renew his contract in spite of his success, because of a financial disagreement; however, most of the players and fans were openly in favour of him staying.
On 2 June 2009, Villarreal CF announced that Valverde would succeed Manuel Pellegrini on a one-year deal, after the Chilean had left for Real Madrid. As the team stood tenth in the league on 31 January 2010, following a 0–2 home loss against CA Osasuna, he was sacked.
On 7 August 2010, Valverde returned to Olympiacos as a replacement for Ewald Lienen who had only been in charge for a few weeks. In his first season in his second spell he again led the Piraeus side to the league championship, also reaching the last eight in the domestic cup.
On 19 April 2012, after helping Olympiacos renew its league supremacy, Valverde announced his decision to leave due to family reasons. On 3 December he returned to Spanish football by being appointed at Valencia until the end of the season, replacing fired Mauricio Pellegrino; his first game occurred five days later, a 1–0 win at Osasuna, and the second match, against the same opponent for the season's Spanish cup, brought another triumph at the Reyno de Navarra (2–0).
Athletic Bilbao
On 1 June 2013, immediately after the 3–4 away loss at Sevilla which meant Valencia could only finish fifth, thus out of qualification positions for the UEFA Champions League, Valverde announced he would leave the club. He returned to Athletic Bilbao on the 20th, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in his first year whilst also reaching the final of the 2015 Spanish Cup the following season.
On 17 August 2015, Valverde led the Lions to their first trophy in 31 years after a 5–1 aggregate defeat of Barcelona for the Supercopa de España. He declared on 23 May 2017 he would be stepping down on 30 June, to be replaced by former Athletic teammate José Ángel Ziganda.
Valverde's 306 matches in charge of the team over two spells set a club record, beating the previous total of 289 set by Javier Clemente. He also surpassed Clemente's 211 league matches managed, finishing on 228, but was unable to match his record of victories: The latter won 141 games – 102 in the league – while the former came up one short, with 140 and 101; additionally, he was on the bench for 42 European matches, another record.
Barcelona
On 29 May 2017, Valverde replaced Luis Enrique as the new Barcelona manager.