Raúl Sáenz del Rincón (born 3 August 1976), known as Raúl Llona or just Llona, 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, and the 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 ...

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

Playing career

Born in

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, Llona started his career with

CD Berceo Club Deportivo Berceo is a Spanish football team based in Logroño in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1948, it plays in . Its stadium is Estadio La Isla with a capacity of 2,000 seaters. History In the 2018-19 season the club f ...

before moving to

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club ha ...

in 1995. On 22 June 1997, after two seasons as a starter with the reserves, he made his professional debut by playing the last 13 minutes of a 1–2

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 ...

away loss against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. Llona would spend the remainder of his career mainly in

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 ...

, representing

CD Manchego Club Deportivo Manchego was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Ciudad Real Province of Ciudad Real, in the namesake province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1929 and dissolved in 2000, ...

CD Mensajero Club Deportivo Mensajero is a Spanish football team based in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 6 January 1922, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Silvestre Carrillo'', with a capa ...

Talavera CF Talavera Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Talavera de la Reina, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1948, it played its last season in Tercera División - Group 18, holding home matches at ''Estadio ...

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

and

CD Calahorra Club Deportivo Calahorra is a Spanish football team based in Calahorra, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1946 it plays in , holding home games at the '' Estadio Municipal La Planilla'', with a capacity of 5,000 spectators. H ...

in that category. He also enjoyed two further spells with his first club Logroñés, with the side mainly 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 ...

, and retired with the side in 2007 at the age of 31.

Managerial career

Immediately after retiring Llona took up coaching, managing Peña Balsamaiso CF's youth setup. In 2009, he returned to his first club Berceo, taking over the ''Juvenil'' squad while also working as a

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 ...

. In March 2013, Llona was appointed manager of

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estad ...

in the third division. On 6 June 2014, he took over neighbouring SD Logroñés, recently relegated to the fourth division. On 23 June 2016, Llona was named in charge of fellow fourth tier club

CD Anguiano Club Deportivo Anguiano is a Spanish List of football clubs in Spain, football team based in Anguiano in the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja. Founded in 1995, it plays in . Its stadium is Estadio Isla with a capacity of 1,000 se ...

. On 13 July of the following year, he joined

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

as manager of the ''Cadete B'' squad. Llona was named Club San Ignacio manager in 2018, subsequently helping in their promotion to the fourth level. On 19 May 2020, he renewed as manager of San Ignacio until June 2022. On 9 February 2021, Llona was appointed manager of Alavés' B-team, but was sacked exactly two months later. On 27 May, he returned to SD Logroñés, with the club now in

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

. Llona left Logroñés on 30 May 2023, and took over

two days later. On 4 June 2025, after leading the latter side to a

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

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 ...

, he renewed his contract.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Llona, Raul 1976 births Living people Footballers from Logroño Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Logroñés footballers CD Mensajero players Real Unión footballers CD Calahorra players Spanish football managers Primera Federación managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers UD Logroñés managers SD Logroñés managers Deportivo Alavés B managers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa managers