Óscar Álvarez Sanjuán (born 9 June 1977) 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, currently assistant manager of Girona FC B.

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 ...

, Álvarez finished his youth career with local

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, going on to feature for its C and B teams until the age of 22. He later signed with

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

, making his

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 ...

debut on 16 October 1999 by coming in as a late substitute in a 2–2 away draw 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 ...

. After playing for

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

and

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

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 ...

, Álvarez joined

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

of the same league in July 2005. In his first and only season he contributed only 524 minutes in all competitions, but achieved promotion in the league. Deemed surplus to requirements by ''Nàstic'' in the summer of 2006, and subsequently being left out of the first-team squad, Álvarez signed with

Orihuela CF Orihuela Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Orihuela, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1993 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Municipal Los Arcos'', with a capacity of 7,000 seats. History On 4 August 1993, th ...

from

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 mid-January 2007. He returned to the second level nearly two years later with

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

but, after two seasons marked by injury, he moved back to division three with CE L'Hospitalet. Álvarez signed for

UE Llagostera C.F. Badalona Futur Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Badalona, Province of Barcelona, Barcelona, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Founded in 1947, it currently plays ...

also in his native region midway through the 2010–11 season, winning promotion from the

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 going on to play several years with the club in the third tier.

Coaching career

Álvarez began working as a manager with his last team, as assistant to Oriol Alsina.Òscar Álvarez torna a ser el segon d'Oriol Alsina a la banqueta del Llagostera (Òscar Álvarez is again assistant of Oriol Alsina on Llagostera's bench)
Diari de Girona, 17 August 2020 He was promoted to head coach for the 2017–18 campaign, which ended in relegation from division three. In September 2019, Álvarez accepted an offer from former Barcelona teammate Albert Celades to be part of his staff. Eleven months later, he returned to Llagostera still under Alsina.

Personal life

Álvarez's older brother, Quique, was also a footballer and a stopper, who represented mainly

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

. Their father Quique Costas was 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 played professionally for

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

, Barcelona and the Spain national team.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Oscar 1977 births Living people Spanish people of Galician descent Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Real Oviedo players UE Lleida players CD Tenerife players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Orihuela CF players Girona FC players CE L'Hospitalet players CF Badalona Futur players Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers CF Badalona Futur managers Valencia CF non-playing staff