Alejandro Menéndez García (born 12 July 1966) is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

Career

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

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 ...

, Menéndez started his managerial career at

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 setup. After winning the 2004

Copa de Campeones Juvenil de Fútbol The Copa de Campeones de Juvenil is the tournament created by the RFEF to determine the overall youth champion of Spain. Since the 2014–15 season, the winner of this competition will qualify for the UEFA Youth League. Competition format The w ...

and being a runner-up in the

2005 Copa del Rey Juvenil The 2005 Copa del Rey Juvenil was the 55th staging of the Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol, tournament. The competition began on May 15, 2005 and ended on June 26, 2005 with the final. First round Quarterfinals Semifinals ...

, he moved to

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 ...

as a manager of the ''Juvenil'' squad. In July 2007, Menéndez was named

Celta de Vigo B Real Club Celta de Vigo Fortuna or simply Celta Fortuna is a Spanish football team based in Vigo, Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1927, it is the reserve team of Celta Vigo and competes in the . They play their ho ...

manager, with the side 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 ...

. On 13 May 2008, he was appointed at the helm of the main squad, replacing fired Antonio Lopez, and subsequently avoided relegation with the club. Menéndez subsequently returned to Celta's B-team and, in 2009, was appointed at another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in . It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Reserve teams in Spain play in the ...

also in the third tier. On 4 January 2011, he was relieved from his duties. On 5 March 2013, Menéndez was appointed manager of

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

as a replacement for dismissed

José Aurelio Gay José Aurelio Gay López (born 10 December 1965) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. He was associated with Zaragoza throughout his career, serving the club as both a player and manager. He amassed L ...

. However, he could not avoid the club's relegation to the third level, and subsequently left the club. In September 2013 Menéndez moved abroad for the first time in his career, being named

Buriram United F.C. Buriram United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Buriram. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the majority of their existence and competes in the Thai League 1. The club was founded in 1970 as P ...

manager in Thailand. With the side, he achieved immediate success, winning a domestic treble (

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup (), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic football. It was held between 1974 a ...

and

Thai League Cup The League Cup () is a association football, football cup competition in Thailand. It is also known as Hilux Revo Cup for sponsorship reasons. History Thai League Cup was started by Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor (Thailand) in the name of ...

) during his first season in charge. Menéndez resigned on 11 April 2014, after winning the

Toyota Premier Cup The Toyota Premier Cup was a single-game cup competition organized by the Toyota and Football Association of Thailand and was first played in 2011. It features the winners of the Thai League Cup and an invited team from the J1 League. The compet ...

and the

Kor Royal Cup Kor Royal Cup (), known as the Yai Cup () until 1963, was the highest level of club football competition which competed in the tournament in Thailand from 1916 to 1995. It was founded by the Football Association of Thailand in 1916. Department of ...

. On 28 December of that year, he was named as the new manager of

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side

Shaanxi Wuzhou Shaanxi Wuzhou Football Club () was a Chinese professional football club based in Xi'an, Shaanxi which last played in the China League One division. The club was originally formed on February 5, 2007, as Guangdong Sunray Cave F.C. and was once ow ...

, but left the side one month later due to bureaucratic problems. One year since his last job, Menéndez returned to Celta B in February 2016, where he signed a one-and-a-half-year contract as a replacement for the sacked Javier Torres Gomez. In August 2018, Menendez joined

East Bengal F.C. East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of the Indian football league system. The cl ...

of India's

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

for the upcoming season, as part of a spending spree by new owners Quess Corp. He led the club to second place, one point behind

Chennai City FC Chennai City Football Club was an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club predominantly competed in the I-League, which was then highest division of Indian football league system. They have also appeared in th ...

, and won both

Kolkata Derby The Kolkata Derby (locally known as "Boro Match") is the association football, football match in Kolkata, between Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC, East Bengal. The rivalry between these two teams is over 100 years old, ...

matches against

Mohun Bagan A.C. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest multi-sports clubs in Asia. The club has various sports departments like football, cricket, hockey ...

at the end of the campaign in March 2019 he extended his link by two years. He resigned on 21 January 2020, after taking just eight points from the first seven games of the season. Menéndez returned to his home country on 8 December 2020, after being appointed

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

's third manager of the season. Unable to take the club out of the relegation zone, he was sacked the following 4 May. On 22 January 2025, after nearly four years without a club, Menéndez was named manager of

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

in the second division. He left on 3 June, after suffering relegation.

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Buriram United *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: 2014

Individual awards

* I-League Coach of the Month (December 2019)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Menendez, Alejandro 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Gijón Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Real Madrid Castilla managers Racing de Santander managers Burgos CF managers Albacete Balompié managers Racing de Ferrol managers Alejandro Menendez I-League managers East Bengal Club managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate football managers in Thailand Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in India RC Celta Fortuna managers