Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal (born 6 December 1969) 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 ...

and former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, who is currently in charge of

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 ...

. During a 14-year senior career, he appeared in 134 matches 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 ...

over five seasons, totalling 23 goals for

Bilbao Athletic Athletic Club "B", officially Bilbao Athletic, is the reserve team of Athletic Club, a football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country in Spain. The team currently compete in the . Founded in 1964, the team holds ho ...

and

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

. He added 216 games and 61 goals in the

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 representation of several clubs. Garitano started working as a manager in 2003, as an assistant at

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. He went on to be in charge of four teams before being appointed at

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popu ...

in 2013, which he led to promotions to the second tier and

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 ...

. He was head coach at

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, ...

and Alavés, also in the top flight.

Playing career

Born in

Bergara Bergara (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of Spain. An Enlightened center of education operated by the '' Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del P ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, Basque Country, Garitano was an

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 ...

youth graduate. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 2 September 1989, starting and scoring the winner in a 2–1 away win against

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 ...

in the

championship. After four full seasons (one of them on loan at

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

), Garitano left the Lions and signed for

Cartagena FC Cartagena Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the autonomous community of Murcia. They were formerly called UD Cartagenera. Founded in 1940, they are focused on youth football, and hold home games at ''Ciudad Deport ...

. In 1994, he moved to

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

also in the third division, and returned to Eibar in January 1996. Garitano subsequently resumed his career in the third tier and

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 ...

, representing

CF Gavà Club de Futbol Gavà is a Spanish football team based in Gavà, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1922, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi La Bòbila'', with a capacity of 2,550 seats. History The club was founded ...

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 ...

Burgos CF Burgos Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The original Burgos CF (1936), Burgos CF was dissolved in 1983 after becoming Insolven ...

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

and

Benidorm CF Benidorm Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Benidorm, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1964 and dissolved in 2011 it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Guillermo Amor'', which had a capacity of 6,000. ...

. He retired in 2003 at the age of 33, mainly due to injuries.

Coaching career

Shortly after retiring, Garitano started working as an assistant at former club Alicante. In October 2008 he was named manager, replacing the fired

José Carlos Granero José Carlos Granero Granero (born 27 May 1963) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right-back or a central defender, currently a manager. He was known as a promotion specialist, winning promotion four times each to ...

. However, after only three matches, he was replaced by Nino Lema and moved to the backroom staff. Garitano was appointed

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

coach on 6 April 2010, after being previously working at the club as an assistant. He remained in charge until the end of the season, suffering relegation as last. On 7 July 2011, Garitano signed with third division side

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 ...

. The following campaign, also as manager, he worked with

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of the Valencian Community. Founded in 1928, it plays in , holding home games in '' Estadio El Collao'', with a capacity of 4,850 seats. Hi ...

, eventually losing promotion with both teams in the play-offs. On 28 June 2013, Garitano joined

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

still in the third tier. In his first season, he achieved promotion to division two after defeating

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in , holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, wit ...

in the play-offs; another promotion followed in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, after finishing second in the regular season. On 24 May 2018, Garitano was appointed at the helm of

. On 26 December of the same year, he was dismissed following a poor sequence of results. Garitano became manager of

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 ...

on 21 May 2019, taking over from

Abelardo Abelardo is a masculine given name. It is an Italian form of the name ''Abelard''. Sometimes used as a variant of Abel. As a given name * Abelardo Aguilar, Filipino doctor and researcher * Abelardo Aguilú Jr. (c. 1870–c. 1940), Puerto Rica ...

who had resigned a day earlier. He was fired on 5 July the next year, after a run of five consecutive defeats. On 27 January 2021, Garitano returned to Leganés, with the club back in the second division. He was sacked on 30 October, leaving the side in the relegation zone. On 29 May 2023, after more than a year without coaching, Garitano replaced Luis Miguel Ramis at fellow second-tier

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� ...

. He left in June 2024, after a 12th-place finish. On 8 April 2025, after more than 10 months without a club, Garitano replaced the sacked Rubén Albés at relegation threatened second–tier side

; he signed a contract valid until 30 June 2026.

Personal life

Garitano is not related to fellow manager Gaizka Garitano, who also had playing spells with Bilbao Athletic and Eibar.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * *
Stats at Cadistas1910

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garitano, Asier 1969 births Living people People from Bergara 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gipuzkoa Men's association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Athletic Bilbao B footballers SD Eibar footballers Cartagena FC players Cádiz CF players CF Gavà players Racing de Ferrol footballers Burgos CF footballers Alicante CF footballers Benidorm CF footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Alicante CF managers CD Castellón managers CD Alcoyano managers CD Leganés managers Real Sociedad managers Deportivo Alavés managers CD Tenerife managers Sporting de Gijón managers