Francisco "Paco" Gallardo León (born 13 January 1980) is a Spanish former professional

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 ...

, currently a

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 ...

Playing career

Sevilla

Born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, and a product of hometown club

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

's youth system, Gallardo made his first-team debut aged 20, being instrumental in their

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

return to

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 ...

and proceeding to have a further two solid seasons with the main squad. In November of that year, he was fined and suspended by the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

for violating standards of "sporting dignity and decorum" after he congratulated teammate

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in J ...

, who had just scored, by bending down and biting on his penis. After a relatively successful loan at

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

, helping the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

side to

retain RETAIN is a mainframe based Database management system, database system, accessed via IBM 3270 terminals (or more likely, emulators), used internally within IBM providing service support to IBM field personnel and customers. The acronym RETAIN sta ...

their newly acquired top-division status, Gallardo's career would be very irregular: he served two unassuming loans in early 2006, starting with

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

from Portugal, then moved in the 2006–07 campaign to

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

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 ...

, still on contract to Sevilla.

Murcia

Gallardo signed on a permanent basis prior to the start of 2007–08, but could only appear in ten league matches in an eventual relegation from the top flight. In the following season he was ousted from the squad alongside

José María Movilla José María Movilla Cubero (born 8 February 1975) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder. He played 299 La Liga matches in ten seasons, representing mainly Zaragoza and retiring at 39. Club care ...

by manager

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

, and spent several months without a team, being reinstated in March 2009 after the coach's dismissal; he was finally released in June.

Later years

On 12 November 2009, Gallardo joined another club in the second tier,

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

, after a successful week's trial. He finished his career at the age of 34, after three years in Hungary with two teams.

Coaching career

Gallardo returned to the

Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium (; ) is a association football, football stadium in Seville, Spain. It is the home stadium of Sevilla Fútbol Club, Sevilla, and is named after the club's former president, Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (1900–195 ...

in the summer of 2015, first being in charge of the academy and later being appointed at the helm of the amateur team in 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 ...

, with

Carlos Marchena Carlos Marchena López (; born 31 July 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Mainly a central defender with an aggressive approach, he also played as a defensive midfielder. Most of his career (nine years) was spent at Valencia, wh ...

as his assistant. For three seasons, he then managed

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC, Sevilla. It plays in and holds home games at the Ciu ...

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 ...

(renamed

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 ...

for the 2021–22 season). In November 2022, Gallardo joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

as first-team coach in

Jesse Marsch Jesse Alan Marsch ( ; born November 8, 1973) is an American professional association football, soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada men's national team. Marsch played 14 seasons ...

's staff. Following the latter's dismissal, he was named co- interim alongside

Chris Armas Christopher Armas (born August 27, 1972) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the head coach of Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. Youth and college Born in The Bronx, New York City, Armas is of Puerto R ...

and Michael Skubala; shortly after, he was appointed their under-21 manager.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Sevilla *

: 2000–01

Managerial

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

runner-up:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallardo, Paco 1980 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Seville Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Getafe CF footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Murcia CF players SD Huesca footballers Primeira Liga players Vitória S.C. players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Diósgyőri VTK players Puskás Akadémia FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Primera Federación managers Sevilla Atlético managers Sevilla FC non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England