Ignacio Quereda Laviña (born 24 July 1950) 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 ...

coach who managed the

Spain women's national football team The Spain women's national football team, officially known as the Spain national football team (), has represented Spain in international Women's association football, women's football competitions since 1980. It is governed by the Royal Spanis ...

between 1988 and 2015.

Playing career

Born in Madrid, Quereda was raised in

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

where his family moved when he was two weeks old. He was a right–winger in

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 ...

's youth teams and represented victorious Spain teams in the

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

editions of the

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. After obtaining his coaching certificate, he was Spain's assistant coach at the 1979 World University Games and spent a period in charge of

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 ...

club

CD Móstoles Club Deportivo Móstoles was a Spanish football team from Móstoles, a city in the southern metropolitan area of Madrid. Founded in 1955 and dissolved in 2012 it played its last season in Tercera División, holding home matches at '' Estadio El ...

Coaching career

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 ...

(RFEF) appointed Quereda as women's national team coach in 1988, a position he has held until 2015, which makes him one of the longest serving football coaches of all time. This has led to criticisms to the RFEF of indifference for the women's national team. Under his management the Spanish team has qualified for the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

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 ...

. In 2014, the team qualified for their first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

after defeating Romania 2–0 in qualifiers. He also led the national Under-19 squad to a win in the

2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2004 Final Tournament was held in Finland between 28 July – 8 August 2004. Players born after 1 January 1985 were eligible to participate in this competition. Spain won the cup after defeating Germany 2–1 in ...

. In May 2011

Laura del Río Laura del Río García (born 5 February 1982) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. She last managed men's club Flat Earth FC. She used to play for Bristol Academy in England's FA WSL. Prior to that, she p ...

, a striker with 40 goals in 39 caps for Spain, said that she would never play for the national team again while Quereda was still in charge. According to del Río, many other players had also refused to play for Quereda. As an RFEF official, in 2009, he launched a controversial reform of the Superliga Femenina, expanding it from 16 to 24 teams in a two-stage three-group format, despite the opposition of most teams and players in the championship. The reform was cancelled two years later. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Quereda guided Spain to their first ever

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

. After Spain's poor performance and early elimination from the tournament in Canada, the entire 23-player squad publicly called for him to be sacked. His resignation was confirmed after 139 matches (38.13% win) on 30 July 2015.

References

Living people Spanish football managers 1950 births Spain women's national football team managers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Badajoz Real Madrid CF players Men's association football wingers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen {{Spain-footy-midfielder-stub