José 'Pepe' Murcia González (born 3 December 1964) is a Spanish former

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

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 ...

, 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 ...

Career

Born in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

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 ...

, Murcia never played in higher than

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 ...

, and retired in 1992 at the age of only 27 due to injury. He coached several local youth teams in his early years, including

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

. After a successful spell with the reserves (two consecutive promotions all the way to

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 ...

), he was one of four managers for the main squad in the 2001–02 season, achieving four wins, two draws and two losses during his eight games in charge as they eventually retained their

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 ...

status. Murcia then plied his trade in the third division, leading

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It represent ...

to the league championship in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

, albeit with no playoff promotion. On 9 January 2006, following a 0–0

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 ...

home draw against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, he was appointed the ''Colchoneros first team's manager, replacing the dismissed

Carlos Bianchi Carlos Bianchi (born 26 April 1949), nicknamed ''El Virrey'' (''The Viceroy''), is an Argentine former football player and manager. A prolific goalscorer, although he had a bright career as a forward in Argentina and France, Bianchi is best kno ...

; they ranked 12th at that time, going on to finish the campaign in tenth position. Murcia spent the following four years in the second tier with as many clubs, not managing to finish one single season but with none of the teams eventually losing their league status. On 30 November 2009, after a 2–3 home defeat to

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

, he was fired at

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 ...

due to negative results, with the

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Province of Albacete, Albacete, Province of Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real, Province of Cuenca, Cuenca, Province of Guadalajar ...

side in 16th position at that time– eventually ending 15th. On 9 August 2011, Murcia signed a two-year contract with Romania's FC Brașov, but resigned at the

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club after three matches due to family reasons. In June 2014, after nearly three years out of football, he was appointed at

PFC Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was ...

in Bulgaria. Murcia was sacked on 4 August 2014, due to poor results. In November 2016, whilst working out on his own, the

FC Legirus Inter FC Legirus Inter was an association football club based in Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populou ...

manager suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, slipping into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

but eventually recovering. In June 2017, Murcia was hired by

Al Shahaniya SC Al Shahaniya Sports Club (), is a Qatari sports club based in Al-Shahaniya, a town 20 km from the capital Doha. Founded in 1998, the most prominent team of the club is the football team which plays in the Qatari Stars League. The club's hom ...

, newly relegated to the

Qatari Second Division The Qatari Second Division (), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the two-tier football league competition in Qatar. Contested by 8 teams, it operates on a system of p ...

. He won promotion to the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

with an unbeaten first season, and then came seventh in his second, earning him a nomination for Manager of the Year alongside

Jesualdo Ferreira Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira (born 24 May 1946) is a Portuguese Manager (association football), football manager who last managed Zamalek SC, Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League. In a managerial career of over forty years, he was in charge of all ...

of champions

Al Sadd SC Al Sadd Sports Club () is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Sadd district of the capital city Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the top level of Qatari football, the Qatar Stars Leagu ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Atlético Madrid B *

: 2003–04 Al Shahaniya *

: 2017–18

References

External links

* *
Levski official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murcia, Jose 1964 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Córdoba, Spain Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Jaén footballers Córdoba CF players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Córdoba CF B managers Córdoba CF managers FC Cartagena managers Atlético Madrid B managers Atlético Madrid managers Xerez CD managers CD Castellón managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Albacete Balompié managers UD Salamanca managers Liga I managers FC Brașov (1936) managers PFC Levski Sofia managers Qatar Stars League managers Al-Shahania Sports Club managers Al-Wakrah SC managers Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 managers CS Sfaxien managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Romania Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria Expatriate football managers in Finland Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Finland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia