José Ramón Alexanko Ventosa (; born 19 May 1956), also known as Alexanko or Alesanco, is a Spanish retired

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 ...

player and manager, who later served as director of football of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. During his career the

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

played with success for both

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 ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, winning several accolades for the latter – 16 in total – and appearing in 367

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 ...

games over the course of 17 seasons (34 goals). A Spanish international on more than 30 occasions, Alexanko represented the nation in one

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 ...

and one European Championship.

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Barakaldo Barakaldo (; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country in Spain. Located on the Left Bank (Biscay), Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is pa ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Alexanko joined

's youth system in 1972, then served an unassuming loan with

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

neighbours Alavés – second division – and returned subsequently. He made his

debut on 12 December 1976, in a 5–2 home win against Espanyol (30 minutes played). An undisputed starter from his second season onwards, Alexanko's highlights at Athletic were winning two runners-up medals, one in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

and one in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, both in 1977. Among his teammates were veterans José Ángel Iribar and Javier Irureta.

Barcelona

In 1980, Alexanko signed for

, paving the way for a number of fellow

players including José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, Julio Salinas and Andoni Zubizarreta. With him as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

they formed the backbone of the legendary ''Dream Team'', which won four consecutive league championships and the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

for the first time in the club's history. Among his most memorable moments during his 13 seasons at the Catalan side, Alexanko scored the winning goal as Barcelona beat

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, ...

1–0 in the 1988 domestic cup final, also playing about ten minutes in the 1992 European Cup Final. Six years earlier he had his

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

attempt saved by Steaua București's

Helmut Duckadam Helmut Duckadam (, sometimes spelled Helmuth; 1 April 1959 – 2 December 2024) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Duckadam was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his performance in the 1986 European Cup final, ...

, as Barça lost the 1986 edition 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, ...

International career

Alexanko made his debut for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 15 November 1978, playing in the 1–0 home win against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

qualifiers. He represented the nation at both Euro 1980 and the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

, retiring from the international scene at only 26 after the second group stage draw against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the latter competition, with a total of 34

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

; he also appeared in one game for the Euskadi XI, in 1979.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player in 1993, Alexanko started a coaching career as he managed Romanian sides Universitatea Craiova and Naţional București. In the middle of 2000, he returned to Barcelona, assisting head coach Carles Rexach (his teammate in the forward's last season as a player). In July 2005, Alexanko was named the club's youth system coordinator. In August 2015, Alexanko held the position of director of the Valencia Academy. On 7 January 2017, he became the interim

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

in place of Jesús García Pitarch. In February, he was appointed permanently with a contract until 2019, with

Vicente Rodríguez Vicente Rodríguez Guillén (; born 16 July 1981), known simply as Vicente, nicknamed ''El puñal de Benicalap'' (''The dagger of Benicalap''), is a Spanish former professional footballer. A left winger with outstanding technique, pace and s ...

as technical secretary. Later that year, in September, he was fired from his position at Valencia. In January 2018, he became a commentator for beIN Sports until the end of the 2017–18 La Liga season. In September 2019, Alexanko was appointed academy and scouting director at South African club

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

. In November 2020, he left his position at Sundowns following the departure of coach Pitso Mosimane. In March 2021, he returned to his position as youth football director at Barcelona, after

Joan Laporta Joan Laporta i Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish businessman, politician, and current president of FC Barcelona. Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a nu ...

's victory in the

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

Controversy

Alexanko was accused of raping a

maid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...

in a hotel at Papendal, the Netherlands, in 1988. Eventually, all of the charges were dropped.

Honours

Player

Athletic Bilbao *

runner-up: 1976–77 *

runner-up: 1976–77 Barcelona *

: 1984–85, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93 *

: 1980–81, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1989–90 * Copa de la Liga: 1982–83, 1985–86 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

: 1991–92 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1981–82, 1988–89 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

Manager

Universitatea Craiova *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

runner-up: 1997–98

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexanko, Jose Ramon 1956 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barakaldo Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players CD Laudio players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Deportivo Alavés players FC Barcelona players UEFA Champions League–winning players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1980 players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Spanish football managers FC Progresul București managers FC U Craiova 1948 managers Basque Country men's international footballers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen