Lluís Cortés (born 10 August 1986) 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 is the current manager of Saudi Arabia women's national football team. His treble-winning 2020/21 season with Barcelona Femení is widely regarded as one of the greatest season's in women's club football history. Before becoming a coach, he played briefly for UE Lleida in the Spanish

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 ...

in 2004-05.

Coaching career

Cortés has extensive experience in the women's game, having managed Catalan U12, U16, and U18 teams, and the senior side from 2014 to 2018. Cortés joined Barcelona as an analyst in the summer of 2017, and until 2019 he was part of the assistant coaching team. On 8 January 2019, he replaced Fran Sánchez as new head coach. With Cortés as manager, the club reached its first Women's Champions League final in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, but failed to win it, losing to

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. A year later in 2020, Barcelona won the Spanish Primera División and

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 ...

.Real Sociedad women bemoan gulf in class after 10-1 thrashing by Barcelona
The Guardian, 9 February 2020 Barcelona completed the 2019-20 Spanish domestic double after winning 2019-20 Copa de la Reina in February 2021. Barcelona successfully defended the Primera División title after winning their first 26 games. He led Barcelona to the Women's Champions League final in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, two years after their defeat against Lyon. Barcelona emerged victorious, defeating Chelsea 4–0 to win their first Women's Champions League title. In May 2021, Barcelona Femení completed their first treble after winning 2020-21 Copa de la Reina against Levante at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque. Despite winning the historic treble, reports emerged that several Barcelona Femení players had requested his sacking, and he decided to resign from his role as Barcelona Femení’s head coach after two years in charge. On 14 November, the president of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelko announced the appointment of Cortés as the head coach of the Ukraine national women's team. On 11 December 2023, Cortés was appointed manager of Saudi Arabia women's national football team, signing a contract until 2027.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

FC Barcelona Femení * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2020–21; runner-up 2018–19 * Primera División: 2019–20, 2020–21 * Copa de la Reina:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* Copa Catalunya Femenina: 2019 Individual * UEFA Women's Coach of the Year: 2020–21 * IFFHS Women's World's Best Club Coach: 2021

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cortes, Lluis 1986 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Lleida Sportspeople from Lleida Men's association football midfielders Spanish men's footballers UE Lleida players Segunda División players Spanish football managers FC Barcelona Femení managers Liga F managers Ukraine women's national football team managers Saudi Arabia women's national football team managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Spanish sportsmen