Luis García Martínez (20 August 1940 – 22 July 2024), commonly known as Luiche, was 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 ...

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 ...

and player who played as a

right-back 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 ...

Career

Born in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

and raised in

Villena Villena (; ) is a city in Spain, in the Valencian Community. It is located at the northwest part of Alicante (province), Alicante, and borders to the west with Castilla-La Mancha and Region of Murcia, Murcia, to the north with the province of Vale ...

, both in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, Luiche's professional inputs as a player consisted of 11

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 ...

matches with CF Calvo Sotelo in the 1965–66 season. During his playing career, he also represented Villena CF (two stints), CD Monóvar,

UD Oliva Unión Deportiva Oliva is a Spanish football team based in Valencia, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1946, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio El Morer''. Season to season ---- *1 season in Segunda División B *16 seasons in ...

, SD Ibiza,

CD Eldense Club Deportivo Eldense is a Spanish football team based in Elda, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1921, the club plays in the Segunda División, and holds home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Nuevo Pepico Amat'', which has a ...

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

and

CD Benicarló Club Deportivo Benicarló, commonly referred to as Benicarló, is a Spanish football team based in Benicarló in the autonomous Valencian Community. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Ángel "Pichi" Alonso'', with a ...

before retiring in 1974 at the age of 32. Immediately after retiring Luiche took up coaching, being in charge of local side UD Petrelense. After managing Santa Pola CF and AP Almansa, he first arrived in

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 ...

, in charge of a club he represented as a player, Eldense. In 1986, after spells 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 ...

Yeclano CF Yeclano Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football club based in Yecla, in the Region of Murcia. Founded in 1950 under the name of ''Club Deportivo Hispania de Yecla'', it was dissolved in 2004. After Yeclano's dissolution, another club in the city n ...

, Eldense,

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of the Valencian Community. Founded in 1928, it plays in , holding home games in '' Estadio El Collao'', with a capacity of 4,850 seats. Hi ...

and CF Nules, Luiche was appointed manager of Villarreal in

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 ...

. After achieving promotion with the latter in his first season and narrowly missing out promotion in his second, he took over

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

in the second division. Luiche achieved promotion 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 ...

with Castellón in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, and remained in charge of the club until April 1991; despite being replaced by

Lucien Muller Lucien Muller-Schmidt (born 3 September 1934) is a French former football player and manager who played as a midfielder. He made no appearances in the France national team at the FIFA World Cup 1966. Career Born in Bischwiller, Muller started ...

, the club still suffered relegation at the end of the campaign. In June 1991, he was named manager of

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

in the second level, but was sacked in October after only one win in six matches. Luiche then worked at

Cartagena FC Cartagena Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the autonomous community of Murcia. They were formerly called UD Cartagenera. Founded in 1940, they are focused on youth football, and hold home games at ''Ciudad Deport ...

before returning to Castellón in February 1994, but being unable to avoid the club's relegation from the second division. After suffering another drop at Alcoyano in 1995–96, he subsequently managed

Novelda CF Novelda Club de Fútbol is a football club based in Novelda, in the Valencian Community in Spain. The Spanish football team was founded in 1925. They play in , holding home games at ''Estadio La Magdalena'', which has a capacity of 5,000 seats. ...

also in division three.

Legacy

In May 2012, the city of Villena named their new stadium after Luiche.

Death

Luiche died on 23 July 2024, at the age of 82.Fallece Luiche, el entrenador del ascenso a Primera en 1989

Honours

Manager

Castellón *

: 1988–89

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luiche 1940 births 2024 deaths Footballers from Alicante Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Tercera División players CD Puertollano footballers CD Eldense footballers Villarreal CF players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Eldense managers Albacete Balompié managers CD Alcoyano managers Villarreal CF managers CD Castellón managers CE Sabadell FC managers Novelda CF managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen