Manuel "Manolo" Ruiz Hierro (born 8 February 1962) is a Spanish former professional

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

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 ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 175 matches and seven goals over ten seasons, representing mainly

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

(four years) and

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

(three).

Playing career

Born in

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez- ...

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 ...

, Hierro started playing professionally with local

CD Málaga Club Deportivo Málaga was a Spanish football club based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It played twenty seasons in La Liga, before being dissolved in 1992. History Origins The first football club in Málaga was establ ...

, but only totalled 26 games for the first team in his first five seasons, also suffering

relegation in the last one. After one more year in the

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 ...

, he joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

of the top division. After helping the

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

side finish eighth in his second season, with one of the best defensive records in the competition (38 matches, 34 goals), Hierro signed for

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 ...

, but only lasted a few months in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, moving to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on loan. Suffering top-flight relegation with the ''Verdiblancos'', he subsequently joined

– also in the top tier and on loan – and retired from football at 32, having amassed professional totals of 206 games and 11 goals.

Post-retirement

After retiring as a player, Hierro served as

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 ...

to his first team – now renamed

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

– for several seasons. In early 2006, following the dismissal of

Antonio Tapia Antonio Tapia Flores (born 13 November 1959) is a Spanish football manager. Career Born in Baena, Córdoba, Tapia had an unassuming career as a footballer, only representing Atlético Malagueño and amateurs UD Fuengirola. Still not in his ...

, he was named head coach, as the club was eventually relegated from the first division and he was relieved of his duties as both director and manager.

Personal life

Hierro was the second of three siblings who were all footballers, and defenders. His older brother,

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...

, played almost exclusively for Málaga, while the youngest,

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

, represented mainly

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 ...

and scored more than 20 goals for the Spain national team. From 1980 to 1986 Manuel and Antonio played together in Málaga, and Fernando was Manuel's teammate at Valladolid for one season.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hierro, Manolo 1962 births Living people People from Vélez-Málaga 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Málaga Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Malagueño players CD Málaga footballers Real Valladolid players FC Barcelona players Real Betis players CD Tenerife players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División B managers Málaga CF managers CD Puertollano managers