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 ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He amassed

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

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. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

(four years) and Málaga (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 (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

, 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 estab ...

, 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, he joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

of the top division. After helping the Castile and León side finish eighth in his second season, with one of the best defensive records in the competition (38 matches, 34 goals), Hierro signed for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...

, but only lasted a few months in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, moving to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vi ...

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

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

– 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 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 types of sports. The spor ...

to his first team – now renamed

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

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

Antonio Tapia Antonio Tapia Flores (born 13 November 1959) is a Spanish football manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and sc ...

, 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 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 400 most popular ...

, 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, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, represented mainly

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

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 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