Santiago Santos Muñoz (born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, on 11 October 1961) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

former rugby union player and coach. He was the coach of the

Spain national rugby union team The Spain national rugby union team, nicknamed Los Leones (''The Lions''), is administered by the Spanish Rugby Federation. The team competes in the annual European Nations Cup (rugby union), European Nations Cup, the highest European rugby cha ...

from 2013 to 2023.

Playing career

Santos made his debut for Real Canoe N.C. at the age of 18 years. In 1984, many players left the club and went to Liceo Francés, where he played for the rest of his career, initially in the second division, and finally in the top category. That Liceo team finished runner-up in the 1990–91 and 1992-93 seasons, and runner-up in 1988-89 Copa del Rey. Santos arrived to

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

almost by chance. His life brought him to

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 ...

to teach at Instituto Español in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for six years. That adventure in London brought him to retire in the amateur teams of the professional London side

Wasps RFC Wasps Rugby Football Club was a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby, until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022, the club entered administration, resulting in ...

International career

As a Spanish international, he debuted at the age of 18, in the test match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

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, on 9 June 1980 and his last cap was at the age of 30, during the test match 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 ...

, on 4 April 1992, earning 45 caps for Spain in aggregate.

Coaching career

After his retirement as player, he became a coach. Since then, great clubs from Madrid such as Liceo Francés, MARU (currently

Alcobendas Rugby Club Alcobendas Rugby is a Spanish rugby team based in Alcobendas, Spain. History The club was established in 2003 by local fans from Alcobendas, and played its first ever season in División de Honor that year, occupying the place formally occup ...

) and Complutense Cisneros were some of the teams he coached until his appointment for the Spanish national side, replacing the New Zealander Bryce Bevin. His highest goal is to bring Spain in a

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 ...

which the national team did not made to it since 1999. Despite his work as national coach, he is still a highly qualified physical education teacher at the IES Antonio Machado.

Personal life

Although born in

, Santos resides in

. He is cousin of the former

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 ...

football player Emilio Butragueño.

References

External links

Santiago Santos international stats
at

ESPN Scrum ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communica ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Santiago 1961 births Rugby union players from Madrid Spanish rugby union players Spanish rugby union coaches Rugby union hookers Living people Spanish expatriates in England Spain international rugby union players