Sergio Francisco Ramos (born 19 March 1979), known as Sergio Francisco, 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 striker, currently

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 ...

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 ...

club

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. He spent the vast majority of his 15-year senior career in the lower leagues, amassing

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 ...

totals of 246 games and 71 goals for four teams and representing mainly

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

. In

, he made four appearances for

. Sergio Francisco became a manager after retiring, notably working with the reserve sides of Real Sociedad before arriving in the first team in 2025.

Playing career

Born in

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, Basque Country, Sergio Francisco was a

youth graduate. After making his senior debut with the reserves in the

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 ...

, he made his first appearance with the main squad on 2 February 1999, coming on as a late substitute for scorer Igor Cvitanović in a 1–0 away win against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. Troubled by injuries during his spell at the Anoeta Stadium, Sergio Francisco's

bow occurred on 17 September 2000 as he replaced

Edgaras Jankauskas Edgaras Jankauskas (born 12 March 1975) is a Lithuanian football manager and former professional player. He is the manager of the Lithuania national team. A powerful forward during his playing career, Jankauskas excelled in the physical side ...

for the final 21 minutes of the 4–1 loss at

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

. In January 2001, he was loaned to

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 ...

club

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

until June. Sergio Francisco subsequently alternated between the second tier and

, representing

Onda Onda or Ondas may refer to: Places * Onda, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in Washington County * Onda, Castellón, a municipality of province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain * Onda, Bankura, a village in Bankura district, West Ben ...

, Zamora, Lorca Deportiva and

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

. On 18 June 2005, he scored two of his three goals as a professional in a 4–4 home draw with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

. In August 2005, after being deemed surplus to requirements by Gimnàstic, Sergio Francisco returned to Unión. He was part of the squad that promoted to the second division in the 2008–09 season but contributed rarely to this feat due to an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

. On 2 February 2011, Sergio Francisco signed with fourth-division

Sestao Sestao is a town and municipality of 27,296 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is in the left bank of the Estuary of Bilbao and part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. Se ...

. On 28 June, he equalised a 2–2 draw against Montañesa which assured promotion in the play-offs. Sergio Francisco retired in June 2012 aged 33, his last club being amateurs Laudio.

Coaching career

Real Unión

Shortly after retiring, Sergio Francisco returned to Real Unión as assistant coach to Imanol Idiakez. On 12 July 2013, with the club facing severe financial problems, he was named manager. On 5 June 2014, after leading the side to the 15th place in division three, Sergio Francisco was fired.

Real Sociedad

Reserve teams

Sergio Francisco went back to Real Sociedad in summer 2017, taking over their C team in the fourth division. He achieved promotion to the newly created Segunda División RFEF at the end of the 2020–21 campaign. On 31 May 2022, Sergio Francisco was named manager of Real's reserves, recently relegated to Primera Federación, in place of the departed

Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid. He is regarded as o ...

. On 18 November, his contract was renewed until 2025. On 18 February 2025, Sergio Francisco further extended his link with ''Sanse'' until 2028.

First team

On 25 April 2025, Sergio Francisco was announced as longtime incumbent Imanol Alguacil's replacement at the helm of the first team, with the deal being made effective at the start of 2025–26. He resigned at the B side three days later, to "focus exclusively on planning the next season with the club's football department".

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Francisco, Sergio 1979 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Irun Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Unión footballers Zamora CF footballers Lorca Deportiva CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Sestao River Club footballers CD Laudio players Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Primera Federación managers Segunda Federación managers Real Unión managers Real Sociedad B managers Real Sociedad managers