Juan Carlos Unzué

Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano (born 22 April 1967) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Unzué and the second or maternal family name is Labiano.

Juan Carlos Unzué
Unzué in 2012
Personal information
Full name Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano[1]
Date of birth (1967-04-22) 22 April 1967[1]
Place of birth Pamplona, Spain[1]
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Berriozar
Colegio San Agustín
1982–1984 Osasuna
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1985 Osasuna B 2 (0)
1985–1988 Osasuna 15 (0)
1988–1990 Barcelona 5 (0)
1990–1997 Sevilla 222 (0)
1997–1999 Tenerife 35 (0)
1999–2001 Oviedo 0 (0)
2001–2003 Osasuna 41 (0)
Total 320 (0)
International career
1985 Spain U18 2 (0)
1985 Spain U19 1 (0)
1985 Spain U20 6 (0)
1985–1989 Spain U21 16 (0)
2000–2001 Basque Country 2 (0)
Managerial career
2003–2010 Barcelona (goalkeeping coach)
2010–2011 Numancia
2012 Racing Santander
2013–2014 Celta (assistant)
2014–2017 Barcelona (assistant)
2017–2018 Celta
2019 Girona
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player, he represented mostly Sevilla, for which he appeared in nearly 300 official games. He also spent two years with Barcelona,[2] and played 318 La Liga matches in 17 seasons.[3]

After retiring, Unzué went on to work extensively as a goalkeeper coach and a manager.

Playing career

Born in Pamplona, Unzué came through the ranks of hometown club CA Osasuna, but could not break into the first team. More of the same happened after he signed with La Liga giants FC Barcelona in 1988, as he was barred by Andoni Zubizarreta.[2]

Joining Sevilla FC for 1990–91, Unzué blossomed as a top-flight player, rarely missing a match in his first five years.[4] As the Andalusians were relegated at the end of the 1996–97 campaign, he moved to CD Tenerife for a further two seasons.[2]

After two years at Real Oviedo as backup to local Esteban, his input consisting of seven Copa del Rey appearances, Unzué returned to his first club in summer 2001, being the starter in his debut season and second choice in his second.[2] He retired from the game in June 2003 at age 36,[5] after having helped his team reach the semi-finals in the domestic cup.[6]

Coaching career

Unzué returned to the Camp Nou immediately after retiring, as the goalkeeping coach of the Frank Rijkaard-led side. After the Dutchman left, he retained his position under Pep Guardiola.[7]

On 17 June 2010, after five years with Barcelona, Unzué had his first head coach experience, joining Segunda División team CD Numancia.[8] One year later, he returned to his previous position, replacing Carles Busquets.[9][10]

On 21 June 2012, Unzué was presented as Racing de Santander manager.[11] On 13 August, however, he was dismissed following disagreements with the board of directors over the duration of his contract,[12] and became Luis Enrique's assistant at RC Celta de Vigo the following 13 June.[13]

Unzué returned to Barcelona on 15 July 2014, remaining as Luis Enrique's assistant.[14] On 28 May 2017, he returned to managerial duties after being appointed at the helm of Celta for two seasons.[15]

On 19 May 2018, after finishing in a disappointing 13th position, Unzué left Balaídos.[16] On 13 June 2019, after more than a year without a club, he signed with recently relegated side Girona FC,[17] being relieved of his duties on 21 October.[18]

Personal life

Unzué's son, Jesús (born 1993), is also a footballer and a goalkeeper. He was a member of the Barcelona Juvenil squad which won the league and cup in 2011, but was unable to make the breakthrough to the professional level and moved on to local clubs such as CF Gavà and CE Júpiter.[19]

Unzué's older son, Aitor, played as a midfielder in Tercera División (also with Gavà), and his niece Marta represented Barcelona.[2] A keen cyclist in his spare time, he came from a family which was heavily involved in cycle racing: his brother Eusebio managed the Movistar Team, whilst his nephew Enrique Sanz was a racing cyclist.[20]

In February 2020, Unzué was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. On 18 June, one day before the league game between Sevilla and Barcelona in Seville and three days ahead of the International ALS/MND day,[21] he made his condition public at a special press conference held at Camp Nou.[22]

Managerial statistics
As of 20 October 2019
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Numancia Spain 17 June 2010 23 June 2011 43 17 6 20 65 64 +1 039.53 [23]
Racing Santander Spain 21 June 2012 13 August 2012 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !— [24]
Celta Spain 28 May 2017 20 May 2018 42 15 11 16 63 67 −4 035.71 [25]
Girona Spain 13 June 2019 21 October 2019 12 5 1 6 15 16 −1 041.67 [26]
Total 97 37 18 42 143 147 −4 038.14 —

Honours

Barcelona

Spain U20

References
  1. "JUAN CARLOS UNZUé" (in Spanish). LaPreferente. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  2. "Juan Carlos Unzué. Un guardameta legendario" [Juan Carlos Unzué. A legendary goalkeeper] (in Spanish). Sevillismo en Vena. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  3. "Gorka Iraizoz batirá el récord de partidos en Primera de Unzué" [Gorka Iraizoz will break Unzué's record of games in Primera]. Noticias de Navarra (in Spanish). 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  4. "Los 10 mejores porteros de la historia del Sevilla" [The 10 best goalkeepers in Sevilla history]. ABC (in Spanish). 26 September 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  5. "Unzué ready to bow out". UEFA. 11 June 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  6. "New name on the cup". UEFA. 5 March 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  7. Hunter, Graham (3 November 2008). "Guardiola taking nothing for granted". UEFA. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. "Juan Carlos Unzué, nuevo entrenador del Numancia" [Juan Carlos Unzué, new coach of Numancia]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 17 June 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  9. "Carles Busquets, nuevo entrenador de porteros del Barcelona" [Carles Busquets, new Barcelona goalkeeper coach]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 18 July 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  10. "Unzué sustituye a Busquets como entrenador de porteros del Barça" [Unzué replaces Busquets as Barça's goalkeeper coach]. Marca (in Spanish). 23 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  11. "Juan Carlos Unzué, presentado como ilusionante entrenador del Racing" [Juan Carlos Unzué, presented as the exciting manager of Racing] (in Spanish). Racing Santander. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  12. "El Racing destituye a Unzué" [Racing dismiss Unzué]. Marca (in Spanish). 13 August 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  13. "Unzué será el segundo de Luis Enrique, que llegará con cuatro colaboradores" [Unzué will be the assistant of Luis Enrique, who will arrive with four co-workers]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 13 June 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  14. "FC Barcelona's 2014/15 coaching staff". FC Barcelona. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  15. "Juan Carlos Unzué, entrenador del RC Celta las dos próximas temporadas" [Juan Carlos Unzué, manager of RC Celta for the following two seasons] (in Spanish). Celta Vigo. 28 May 2017. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  16. "El Celta hace oficial el adiós de Unzué" [Celta make Unzué goodbye official]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 19 May 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  17. "El Girona FC escoge a Juan Carlos Unzué cómo nuevo entrenador" [Girona FC choose Juan Carlos Unzué as new manager] (in Spanish). Girona FC. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  18. Bernad Suelves, Marc (21 October 2019). "Oficial: Unzué, destituido" [Official: Unzué, dismissed]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  19. Pérez, Miguel (24 September 2014). "Jesús Unzué: "Mi padre es mi ídolo, pero Víctor Valdés mi referencia"" [Jesús Unzué: "Mi father is my idol, but my reference is Víctor Valdés"]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  20. López-Egea, Sergi (26 March 2017). "La Volta y la bici de Messi" [La Volta and Messi's bike]. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  21. "Global day". International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  22. "Former Barca assistant Unzue diagnosed with neurological disorder". Reuters. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  23. "Unzué: Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano: Matches 2010–11". BDFutbol. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  24. "Unzué: Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano: Matches 2012–13". BDFutbol. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  25. "Unzué: Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano: Matches 2017–18". BDFutbol. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  26. "Unzué: Juan Carlos Unzué Labiano: Matches 2019–20". BDFutbol. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  27. Díez, Óscar (1 November 2014). "España en los mundiales sub'20: URSS 1985" [Spain in the under’20 World Cups: USSR 1985] (in Spanish). Cuadernos de Fútbol. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.