Gonzalo Manuel García García (born 13 October 1983), sometimes known simply as Gonzalo García or Gonzalo, is a professional football manager and former player.
 Gonzalo with Heerenveen in 2007 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gonzalo Manuel García García | ||
| Date of birth | 13 October 1983 | ||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1994 | La Rinconada | ||
| 1994–1998 | Defensor | ||
| 1998–2001 | Compostela | ||
| 2001–2002 | Real Madrid | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2003 | Real Madrid C | ||
| 2003 | Alcorcón | 1 | (0) |
| 2004 | Mérida | 5 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Palencia | 19 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | AGOVV | 35 | (16) |
| 2006–2008 | Heerenveen | 14 | (1) |
| 2008 | → Heracles (loan) | 16 | (3) |
| 2008–2011 | Groningen | 49 | (7) |
| 2010 | → VVV (loan) | 14 | (3) |
| 2011–2012 | AEK Larnaca | 23 | (12) |
| 2012–2014 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 27 | (4) |
| 2013–2014 | → Anorthosis (loan) | 19 | (9) |
| 2014–2016 | Anorthosis | 15 | (1) |
| 2015–2016 | → Heracles (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | Compostela | 22 | (7) |
| Total | 267 | (64) | |
| International career | |||
| 2001 | Spain U17 | 3 | (1) |
| 2002 | Spain U19 | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017–2018 | Esbjerg (assistant) | ||
| 2018–2019 | Twente (assistant) | ||
| 2019–2020 | Twente | ||
| 2021–2023 | Istra 1961 | ||
| 2024 | Arouca | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Born in Uruguay, Gonzalo moved to Spain at the age of 13 and joined Real Madrid as a teenager, but never made it past the third team or played any higher than Segunda División B in Spain, spending most of his career in the Dutch Eredivisie as well as in Cyprus and Israel.
Early life
editBorn in Montevideo, Uruguay, Gonzalo moved to Spain at the age of 13, to his grandparents' native Galicia. He was nicknamed after Uruguay and Inter Milan player Álvaro Recoba, who played in the same position.[1]
He would eventually represent the Spain national under-17 team, at the same time as Andrés Iniesta, José Antonio Reyes and Fernando Torres. His performances attracted suitors such as A.C. Milan – who sent Franco Baresi to his home in the village of Os Tilos, Teo – but his cash-strapped club SD Compostela had already accepted an offer of 50 million pesetas (€300,000) from Real Madrid, a record for the capital team's youth teams.[2]
Playing career
editGonzalo could never move past Real Madrid's third team as a senior. In his country of adoption he never played in higher than the third division, also representing AD Alcorcón, Mérida UD[3] and CF Palencia.
In 2005, Gonzalo moved to the Netherlands, first with AGOVV Apeldoorn, being one of the leading top scorers in the second level season under manager Stanley Menzo. He immediately switched to the Eredivisie after signing with SC Heerenveen, playing his first match in the competition on 10 February 2007 against Vitesse Arnhem[4] but appearing rarely over the course of two seasons, finishing 2007–08 on loan to Heracles Almelo and helping the club narrowly avoid relegation.
Subsequently, Gonzalo signed with FC Groningen, penning a four-year deal with the Euroborg club.[5] First-choice in his debut campaign – 28 matches, four goals – he was rarely played in 2009–10, being again loaned in the January transfer window, now to VVV-Venlo.[6]
In June 2011, Gonzalo moved to Cyprus with AEK Larnaca FC.[7] On the 14th, in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, he scored a hat-trick in an 8–0 away routing of Floriana FC.[8]
In June 2012, Gonzalo signed with Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv FC. He settled rarely in the following years, but did spend two seasons with Cypriot First Division club Anorthosis Famagusta FC, the first on loan.
Gonzalo returned to Dutch football on 4 August 2015, after agreeing to a contract at Heracles.[1] He retired at the age of 34, following a spell with former youth club Compostela.[9]
Coaching career
editGarcía started working as a manager immediately after retiring, acting as assistant at Esbjerg fB of the Danish 1st Division.[10] On 16 May 2019, after one year in the same capacity at FC Twente, he was appointed their head coach.[11] His contract was not renewed after it expired following the 2019–20 season.[12]
On 16 June 2021, García was appointed head coach of Croatian Prva HNL side NK Istra 1961.[13] After achieving 9th place in his first season, he finished 5th in 2022–23, missing out on Europe by one place; his team won against GNK Dinamo Zagreb, HNK Hajduk Split and local rivals HNK Rijeka.[14] He then allowed his contract to expire, and was replaced by Mislav Karoglan.[15]
In May 2024, García was introduced as the head coach of Portuguese club Arouca, with a contract for one season and an option to extend for another.[16]
Managerial statistics
edit- As of match played 27 May 2023
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Twente | 
|
1 July 2019 | 30 June 2020 | 28 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 38 | 51 | −13 | 28.57 |
| Istra 1961 | 
|
1 July 2021 | June 2023 | 76 | 21 | 22 | 33 | 89 | 112 | −23 | 27.63 |
| Total | 104 | 29 | 28 | 47 | 127 | 163 | −36 | 27.88 | |||
Honours
editPlayer
editMaccabi Tel Aviv
References
edit- ^ a b Balado, Fran (4 August 2015). "El gallego Gonzalo García "Recoba" retorna al fútbol holandés" [Galicia's own Gonzalo García "Recoba" returns to Dutch football]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ Balado, Fran (3 July 2011). "El día que Baresi vino en busca de un joven talento a Santiago" [The day Baresi came to Santiago searching for a young talent]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ^ "El Mérida refuerza su juego de ataque con Arenaza y Recoba" [Mérida bolster their attacking game with Arenazaz and Recoba]. El Periódico Extremadura (in Spanish). 31 January 2004. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
- ^ "Missen kansen breekt Heerenveen op" [Missed chances do Heerenveen in] (in Dutch). SC Heerenveen. 10 February 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ^ "FC Groningen haalt Gonzalo Garcia-Garcia binnen". www.soccernews.nl. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- ^ "Gonzalo García volgt Honda op bij VVV-Venlo" [Gonzalo García succeeds Honda at VVV-Venlo] (in Dutch). Voetbal International. 9 January 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ Balado, Fran; Antelo, Iván (27 June 2011). "Más talento gallego para Chipre" [More Galician talent for Cyprus]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ "Floriana 0–8 AEK Larnaca". UEFA. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Gonzalo García 'Recoba' ya es jugador de la SD Compostela" [Gonzalo García 'Recoba' is already a SD Compostela player] (in Spanish). SD Compostela. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
- ^ Dehn, Anders (1 June 2018). "Efter opsigelse fra sportsdirektør: Esbjerg mister også den anden assistent" [After sporting director dismissal: Esbjerg also lose the other assistant] (in Danish). Tipsbladet. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ "FC Twente kiest voor assistent García García als nieuwe trainer" [FC Twente choose assistant García García as new manager]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
- ^ "FC Twente niet verder met Garcia als hoofdcoach" (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagblad. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ "PRESS: Gonzalo Garcia novi je trener Istre 1961" [PRESS: Gonzalo Garcia is the new coach of Istra 1961] (Press release) (in Croatian). NK Istra 1961. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Martín, Carlos (7 June 2023). "Gonzalo García: "Dar el salto al Real Madrid fue como entrar en un mundo totalmente nuevo"" [Gonzalo García: "Taking the leap to Real Madrid was like entering a totally new world"]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 June 2023.
- ^ "Istra 1961, Mislav Karoglan nuevo entrenador. Sucede en el cargo a Gonzalo García" [Istra 1961, Mislav Karoglan new manager. Succeeds Gonzalo García in the role] (in Spanish). Todo Mercado Web. 11 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
- ^ "Gonzalo García é o sucessor de Daniel Sousa no comando do Arouca" [Gonzalo García is the successor of Daniel Sousa as the head coach of Arouca.] (in Portuguese). O Jogo. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ Gómez, Pablo (27 April 2013). "La cruzada de Recoba" [Recoba's crusade]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
External links
edit
- Gonzalo García at BDFutbol
- Gonzalo García at LaPreferente.com (in Spanish)
- Stats at Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- Gonzalo García at Soccerway