Esteban Vigo

Esteban Vigo

Personal information
Full name	Esteban Vigo Benítez
Date of birth	(1955-01-17) 17 January 1955
Place of birth	Vélez-Málaga, Spain
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Santa María
	Veleño
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1972	Veleño
1972–1974	Atlético Malagueño
1974–1977	Málaga	53	(7)
1974–1975	→ Marbella (loan)
1977–1987	Barcelona	166	(18)
1987–1991	Málaga	109	(17)
International career
1979–1980	Spain U23	6	(1)
1976	Spain amateur	3	(0)
1981	Spain B	3	(0)
1981	Spain	3	(0)
Managerial career
1995–1996	Almería
2001–2003	Barcelona C
2003–2004	Xerez
2004	Córdoba
2005	Progresul Bucureşti (assistant)
2005	Universitatea Craiova (assistant)
2005–2006	Dinamo Bucureşti
2007	Lleida
2008–2009	Xerez
2009–2011	Hércules
2012	Almería
2012–2013	Xerez
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Vigo and the second or maternal family name is Benítez.

Esteban Vigo Benítez (born 17 January 1955) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and a current coach.

He played the vast majority of his professional career with CD Málaga and Barcelona, amassing La Liga totals of 240 games and 24 goals over the course of 13 seasons.

In 1995 Vigo became a manager, going on to coach several clubs.

Playing career

Known as Esteban during his playing days he was born in Vélez-Málaga, and had his first professional spell with local CD Málaga, achieving La Liga promotion in 1976. He subsequently attracted attention from country giants FC Barcelona where he was regularly used during ten years, although never an undisputed starter (tops 23 matches in the 1980–81 season); he also scored the winner in a 3–1 Copa del Rey defeat of Sporting de Gijón, also in that campaign.

Esteban returned to his first club in 1987, retiring four years later at the age of 36. He gained three caps for Spain during a two-month span in 1981, as the nation prepared for its FIFA World Cup, but did not make the final cut; he also represented the country at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Manager career

Taking up coaching afterwards, Vigo began in his native Andalusia with UD Almería, and continued to work mainly in the region, also having an abroad spell in Romania. In 2009 he led Xerez CD to its first top level promotion but, in July 2009, switched to another side in the category, moving to Hércules CF and achieving the same as runner-up, with the Alicante club returning to the top flight after 13 years.

On 21 March 2011 Vigo was sacked by Hércules, following a 0–4 home loss against CA Osasuna – it was the team's fourth consecutive defeat of the season, winning just one point out of 15 possible. He was named the new Almería manager on 4 April of the following year, replacing Lucas Alcaraz.

Honours

Player

Barcelona

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1978–79, 1981–82
• La Liga: 1984–85
• Copa del Rey: 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83
• Supercopa de España: 1983
• Copa de la Liga: 1982–83, 1985–86

Málaga

• Segunda División: 1987–88

Manager

Xerez

• Segunda División: 2008–09

External links

• Esteban Vigo profile at BDFutbol
• Esteban Vigo manager profile at BDFutbol
• National team data (Spanish)
• Esteban Vigo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Esteban Vigo – FIFA competition record