Ernesto Valverde is a former Spanish footballer who played in the position of a flank midfielder and striker. After a gaming career, he took up coaching. He is currently the head coach of the Catalan Barcelona.
Achievements as a football player
During his football career he played for such Spanish clubs as Alaves, Sestao Sport, Espanyol, Barcelona, Atletico Bilbao and Mallorca. As part of the national team of Spain, he spent only one match in 1990. As a footballer, Ernesto Valverde as part of Barca became the champion of Spain in the 1989/90 season. Here, a season earlier, he won the Cup Winners Cup.
Achievements as a football coach
As a coach, Valverde was marked by a three-time triumph in the top division of Greece and a double victory in the national cup when he oversaw Olympiacos. Together with Athletic Bilbao, he won the 2015 Spanish Super Cup. With Barcelona, he already managed to become the champion of Spain, as well as win the Cup and the Super Bowl of the country.
Biography
Ernesto Valverde was born on February 9, 1964 in the city of Vyandar de la Vera, Spain.
In adult football, he made his debut in 1982 with performances for Alaves B, where he subsequently spent one season.
In the period from 1982 to 1988 he played in the clubs "Alaves", "Sestao Sport" and "Hispaniol". His game for the last team attracted the attention of the coaching staff of the Barcelona club, which he joined in 1988. He spent the next two seasons of his playing career for the Catalan club. As part of the “blue-garnet”, he entered the field quite irregularly, but was marked by stable performance, scoring an average of 0.36 goals for the championship game. During this time, he won the title of holder of the UEFA Cup.
In 1990, Spanish midfielder Ernesto Valverde signed a contract with the Athletic Bilbao club, which included spent the next six years of his career. Most of the time spent in the "Athletics", was the main player in the team.
He completed his professional playing career at the Mallorca club, for which he played for 1996-1997.
Career in Spain
In 1986, Valverde was involved in the youth team of Spain. At the youth level he played in one official match.
On October 10, 1990 he made his debut in official matches with the Spanish national team in a match against the Icelandic team. More in the national team was not called.
Football coach
Ernesto Valverde began his coaching career right after the end of his career as a player. In 1997, he received the position of coach of the youth team of the Athletic Bilbao club, and since 2000 he became an assistant coach of the main team.
In the season 2002/2003 became the main coach of the youth team of “Bilbao Athletic”, and from 2003 to 2005 he was the head coach of the first team.
Since 2006, coached Espanyol. The best achievement with this club is reaching the final of the UEFA Cup, in which the “parrots” were defeated by “Seville” in the penalty shootout.
In 2008, Ernesto moved to Greece, where he began work with the local Olympiacos. Here Ernesto Valverde became the highest paid coach in Greek football.
Since 2009, he again worked in Spain, was the head coach of the Villarreal club. He was dismissed from his post as head coach of Villarreal on January 31, 2010 due to the low performance of the team in the domestic championship.
On August 7, 2011 he again headed the coaching staff of the Olympiakos team, but a year later, in 2012, he returned to his homeland, becoming the head coach of Valencia. Ernesto failed to solve the problem of getting into the Champions League zone with Valencia, and in the summer of 2013 he left the club. In the same year, Valverde returned to the Athletics coaching bridge from Bilbao. Experts say that under Ernesto Valverde, the “red-white” had one of the best tactical defenses in the championship of Spain. The Basques played a very organized and coordinated defense game, showing an incredibly professional style of work on the field without a ball.
Barcelona coach
This ability to instruct the team noticed the leaders of the Catalan “Barcelona”. Ernesto Valverde soon received a proposal for a contract from the "blue garnet." On May 29, 2017, the Valverde contract with the Catalan Barcelona was announced. With his abilities and the best resources in terms of the skill of the players of the Catalan club, he must achieve great victories with the team this and next seasons.