Francisco López (footballer, born 1962)
Spanish footballer and manager
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francisco Javier López Alfaro (born 1 November 1962), known simply as Francisco as a player, is a Spanish former professional football central midfielder and manager.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Francisco Javier López Alfaro | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 1 November 1962 | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Osuna, Spain | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| Sevilla | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1980–1981 | Sevilla B | |||||||||||||
| 1981–1990 | Sevilla | 258 | (20) | |||||||||||
| 1990–1997 | Espanyol | 207 | (27) | |||||||||||
| Total | 465 | (47) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1981 | Spain U18 | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1981 | Spain U19 | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1981 | Spain U20 | 3 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1983–1984 | Spain U21 | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1983 | Spain amateur | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1982–1986 | Spain | 20 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–2000 | Espanyol (youth) | |||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Coria | |||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Jaén | |||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Extremadura | |||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Figueres | |||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Numancia | |||||||||||||
| 2006–2008 | Badalona | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | Eivissa-Ibiza | |||||||||||||
| 2009 | Atlético Baleares | |||||||||||||
| 2010 | Sevilla C | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Club career
Francisco was born in Osuna, Province of Seville, Andalusia. During his career he represented Sevilla FC, his hometown club, and RCD Espanyol, appearing in 436 La Liga matches.[1] He finished his first season in the competition with 20 games – all starts – and one goal, helping the former to finish seventh.
In the 1992–93 campaign, Francisco experienced top-flight relegation with the Catalans, but achieved promotion the following year always as an important player. He retired at the end of 1996–97, aged 34.[2]
López began working as a manager with Espanyol's youth sides, then proceeded to coach Coria CF, Real Jaén, CF Extremadura, UE Figueres[1] and top-tier CD Numancia.[3] He was dismissed after ten rounds in the 2004–05 season,[4] as the latter were eventually relegated. In July 2006, he joined Segunda División B team CF Badalona.[1]
Midway through the 2008–09 campaign, López was sacked as manager of CD Atlético Baleares, also in division three.[5] Subsequently, he was appointed at Sevilla FC C in the Tercera División.[6]
International career
Francisco earned 20 caps and scored one goal for Spain, and was selected for both the UEFA Euro 1984 and the 1986 FIFA World Cup tournaments.[7][1] His debut came on 27 October 1982, in a 1–0 win over Iceland in the Euro 1984 qualifiers.[8]
At the 1984 European Championships, Francisco made two appearances for the runners-up. One was them was in the 2–0 final loss against the hosts France, due to injury or suspension to three habitual starters.[9]
Career statistics
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 24 September 1986 | El Molinón, Gijón, Spain |  Greece | 2–0 | 3–1 | Friendly[10] |
Honours
Player
Espanyol
Spain
- UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1984[12]
Spain Under-21
- UEFA Under-21 European Championship runner-up: 1984[13]
See also
- List of La Liga players (400+ appearances)