Javier Cabrera (football manager)
Spanish football manager (born 1984)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Javier Fernández Cabrera Martín Peñato (born 4 October 1984) is a Spanish professional football manager who last coached the Bangladesh national football team.[1][2]
|
Cabrera as Bangladesh manager in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Javier Fernández Cabrera Martín Peñato | ||
| Date of birth | 4 October 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Madrid, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 2013–2015 | Sporting Goa (assistant) | ||
| 2016–2017 | Rayo Majadahonda | ||
| 2018-2020 | Barcelona Academy USA | ||
| 2020–2022 | Deportivo Alavés U19 | ||
| 2022–2025 | Bangladesh | ||
| 2022–2026 | Bangladesh U23 | ||
Cabrera is a UEFA Pro License coach with a wide range of experience in both professional and grassroots football projects.[3][4] He also has a reputation as a football analyst [5] and has experience of working as an expert analyst for Opta Sports.
Cabrera has a bachelor's degree in football as well as advertising and marketing.[6][7][8][9]
Coaching career
Cabrera worked as a technical director and as an assistant coach for Indian side Sporting Clube de Goa, from 2013 to 2015.[citation needed] In 2016, he was appointed as the manager for Spanish club Rayo Majadahonda and spent a year coaching the team, before departing in 2017.[10] Moreover, he was the head coach of Barcelona Academy in North Carolina for 4 months in 2018.[11] From 2018, Cabrera acted as the Elite Academy coach of La Liga side Deportivo Alavés for 4 years.[12][13]
Bangladesh national team
On 8 January 2022, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) announced the appointment of Javier Fernández Cabrera as the new national team head coach. Cabrera signed an 11 month contract during a meeting called by the BFF on 19 January 2022, where he was officially made the head coach of the Bangladesh national team.[14][15][16][17]
Cabrera's first game incharge ended in a 0–2 defeat in a friendly, at the hand of Maldives, on 24 March 2022.[18] In June, Cabrera guided the team to three straight defeats, as Bangladesh finished bottom of their group in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round. The team conceded 8 and scored 2 goals over their qualification campaign.[19]
On 22 September 2022, Cabrera gained his first victory as Bangladesh coach, which came in his seventh match incharge, when Rakib Hossain scored the only goal as Bangladesh edged Cambodia 1–0.[20] However, the following friendly saw the team go down 1–3 to hosts Nepal.[21]
On 11 January 2023, BFF extended Cabrera's contract for one more year. The new deal meant the Spaniard would remain at the helm until December 2023.[22][23] In December 2023, BFF renewed its contract with Javier Cabrera, extending his tenure for another year until December 2024.[24]
On 17 January 2025, the BFF further extended Cabrera's contract until 30 April 2026, making him the longest-serving coach in Bangladesh's history.[25]
Bangladesh U23
Cabrera was given the duty as head coach of the Bangladesh national under-23 team for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.[26]
Managerial statistics
- As of 25 May 2026
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | 32GD | Win % | |||
 Bangladesh |
8 January 2022 | 30 April 2026 | 39 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 30 | 58 | −28 | 25.64 |
| Bangladesh U23 |
19 September 2023 | 30 April 2026 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0.00 |
