| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Álvaro Cervera Díaz[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1965-09-20)20 September 1965 (age 60)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Santa Isabel,Guinea | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tenerife (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Alegría | |||
| Tenerife | |||
| Perines | |||
| Racing Santander | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1985 | Rayo Cantabria | 35 | (15) |
| 1984–1987 | Racing Santander | 33 | (5) |
| 1987–1992 | Mallorca | 139 | (10) |
| 1992–1995 | Valencia | 82 | (5) |
| 1995–1997 | Racing Santander | 42 | (3) |
| 1997–1998 | Hércules | 2 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Águilas | 11 | (1) |
| 1999 | Almería | 19 | (5) |
| 1999–2000 | San Fernando | 23 | (1) |
| 2000–2001 | Ontinyent | ||
| Total | 386 | (45) | |
| International career | |||
| 1987 | Spain U21 | 4 | (1) |
| 1991–1992 | Spain | 4 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2001–2002 | Catarroja (assistant) | ||
| 2002–2003 | Catarroja | ||
| 2003–2004 | Villarreal (youth) | ||
| 2004–2005 | Catarroja | ||
| 2005 | Castellón | ||
| 2006 | Almansa | ||
| 2006–2007 | Alicante | ||
| 2008–2009 | Cultural Leonesa | ||
| 2009–2010 | Jaén | ||
| 2010–2011 | Real Unión | ||
| 2011–2012 | Recreativo | ||
| 2012 | Racing Santander | ||
| 2012–2015 | Tenerife | ||
| 2016–2022 | Cádiz | ||
| 2022–2023 | Oviedo | ||
| 2024– | Tenerife | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Álvaro Cervera Díaz (born 20 September 1965) is a Spanishfootball coach and former player who is themanager ofPrimera Federación clubTenerife.
Awinger, he played 261 matches inLa Liga over 12 seasons forRacing de Santander (in two spells),Mallorca andValencia, scoring 17 goals. He won fourcaps forSpain in the 1990s.
Cervera became a coach in 2002, going on to work with a number of clubs.
Born inSanta Isabel,Spanish Guinea when both his parents worked in that country,[2] Cervera was raised inSanta Cruz de Tenerife and played youth football for four clubs, finishing his development atRacing de Santander. He made hisLa Liga debut on 9 September 1984 by playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss againstReal Valladolid,[3] but only totalled seven games in his first two senior seasons, featuring much more regularly in1986–87 but suffering relegation.[4]
In the summer of 1987, Álvaro – known by his first name during his playing days – signed forRCD Mallorca, remaining five years with them and being relegated twice from the top flight. In the1988–89 campaign he scored a career-best six goals in 35 matches, helping theBalearic Islands team to promote fromSegunda División.[5][4]
Álvaro moved toValencia CF in June 1992, followingMallorca's relegation. He made 32 appearances and netted three times inhis first year (notably once in a 4–1 away victory overAthletic Bilbao),[6] but was more often than not areserve from there onwards,[5] for that and his following club Racing, which he left to play withHércules CF in the second division.[7]
Álvaro retired in 2001 at the age of nearly 36, following a spell in the lower leagues.[4]
Álvaro earned fourcaps forSpain, in slightly more than one year. He made his debut on 4 September 1991, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute forAndoni Goikoetxea in a 2–1friendly win againstUruguay inOviedo.[8]
Cervera took up coaching in 2001, working with amateursCatarroja CF in several capacities.[9] From 2004 to 2011 he managed almost exclusively in theSegunda División B, and his first job at the professional level arrived in2011–12 when he was appointed atRecreativo de Huelva in division two.[10] However, in March 2012, he arranged to have his contract terminated when he received an offer from former side Racing Santander in the top tier,[11] but he only collected three draws in his13 games in charge to become the competition's worst ever debutant,[12] and was not renewed.[13]
On 3 July 2012, Cervera signed with Tenerife where he had already played youth football more than 30 years ago.[14] Shortly beforeachieving promotion to the second division in his debut season, he renewed his link until 2015,[15][16] being however relieved of his duties on 2 February 2015[17] even though he had a contract running until 2018.[18]
On 18 April 2016, Cervera replacedClaudio Barragán at the helm ofCádiz CF,[19] and managed to achieve promotion to the second tier at the end ofthe campaign.[20] After coming fifth thefollowing season, the team qualified forthe play-offs for top-flight promotion, losing on regulations after a 1–1 semi-final draw withCD Tenerife in June 2017;[21] promotion was finallygained in July 2020, ending a 14-year exile.[22]
A quote from Cervera, "La lucha no se negocia" ("The fight is non-negotiable" in Spanish), was adopted by Cádiz as a club catchphrase shortly after his arrival.[23] On 11 January 2022, as the club was inthe relegation zone, he was sacked.[24]
On 18 October 2022, Cervera replacedBolo atReal Oviedo.[25] He was dismissed on 21 September of the following year, after the start of thenew season saw the side placed second-bottom.[26][27]
Cervera returned to Tenerife on 23 December 2024, as their third manager of thesecond-division campaign.[28][29]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Catarroja |  | 1 August 2002 | 1 July 2003 | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 64 | 23 | +41 | 058.82 | [30] |
| Catarroja | | 30 June 2004 | 25 April 2005 | 33 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 46 | 34 | +12 | 036.36 | [31] |
| Castellón | | 25 April 2005 | 30 June 2005 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 055.56 | [32] |
| Almansa | | 9 January 2006 | 30 June 2006 | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 22 | +0 | 025.00 | [33] |
| Alicante | | 1 July 2006 | 16 April 2007 | 39 | 18 | 7 | 14 | 50 | 39 | +11 | 046.15 | [34] |
| Cultural Leonesa | | 1 July 2008 | 30 June 2009 | 40 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 46 | 25 | +21 | 050.00 | [35] |
| Jaén | | 31 August 2009 | 30 June 2010 | 43 | 22 | 11 | 10 | 62 | 37 | +25 | 051.16 | [36] |
| Real Unión | | 13 July 2010 | 2 January 2011 | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 27 | +0 | 050.00 | [37] |
| Recreativo | | 28 June 2011 | 9 March 2012 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 34 | 32 | +2 | 035.71 | [38] |
| Racing Santander | | 9 March 2012 | 14 May 2012 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 28 | −21 | 000.00 | [39] |
| Tenerife | | 3 July 2012 | 2 February 2015 | 110 | 43 | 29 | 38 | 132 | 112 | +20 | 039.09 | [40] |
| Cádiz | | 18 April 2016 | 11 January 2022 | 258 | 98 | 84 | 76 | 288 | 259 | +29 | 037.98 | [41] |
| Oviedo | | 18 October 2022 | 21 September 2023 | 40 | 16 | 10 | 14 | 35 | 35 | +0 | 040.00 | [42] |
| Tenerife | | 23 December 2024 | Present | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 52 | 36 | +16 | 042.11 | [43] |
| Total | 729 | 297 | 204 | 228 | 876 | 716 | +160 | 040.74 | — | |||