 Munúa presented as coach ofLDU in 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera | ||
| Date of birth | (1978-01-27)27 January 1978 (age 47) | ||
| Place of birth | Montevideo, Uruguay | ||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft2+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1986–1997 | Nacional | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–2003 | Nacional | 102 | (3) |
| 2003–2009 | Deportivo La Coruña | 27 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Málaga | 38 | (0) |
| 2010–2013 | Levante | 86 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Fiorentina | 0 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | Nacional | 41 | (0) |
| Total | 294 | (3) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–2004 | Uruguay | 21 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2015–2016 | Nacional | ||
| 2016–2017 | LDU | ||
| 2017–2018 | Deportivo B | ||
| 2018–2019 | Cartagena | ||
| 2019–2020 | Nacional | ||
| 2021–2023 | Unión Santa Fe | ||
| 2023 | Murcia | ||
| 2024 | Banfield | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera (born 27 January 1978) is a Uruguayan former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper, currently amanager.
After starting out atNacional he spent most of his career in Spain, mainly atDeportivo de La Coruña where he could never be a starter in six seasons. He also played in the country forMálaga andLevante, being first choice and appearing in 151La Liga matches over one decade.
AnUruguayan international for six years, Munúa represented the country at the2002 World Cup. As manager, he had two spells at Nacional and also worked in the top divisions of Ecuador and Argentina.
Born inMontevideo, Munúa started his career at localClub Nacional de Football, where he won fourUruguayan Primera División titles in a row. He held the record of being the first goalkeeper to score in Uruguayan football, when he netted from afree kick in a league win againstCentral Español.[1]
Munúa later scored three goals frompenalties, both in the league and theCopa Libertadores.[1]
Munúa left Nacional in 2003, joiningLa Liga sideDeportivo de La Coruña on a six-year contract,[2] where he struggled to gain first-choice status. From 2003 to 2006 he was topped bySpanish internationalJosé Francisco Molina and, subsequently, faced stiff competition fromIsrael'sDudu Aouate.
In January 2008, after regaining first-choice from Aouate, both goalkeepers were involved in a post-training punching session that resulted in both being suspended for the match againstVillarreal CF, as well as subsequent league games.[3] In February, due toB-team goalkeeperFabri's inexperience, both players were reinstated in the squad, although the Israeli regained his lost spot.
After having startedthe following season, as Aouate, deemed surplus to requirements, Munúa eventually returned to back-up status, as Aouate was sold toRCD Mallorca and Fabri returned to the reserves. On 25 January 2009, due to the forced absence of new first-choiceDani Aranzubia (sent off the previous week againstFC Barcelona), he returned to action for his only appearance of the campaign, a 1–0 loss atReal Madrid.[4]
On 28 June 2009, Munúa signed a one-year deal withMálaga CF.[5] At his new club he was an instant first choice, appearing in all the league games in hisfirst year as theAndalusians barely avoided relegation (17th position).
After only one season, Munúa rejected a new contract offer and was released by the club, on 26 May 2010.[6] On 6 August he signed withLevante UD,returned to the top flight after two years,[7] and he made his official debut on 28 August, in a 1–4 home defeat toSevilla FC.[8]
Munúa was a starter for theValencian Community side throughout the vast majority of his spell.[9] However, late into histhird season, he, alongsideSergio Ballesteros andJuanlu, was accused by teammateJosé Barkero of lack of commitment during a 4–0 home loss against Deportivo, which led to severalmatch fixing allegations.[10][11]
In January 2014, after a brief spell withACF Fiorentina which consisted of twoUEFA Europa League appearances,[12] the 36-year-old Munúa returned to his country and Nacional.[13]
Munúa made his debut forUruguay aged 20, in afriendly match withChile on 24 May 1998. As a backup, he represented the nation at the2001 Copa América[14] and the2002 FIFA World Cup.[15]
After winning the2015 national championship with the latter, asteam captain, Munúa was announced asÁlvaro Gutiérrez's replacement as head coach.[16] Thefollowing season, he resigned in June 2016 due to a poor showing in theClausura tournament.[17]
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In December 2016, Munúa was named manager of Ecuador'sL.D.U. Quito.[18] He was dismissed at the end of July, having won one of 20 league matches, but also reached theknockout stages of theCopa Sudamericana with victories overDefensor Sporting andClub Bolívar.[19]
On 7 November 2017, Munúa returned to his former club Deportivo as manager of their reserves in theSegunda División B.[20] In hisone season in the dugout, the club reached theplay-offs where they lost onaway goals toExtremadura UD after a 3–3 aggregate draw.[21]
Munúa joined fellow third division sideFC Cartagena on 10 July 2018.[22] He again took his team tothe post-season, this time being eliminated 3–1 in the semi-finals bySD Ponferradina.[23]
On 22 December 2019, Munúa took advantage of a contract clause allowing him to leave for a top-flight or foreign team, and returned to Nacional for theupcoming season; he mentioned the necessity of being nearer his two teenage children.[24] He was relieved of his job on 15 October 2020, after losing theApertura final toC.A. Rentistas.[25]
In October 2021, Munúa was hired atUnión de Santa Fe, ranked 14th in theArgentine Primera División.[26] He led the team to thelast 16 of the2022 Copa Sudamericana, losing 4–1 on aggregate to his former team Nacional.[27] On 4 April 2023, he was dismissed, with one win and four losses leaving the team second from bottom after nine games of thenew season.[28]
| Club performance[29][30] | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Uruguay | League | Cup | League Cup | South America | Total | |||||||
| 1997 | Nacional | Primera División | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 1 | 0 |
| 1998 | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 11 | 0 | ||
| 1999 | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2000 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2001 | 27 | 0 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2002 | 33 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 33 | 1 | ||
| 2003 | 19 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 19 | 2 | ||
| Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Supercopa de España | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2003–04 | Deportivo | La Liga | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 2004–05 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| 2005–06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | Málaga | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 38 | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | Levante | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 24 | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Supercoppa Italiana | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2013–14 | Fiorentina | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | Uruguay | 102 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ? | ? | 102 | 3 | |
| Spain | 140 | 0 | 20 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | 163 | 0 | ||
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 242 | 3 | 20 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | 267 | 3 | ||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Nacional |  | 29 June 2015 | 5 June 2016 | 44 | 20 | 14 | 10 | 67 | 50 | +17 | 045.45 | [31] |
| LDU |  | 13 December 2016 | 3 July 2017 | 22 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 23 | 35 | −12 | 009.09 | [32] |
| Deportivo B |  | 7 November 2017 | 28 May 2018 | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 31 | 25 | +6 | 048.15 | [33] |
| Cartagena | | 10 July 2018 | 22 December 2019 | 63 | 36 | 15 | 12 | 93 | 46 | +47 | 057.14 | [34] |
| Nacional | | 22 December 2019 | 16 October 2020 | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 36 | 24 | +12 | 050.00 | [31] |
| Unión Santa Fe |  | 27 September 2021 | 4 April 2023 | 72 | 23 | 19 | 30 | 78 | 83 | −5 | 031.94 | [35] |
| Murcia | | 1 July 2023 | 8 November 2023 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 13 | −2 | 041.67 | [36] |
| Banfield | | 22 June 2024 | 12 November 2024 | 18 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 22 | −5 | 022.22 | |
| Total | 280 | 114 | 80 | 86 | 356 | 298 | +58 | 040.71 | — | |||
Nacional
Uruguay
Uruguay squads | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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