| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Polinario Muñoz | ||
| Date of birth | (1943-06-12)12 June 1943 (age 81) | ||
| Place of birth | Puente Genil, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Puente Genil | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1960–1963 | Calvo Sotelo | ||
| 1963–1964 | Mestalla | 27 | (12) |
| 1964–1971 | Valencia | 146 | (16) |
| 1971–1974 | Español | 83 | (6) |
| 1974–1975 | Recreativo Huelva | 25 | (1) |
| Total | 281+ | (35+) | |
| International career | |||
| 1968 | Spain | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1975 | Recreativo Huelva | ||
| 1977–1978 | Júpiter | ||
| 1978–1979 | Getafe Deportivo | ||
| 1979–1980 | Badalona | ||
| 1980–1981 | Getafe Deportivo | ||
| 1981–1983 | Sabadell | ||
| 1984 | Ceuta | ||
| 1985 | Antequerano | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Manuel Polinario Muñoz (born 12 June 1943), also known asPoli, is a Spanish formerfootball player andmanager.
As aforward, he played 229La Liga games and scored 22 goals forValencia andEspañol, winning the league title in 1967 and thenational cup in 1971 for the former. He earned onecap forSpain in 1968.
Polinario managedRecreativo de Huelva,Getafe Deportivo andSabadell in theSegunda División from 1975 to 1983.
Born inPuente Genil in theProvince of Córdoba, Polinario began playing as a youth at hishometown club in a left-wing position. Once he was old enough to play in theTercera División, he had two years atCalvo Sotelo before joiningValencia in 1963.[1]
Polinario's Valencia career began withMestalla, thereserve team, in theSegunda División. He then broke through into the first team and wonLa Liga in1966–67 and theCopa del Generalísimo in1971.[2]
Polinario then moved toEspañol in a deal that sawLico transfer in the other direction. At theBarcelona-based club, Polinario moved into a more central position alongsideJosé Claramunt, distributing the ball to teammates. He returned to the second tier withRecreativo de Huelva in 1974 and retired a year later.[1]
Polinario began his managerial career at Recreativo for the conclusion of the1974–75 Segunda División season, later managingGetafe Deportivo thenBadalona in 1979–80. He returned to second-tier Getafe Deportivo during a turbulent period in which the club president resigned and the administration was taken over as aworker cooperative; when a contract renewal was offered to him in July 1981 with no incentives, he moved toSabadell in the same league.[3]
Polinario was part of the Spain team that won theWorld Military Cup on home soil in 1965. On 3 April 1968 he played his only game for theSpain national football team, a 1–0 loss toworld championsEngland atWembley Stadium inUEFA Euro 1968qualification. He markedBobby Charlton in the match and as of 2023 was the only person from his hometown to represent Spain,[2] and the second from his province afterManolo Reina.[4] Polinario had turned down an invitation to play againstSweden in February in order to reserve his energy for the England match, and was not chosen for the return leg in theSantiago Bernabeu Stadium as managerDomènec Balmanya preferredReal Madrid localRamón Grosso.[4]