| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pablo Alfaro Armengot | ||
| Date of birth | (1969-04-26)26 April 1969 (age 56) | ||
| Place of birth | Zaragoza, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Zaragoza | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1989 | Zaragoza B | 77 | (4) |
| 1989–1992 | Zaragoza | 107 | (2) |
| 1992–1993 | Barcelona | 7 | (1) |
| 1993–1996 | Racing Santander | 108 | (1) |
| 1996–1997 | Atlético Madrid | 11 | (0) |
| 1997–2000 | Mérida | 97 | (0) |
| 2000–2005 | Sevilla | 164 | (3) |
| 2006–2007 | Racing Santander | 22 | (1) |
| Total | 593 | (12) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–2006 | Aragon | 3 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2010 | Pontevedra | ||
| 2010 | Recreativo | ||
| 2012–2013 | Leganés | ||
| 2013 | Huesca | ||
| 2014–2015 | Marbella | ||
| 2017–2018 | Mirandés | ||
| 2019–2020 | Ibiza | ||
| 2020–2021 | Córdoba | ||
| 2022–2023 | San Fernando | ||
| 2023–2024 | Murcia | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Pablo Alfaro Armengot (born 26 April 1969) is a Spanish former professionalfootballer who played as acentral defender, currently amanager.
In his career, in which he represented six teams – most notablySevilla – he amassedLa Liga totals of 418 matches and seven goals over 15 seasons, receiving a total of 18red cards and being sent off nearly 30 times.[1][2]
Alfaro embarked on a managerial career in the late 2000s.[3]
Born inZaragoza, Alfaro started his career with his hometown clubReal Zaragoza. He made hisLa Liga debut on 3 September 1989 in a 3–0 home win againstRayo Vallecano,[4] and he only missed one league game in hisdebut season as they finished in ninth position.
In the summer of 1992, Alfaro signed withFC Barcelona,[5] being rarely used in hisonly season inCatalonia.[6] He went on to representRacing de Santander andAtlético Madrid, being an undisputed starter with the former but only second or third choice with the latter.[6]
Alfaro joinedCP Mérida for the1997–98 campaign, playing all but four matches as theExtremadurans were relegated from the top flight and collecting 12yellow cards and twored in the process.[7] In1999–2000, the side finished sixth in theSegunda División but was relegated again, due to financial irregularities.[8]
In the 2000 off-season, the veteran moved toSevilla FC also in division two, helping theAndalusia team toreturn to the top division in his first season.[9] During his spell, Alfaro formed a fearsome partnership withJavi Navarro,[10][11][12] but following the emergence of youth graduateSergio Ramos and the January 2006 arrival ofJulien Escudé, he became a secondary defensive unit, leaving in thattransfer window to former side Racing[13] and scoring a rare but crucial goal on 7 May in a 2–1 home win againstCA Osasuna to help them tobarely avoid top-tier relegation.[14]
Alfaro retired from football at the end of the2006–07 season aged nearly 38, having appeared in exactly 600 official games as a professional. Two years later he started his coaching career, withSegunda División B teamPontevedra CF,[15] leading theGalicians to thefourth position in theregular season, albeit with no subsequent play-off promotion.[16]
Alfaro upgraded a division on 17 June 2010, signing withRecreativo de Huelva. Exactly four months later, after only four draws in eight matches, he was fired by the oldest club in Spain.[17]
In June 2012, Alfaro joined third-tierCD Leganés for theupcoming campaign.[18] He took theCommunity of Madrid team tothe play-offs, where they lost 3–2 on aggregate toLleida Esportiu in the quarter-finals.[19]
Alfaro returned to his nativeAragon in June 2013, taking over anSD Huesca side that had just descended from the second division.[20] Having won and drawn one each of his first five matches, he was sacked on 25 September.[21]
On 2 December 2014, Alfaro replacedJaime Molina as manager ofMarbella FC on a deal for the end ofthe season.[22] The following 23 March, as they fell into the relegation places with a fourth consecutive defeat, he was shown the door.[23]
Alfaro returned to the second level on 28 March 2017, being appointed at last-placedCD Mirandés until June following the dismissal ofJavier Álvarez de los Mozos.[24] He remained inMiranda de Ebro aftertheir relegation,[25] andwon their group the following season. After being eliminated 2–1 on aggregate from theplay-off semi-finals byExtremadura UD,[26] he was not offered a new deal in June 2018.[27]
On 28 February 2019,UD Ibiza chose Alfaro as their replacement forAndrés Palop until the end of2019–20.[28] On 2 December of the following year, he took over fellow third-division sideCórdoba CF.[29]
On 23 December 2022, Alfaro replacedSalva Ballesta atSan Fernando CD, becoming their third manager ofthe season.[30] In November 2023, he was appointed as the new manager ofReal Murcia CF in place of the sackedGustavo Munúa, signing a contract for the remainder ofthe campaign[31] and leaving at its closure.[32]
Alfaro majored inmedicine, which he pursued while simultaneously playing football, attending different universities as he changed teams. He began at theUniversity of Zaragoza, continued at theUniversity of Barcelona and theUniversity of Cantabria and finally graduated from theComplutense University of Madrid.[1][7]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Pontevedra | 26 November 2009 | 17 June 2010 | 28 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 35 | 23 | +12 | 053.57 | [33] |
| Recreativo | 17 June 2010 | 17 October 2010 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 000.00 | [34] |
| Leganés | 28 June 2012 | 28 June 2013 | 40 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 59 | 38 | +21 | 050.00 | [35] |
| Huesca | 28 June 2013 | 25 September 2013 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 028.57 | [36] |
| Marbella | 2 December 2014 | 23 March 2015 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 24 | −8 | 031.58 | [37] |
| Mirandés | 28 March 2017 | 28 June 2018 | 55 | 28 | 11 | 16 | 70 | 56 | +14 | 050.91 | [38] |
| Ibiza | 28 February 2019 | 31 July 2020 | 44 | 24 | 11 | 9 | 62 | 33 | +29 | 054.55 | [39] |
| Córdoba | 2 December 2020 | 19 April 2021 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 16 | +3 | 044.44 | [40] |
| San Fernando | 23 December 2022 | 5 June 2023 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 033.33 | [41] |
| Murcia | 9 November 2023 | 24 June 2024 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 27 | 26 | +1 | 040.74 | [42] |
| Total | 268 | 121 | 67 | 80 | 327 | 270 | +57 | 045.15 | — | ||
Barcelona
Sevilla