Fernando Sánchez Cipitria
Fernando Sánchez Cipitria, known simply as Fernando, is a Spanish former footballer who played mostly as a left midfielder, and is the manager of Chinese club Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard FC.
He appeared in 207 La Liga matches over seven seasons, for four teams.Fernando was born in Madrid. An unsuccessful youth graduate from Real Madrid, he made his La Liga debut with Real Valladolid in the 1995–96 season, with the side being coached by a young Rafael Benítez and also featuring former Real Madrid Castilla teammates José Luis Santamaría and Alberto Marcos.
In the following campaign, with Fernando scoring a career-best 11 goals, the Castile and León team qualified to the UEFA Cup after finishing seventh. Subsequently, he signed with Real Betis, posting two respectable top flight seasons.
Fernando joined Deportivo de La Coruña for 1999–2000, and appeared in 19 games for Super Depor in the Galicians first-ever top division accolade. He would be, however, soon be deemed surplus to requirements, and served three consecutive loans until his retirement at 32: he played the first part of the 2002–03 campaign at Hannover 96 in Germany, alongside teammates Jaime and José Manuel, but soon grew unsettled and returned to Spain.
Fernando focused on youth training after retirement. In 2012, he joined Evergrande Football School founded by Guangzhou Evergrande FC, where he worked as technical director and head coach.
Fernando joined Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard FC's youth side in the 2018 season, and was promoted to the first team on 1 January 2019.International career
Fernando earned two caps for the Spain national team, over the course of two months. His first arrived on 28 January 1998, as he came on as an 82nd-minute substitute for Guillermo Amor in a 0–1 away friendly loss in France.
