Joaquín Caparrós


Joaquín de Jesús Caparrós Camino is a Spanish football coach, currently in charge of the Armenian national team.
After winning he Segunda División with Sevilla in 2001, Caparrós was a regular on the La Liga sidelines for the best part of two decades. He managed Sevilla, Deportivo de La Coruña, Athletic Bilbao, Mallorca, Levante, Granada and Osasuna in the top flight.

Football career

Early career

Caparrós was born in Utrera, Province of Seville, Andalusia. After an obscure career as a player, he started coaching in his mid-20s, his first club being amateurs San José Obrero CF. The first professional spell came at local Recreativo de Huelva, which he helped reach Segunda División in the second of his three years.
Caparrós began the 1999–2000 season on Villarreal CF's bench, lasting only seven games; his successor Paquito guided the Valencians to La Liga in third place. He also co-managed the Andalusia autonomous team with José Enrique Díaz for two friendly games in the late 1990s.

Sevilla

On 25 May 2000, Caparrós was unveiled as the new Sevilla FC manager. He ended their four-year top-flight exile in his first season at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, winning the second division.
With youth products such as Carlos Marchena, José Antonio Reyes and Jesuli – Sergio Ramos soon followed – and the future signings of Júlio Baptista, Adriano, Daniel Alves and Renato, Caparrós set the foundations for future domestic and European success, but was replaced by Juande Ramos before any of the actual conquests.

Deportivo / Athletic

In the summer of 2005, Caparrós moved to Deportivo de La Coruña, being fired after a poor second season. He was appointed at Athletic Bilbao afterwards, beating former club Sevilla in the semi-finals of the 2008–09 edition of the Copa del Rey and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League as FC Barcelona won the treble.
In the 2010–11 campaign, Caparrós led the Lions to the sixth position, once again qualifying to the Europa League. On 7 July 2011, after his contract expired – the club also underwent a chairman change after an election – he left Athletic Bilbao, being replaced by Argentine Marcelo Bielsa.

Foreign stints and return to La Liga

On 27 July 2011, Caparrós accepted a one-year offer from Swiss Super League team Neuchâtel Xamax, who had sacked François Ciccolini after losing the first two games of the campaign. He resigned after just five matches, following a disagreement with owner Bulat Chagaev. On 3 October, RCD Mallorca vice-president Lorenzo Serra Ferrer announced that the Balearic Islands side had reached an agreement with the manager.
On 4 February 2013, after a promising start of the season, with three home wins and two away draws in the first five rounds, Caparrós was relieved of his duties as Mallorca ranked second from bottom. His last game in charge was a 0–3 away loss against Real Sociedad.
After finishing his debut campaign with Levante UD in the tenth position, Caparrós was given a two-year contract extension on 23 May 2014. However, the following week, he left and joined fellow league club Granada CF.
On 16 January 2015, as Granada ranked last in the league table and had just been ousted from the domestic cup by Sevilla, Caparrós was relieved of his duties. He returned to work in early November of the following year, replacing sacked Enrique Martín at the helm of CA Osasuna but being himself dismissed on 5 January 2017 after seven losses in as many league games.
On 2 June 2017, Caparrós left Europe for the first time in his career to manage Qatari club Al Ahli SC. He resigned on 27 December, citing personal reasons.

Sevilla return

Caparrós returned to Sevilla on 28 April 2018 following the dismissal of Vincenzo Montella, being appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season. In May, after the signing of Pablo Machín as his successor, he was named the club's director of football.
On 15 March 2019, Caparrós again took over as caretaker until the end of the season following the dismissal of Machín after only ten months in charge, after Sevilla were knocked out of the Europa League round of 16 by SK Slavia Prague.

Armenia

Caparrós moved into international coaching on 10 March 2020, signing with Armenia until 30 November 2021.

Managerial statistics