UD Las Palmas unveil new manager Manolo Jiménez

Manolo Jiménez is UD Las Palmas’ new trainer. He comes to the trainer’s bench having recently won the Greek league with AEK Athens, their first triumph for 24 years. While there, he trained UD Las Palmas loanees Marko Livaja and Sergio Araujo. He also took the team to the Greek Cup Final, where they went down to Paok Salónica (0-2). He also competed in the Europa League with the Greek side this last season.

Jiménez will be training UD Las Palmas this season, with the option of another season if the team is promoted to the FIrst Division.

Once he retired from professional football at Real Jaén, Jiménez started his managerial career at Sevilla Atlético. He led the second string team from the Third Division to Segunda División B in his first season. He then took the team to four playoffs in a row, two of them as champions of Group 4 of Segunda B, finally achieving promotion to the Second Division in the 2006/07 season. Following the departure of Juande Ramos in October 2007, he took over first team affairs at Sevilla, whom he managed for a total of 134 matches. He has also been manager at Real Zaragoza and Al-Rayyan in Qatar.

As a player, Manolo Jiménez wore the Sevilla shirt for 14 seasons, from 83/84 to 96/97. With the Sevilla side he played two UEFA Cup finals. He holds the record for most games played in the First Division with Sevilla, totalling 354. In 1988 he made his debut for the Spanish national side, and was a regular under manager Luis Suárez at the Italy ’90 World Cup.

Jiménez comes to UD Las Palmas accompanied by his backroom staff, comprising Jesús Calderón (deputy manager) and Daniel Pastor (physio). The trainer will be unveiled on Monday at 16.00 in the press room at the Estadio Gran Canaria. He becomes Las Palmas’ 62nd first team trainer.