Óscar García (footballer, born 1973)

Óscar García Junyent (born 26 April 1973), known simply as Óscar as a player, is a Spanish football manager and former player.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is García and the second or maternal family name is Junyent.
For other people named Oscar García, see Oscar García (disambiguation).

Óscar García
Óscar as manager of Red Bull Salzburg in 2017
Personal information
Full name Óscar García Junyent
Date of birth (1973-04-26) 26 April 1973
Place of birth Sabadell, Spain
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1980–1984 Mercantil
1984–1991 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1994 Barcelona B 82 (23)
1993–1999 Barcelona 69 (21)
1994–1995 → Albacete (loan) 29 (2)
1999–2000 Valencia 20 (4)
2000–2004 Espanyol 51 (4)
2004–2005 Lleida 23 (3)
Total 274 (57)
National team
1989 Spain U16 1 (1)
1991 Spain U18 4 (1)
1991 Spain U19 1 (0)
1991 Spain U20 3 (0)
1992–1996 Spain U21 24 (12)
1996 Spain U23 4 (2)
Teams managed
2009–2010 Catalonia (assistant)
2010–2012 Barcelona (youth)
2012–2013 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2013–2014 Brighton & Hove Albion
2014 Maccabi Tel Aviv
2014 Watford
2015–2017 Red Bull Salzburg
2017 Saint-Étienne
2018 Olympiacos
2019–2020 Celta
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was a versatile attacking option as a player, able to feature as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He spent most of his 14-year professional career with Barcelona, with relative impact, appearing for four other clubs.

In La Liga, Óscar amassed totals of 169 matches and 31 goals over 12 seasons, also representing Espanyol (four years), Albacete, Lleida and Valencia (one apiece). He started working as a manager in 2009, winning league titles in Israel and Austria.

Playing career

Club

Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Óscar made his professional debut with FC Barcelona, his local team. Between 1992 and 1994 he played in five La Liga matches for Barça who were champions each year and, after a loan at fellow top division club Albacete Balompié, he returned and was often used (with good results) in a variety of offensive roles: during the 1995–96 season he scored ten league goals, the most in the squad, even though he only started 11 of his 28 appearances;[1] the team came out empty in silverware, however.

With his role gradually diminishing, Óscar joined Valencia CF for one season, finishing off with Barcelona neighbours RCD Espanyol (teaming up again with brother Roger, for three seasons) and UE Lleida and retiring in June 2005 at the age of 32. On 7 January 2001, whilst playing for the second club against CD Numancia, he was taken to hospital after swallowing his tongue.[2]

Óscar nearly signed for West Ham United in summer 2002, but an eventual deal fell through after a one week's trial and he returned to Espanyol,[3] with whom he never scored more than one goal per season in four years.

International

For Spain, Óscar appeared for the nation at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, scoring twice for the eventual quarter-finalists.

Coaching career

In late 2009, García joined former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff's coaching staff in the Catalonia national team, as the Dutchman had just been appointed.[4] On 22 May 2012 he had his first head coach appointment, signing a two-year contract with Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv FC.[5] Exactly one year later, after leading the club to the national championship after a ten-year drought,[6] he resigned from his post, citing personal reasons.[7]

On 26 June 2013, García was unveiled as the new head coach of Football League Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion.[8] His first win came on 17 August, 1–0 at Birmingham City.[9] On 12 May 2014, following Brighton's play off semi-final defeat to Derby County, his offer of resignation was accepted by the board.[10]

On 2 June 2014, García returned to Maccabi by signing a two-year contract, but left the club on 26 August due to political tensions.[11] A week later he was appointed at Watford, replacing Giuseppe Sannino.[12]

García was admitted to hospital with minor chest pains on 15 September 2014, forcing him to miss Watford's upcoming match with Blackpool.[13][14] These health problems eventually led to him stepping down, two weeks later.[15]

On 28 December 2015, Austrian double holders FC Red Bull Salzburg hired García following the dismissal of Peter Zeidler.[16] His team, for which fellow Spaniard Jonathan Soriano was the main striker, ended the season as national champions;[17] on 19 May the latter scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 cup final win over FC Admira Wacker Mödling to seal a double.[18]

On 15 June 2017, after being snubbed by Patrick Vieira who preferred to stay at New York City FC, AS Saint-Étienne signed García to a two-year contract.[19][20] In November, however, following a 0–5 home loss against Olympique Lyonnais, he left the club by mutual agreement.[21][22]

On 5 January 2018, Olympiacos F.C. announced García as their new manager.[23][24] His contract was terminated by mutual consent on 3 April, following a 1–1 away draw to Levadiakos FC; the team had also been eliminated from the Greek Cup for a third consecutive year, and he was held partially responsible for the lack of dressing-room, training and match discipline.[25]

García had his first head coach experience in Spain in November 2019, when he took over for Fran Escribá at RC Celta de Vigo who stood third from the bottom in the standings.[26] His team stayed up on the last day of the season, as CD Leganés could not win their fixture.[27]

On 9 November 2020, after only one win in nine matches of the new campaign, García was dismissed.[28]

Personal life

García's brothers, Roger and Genís, were also footballers. All youth products of Barcelona, they had however different fates as professionals (especially the latter).[29]

On 17 June 1997, during the final of the Copa Catalunya, all three appeared with the first team in a 1–3 loss to CE Europa.[30]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 6 November 2020[31][32]
Team Nat From To Record
PWDLWin %
Maccabi Tel Aviv 22 May 2012 22 May 2013 43 28 7 8 065.12
Brighton & Hove Albion 26 June 2013 12 May 2014 53 21 16 16 039.62
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 June 2014 26 August 2014 7 3 2 2 042.86
Watford 2 September 2014 29 September 2014 4 1 2 1 025.00
Red Bull Salzburg 28 December 2015 15 June 2017 73 51 12 10 069.86
Saint-Étienne 15 June 2017 15 November 2017 13 5 4 4 038.46
Olympiacos 6 January 2018 3 April 2018 13 6 5 2 046.15
Celta 9 November 2019 9 November 2020 38 8 17 13 021.05
Total 244 123 65 56 050.41

Honours

Club

Barcelona

Valencia

International

Spain U-21

Manager

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Red Bull Salzburg

References
  1. "Cruyff me decía: 'Sal y liquida'" ("Cruyff used to tell me: 'Get out there and finish them off'"); El País, 6 April 2009 (in Spanish)
  2. Roma continue record start; BBC Sport, 8 January 2001
  3. Óscar García no ficha por el West Ham (Óscar García does not sign with West Ham); El Mundo, 21 July 2002 (in Spanish)
  4. Òscar García será el segundo entrenador de la selección catalana de fútbol (Òscar García will be assistant coach in Catalan national team); La Vanguardia, 16 November 2009 (in Spanish)
  5. גארסיה חתם לשנתיים במכבי: הגעתי למועדון פאר [Óscar García signed a two-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv] (in Hebrew). One. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  6. "Òscar Garcia: debut y campeón" [Òscar Garcia: debut and champion] (in Spanish). Sport. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  7. "Oscar Garcia steps down as MTA head coach". Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  8. "García appointed head coach". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  9. "Birmingham 0–1 Brighton". BBC Sport. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  10. "Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Oscar Garcia resigns". BBC Sport. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  11. "[News flash] Former Rafa Benitez protégé, Pako Ayestaran, will replace Oscar Garcia as Maccabi Tel Aviv's head coach". Potential Ability. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  12. Smith, Frank (2 September 2014). "Ex-Brighton & Hove Albion boss Oscar Garcia appointed as Watford's new head coach". Watford Observer. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  13. "Oscar Garcia: Watford boss in hospital with minor chest pains". BBC Sport. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  14. Fifield, Dominic (15 September 2014). "Watford manager Oscar García taken to hospital with minor chest pains". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  15. "Official: Hornets confirm head coach change". Watford F.C. 29 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  16. "Former Barca player Oscar Garcia appointed Salzburg coach". USA Today. 28 December 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  17. "El Red Bull Salzburgo gana su tercera liga austriaca seguida" [Red Bull Salzburg win their third consecutive Austrian title] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  18. "El Salzburgo de Òscar y Soriano logra el doblete" [Óscar and Soriano's Salzburg achieve the double] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  19. "Oscar Garcia named St Etienne coach on two-year contract". ESPN FC. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  20. "Ligue 1. Oscar Garcia (Saint-Étienne): «J'aime quand il y a de la passion»" [Ligue 1. Oscar Garcia (Saint-Étienne): "I love it when passion is involved"] (in French). Ouest-France. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  21. "Saint-Etienne manager Oscar Garcia replaced by Julien Sable". ESPN. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  22. "Oscar Garcia et Saint-Etienne, c'est bel et bien fini" [Oscar Garcia and Saint-Etienne, over and out] (in French). Le Figaro. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  23. Wood, Graham (5 January 2018). "Soccer-Olympiakos Piraeus appoint Spaniard Oscar Garcia as head coach". Reuters. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  24. "Νέος προπονητής του Ολυμπιακού ο Όσκαρ Γκαρθία!" [Óscar García is the new coach of Olympiacos!] (in Greek). Twitter. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  25. Stapatopoulos, Vangelis (3 April 2018). "Τέλος ο Γκαρθία μία ημέρα μετά την κατσάδα Μαρινάκη!" [García sacked one day after Marinakis!] (in Greek). Contra. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  26. "Óscar García, nuevo entrenador del Celta de Vigo" [Óscar García, new Celta de Vigo manager] (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  27. Lowe, Sid (20 July 2020). "Silence, solitude and sadness for Leganés after desperate La Liga finale". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  28. "Óscar García no continuará como entrenador del RC Celta" [Óscar García will not continue as RC Celta manager] (in Spanish). Celta Vigo. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  29. Barça brothers Archived 9 December 2012 at Archive.today; FC Barcelona, 29 October 2009
  30. López, José Luis (18 June 1997). "El Europa completa su gesta ganando al Barça" [Europa complete their exploit by defeating Barça] (PDF) (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  31. Óscar García management career statistics at Soccerbase
  32. Óscar García coach profile at Soccerway
  33. "Italia ya ganó un Europeo a España en el 1996" [Italy have already won European Championships against Spain in 1996] (in Spanish). Orgullo Bianconero. 18 June 2013. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  34. Aguilar, Francesc (16 April 1994). "España pierde la inocencia" [Spain lose innocence] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
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