Marcelino García Toral (born 14 August 1965), known simply as Marcelino, is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current head coach of La Liga club Villarreal. In a ten-year senior career, he amassed La Liga totals of 74 matches and two goals, all at the service of Sporting de Gijón. He became a manager in 1997, working in the top division with Recreativo, Racing de Santander (two spells), Zaragoza, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao, being named best coach in Spain for the 2006–07 and 2017–18 seasons and winning the 2018–19 Copa del Rey with Valencia and the 2020–21 Supercopa de España with Athletic. After a brief stint in charge of Marseille, he returned to Villarreal in November 2023.

Playing career

Born in Villaviciosa, Asturias, Marcelino was irregularly used in his first four professional seasons, at Sporting de Gijón. He did appear in a career-best 33 matches in the 1986–87 campaign, as the club finished fourth in La Liga. His top-flight debut was on 22 December 1985, in a 1–1 away draw against Celta. After two Segunda División spells, with Racing Santander and Levante, both ended in relegation, Marcelino moved to the lower leagues with Elche. He retired in 1994 at only 28, due to injury.

Coaching career

Marcelino started coaching at 32 with lowly Lealtad, also in Asturias. In the early 2000s he worked in the Segunda División B, with Sporting's reserves. From 2003 to 2005, Marcelino was in charge of the first team, finishing fifth and tenth in the second division, then signed with Recreativo de Huelva in the same league, which he led to promotion in his first season and a comfortable mid-table position in the top tier in the following, which made him the recipient of his first Miguel Muñoz Trophy. Marcelino resigned at the end of the season and took over at former club Santander, leading the Cantabrians to a best-ever sixth-place finish, with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Cup. However, on 29 May 2008, he again moved teams, returning to division two and joining Real Zaragoza with the objective of a promotion, which was finally achieved; in the process of signing, he had rejected Valencia, and became the country's best paid manager at €2.4 million per year following the departure of Real Madrid's Bernd Schuster. On 13 December 2009, following a string of poor results (the last a 1–2 home defeat to Athletic Bilbao), Marcelino was fired by Zaragoza, with the Aragonese side nonetheless still above the relegation zone. In early February 2011 he returned to Racing Santander, replacing Miguel Ángel Portugal. Marcelino was appointed at Sevilla for 2011–12. On 6 February 2012, following seven games without a win – the last being a 1–2 home loss against Villarreal – and with the Andalusians ranking 11th, he was relieved of his duties. Marcelino signed with Villarreal on 14 January 2013, returning the team to the top flight at the end of the campaign and going on to subsequently achieve three top-six finishes, which included a fourth place and a semi-final run in the UEFA Europa League in 2015–16. On 10 August 2016, a few days before the first official match of the season, Marcelino was sacked for differences with the board of directors, particularly over the removal of Mateo Musacchio from club captaincy. On 11 May of the following year, he was named at the helm of Valencia for the upcoming campaign after penning a two-year deal. Marcelino won the Copa del Rey in his second season at the Mestalla Stadium, defeating Barcelona 2–1 in the final held in Seville. On 11 September 2019, however, he was dismissed. On 4 January 2021, Marcelino was appointed as head coach of Athletic Bilbao on a contract until 30 June 2022. In his first three games in charge, he lost against Barcelona in the domestic league and defeated the same adversary and Real Madrid to win the Supercopa de España. He was also on the bench for two Spanish Cup finals in two weeks (the first having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), losing both. On 24 May 2022, Marcelino announced he would be stepping down on 30 June. In June 2023, after one year of inactivity, he agreed to a deal at Ligue 1 club Marseille. He resigned on 20 September, alleging personal reasons, seven matches into his tenure. Marcelino returned to Villarreal on 13 November 2023, signing a three-year contract; he was their third manager of the campaign after Quique Setién and Pacheta, with Miguel Ángel Tena also having acted as interim for one game. The following 7 March, on his return to the Stade Vélodrome, his side lost 4–0 in the first leg of the Europa League last 16.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Spain U20

Manager

Lealtad Recreativo Valencia Athletic Bilbao

Individual