José Luis Mendilibar


José Luis Mendilibar Etxebarria is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of SD Eibar.

Playing career

Mendilibar was born in Zaldibar, Basque Country. He enjoyed an average career as a player, never representing a club in La Liga and successively representing Bilbao Athletic, CD Logroñés, Sestao Sport Club and SD Lemona.
Mendilibar was a key player in midfield for Sestao during the side's second division years – playing eight seasons with them in that level and appearing in nearly 300 competitive matches – narrowly missing out on promotion in 1986–87 under Javier Irureta.

Coaching career

After retiring in 1994, Mendilibar worked in the youth categories of Athletic Bilbao before being appointed head coach of UD Lanzarote and then SD Eibar. His success with the latter in the second division, on a very limited budget, translated into a narrow miss on promotion in 2005.
Mendilibar then returned to Athletic, the club he supported as a child. He was sacked after a few months, as the Lions were eliminated from the Intertoto Cup in the opening round and were bottom of the league with just one win in nine matches.
For the 2006–07 season, Mendilibar moved to Real Valladolid, achieving top-flight promotion and retaining league status from 2007 to 2009. On 1 February 2010, after a 1–1 home draw against UD Almería, he was dismissed.
Slightly less than one year later, Mendilibar returned to active, replacing the fired José Antonio Camacho at CA Osasuna. His first game in charge was a 4–0 home win against RCD Espanyol, on 20 February 2011; on 3 September 2013, he was relieved of his duties after three losses in as many matches to kickstart the new season.
On 29 May 2014, Mendilibar was appointed at Levante UD, signing a one-year contract with an option for a second season. On 20 October, after only one win in eight games, and no goals scored and 14 conceded from four home fixtures, he was dismissed.
Mendilibar returned to Eibar on 30 June 2015, replacing Gaizka Garitano. In 2016–17, he led the team to a best-ever quarter-final finish in the Copa del Rey before an injury-stripped squad lost 5–2 on aggregate to Atlético Madrid. The following year they came ninth in the league, again a club record.

Managerial statistics