José Luis Sierra


José Luis "Coto" Sierra Villalpando is a Chilean football coach and former player.
Playing in the midfield, he retired in 2009, and one year later he became the coach of his long-time team Union Española. He studied in the Colegio Hispano Americano, which belongs to Spanish residents in Chile. In 2015, he became the new coach of Colo Colo.

Club career

Unión Española

Sierra made his debut in professional soccer with Unión Española on November 1988 against the Universidad de Chile. After two solid campaigns with Unión Española, Sierra was transferred to Real Valladolid in Spain. However, during Sierra's short time in Spain, the team had economic problems which caused him to return to Unión Española. After more success he made his debut with the Chilean national team. Sierra won the Copa Chile with Unión Española in 1992 and 1993.

Colo-Colo

After an unsuccessful stint in Brazil playing for São Paulo, he went on to spend three successful years with Colo-Colo, which saw his team capture the championship in all three seasons. Currently Sierra has found his way back to Unión Española, making a stop in between to play with UANL Tigres in Mexico for one season. He captured the Golden Boot in Chile in 2004 and 2005.
In 1997, it was widely rumoured that then Premier League side Everton manager Howard Kendall had made an approach to bring Sierra to Goodison Park. However, for unknown reasons, possibly relating to lack of sufficient capital, Kendall decided to pull the plug on the deal.

Return to Unión Española

Sierra announced his retirement in December 2008 and accepted the position of manager with his beloved Unión Española. He will continue on the position until the end of the Clausura 2009 tournament.

International career

Sierra was capped 53 times and scored eight goals for the Chilean national team between 1991 and 2000. He played four games at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal on a free-kick against Cameroon.

International goals

NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.31 March 1993Estadio Carlos Dittborn, Arica, Chile2–12–1Friendly
2.13 June 1993Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia1–03–1Friendly
3.21 June 1993Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar, Cuenca, Ecuador1–03–21993 Copa América
4.31 May 1998Stade Municipal Tropenas, Montélimar, France2–23–2Friendly
5.23 June 1998Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France1–01–11998 FIFA World Cup
6.3 July 1999Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay2–03–01999 Copa América
7.12 February 2000Estadio Municipal de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile3–03–2Copa Ciudad de Valparaíso
8.22 March 2000Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile2–15–2Friendly

Coaching career

Sierra started coaching in 2010 of Chilean club Unión Española and spent five years there. He won the 2013 Torneo Transición with them. Unión won the Apertura Tournament of 2013, after defeating Colo-Colo 1–0 in the final match. In 2015, he became the coach of Colo-Colo. In only one season, he won the 2015 Torneo Apertura title with and also led them into the 2015 Copa Chile. On July 22, 2016, he signed a one-year contract with eight-time Saudi champions Al-Ittihad with an option to sign for another season.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

He played in Chile on the national soccer team for nine years, from 1991 to 2000.

Club

;Colo-Colo
;Unión Española

Club

;Unión Española
;Colo-Colo
;Ittihad FC