Unai Emery
A Zubieta graduate with five La Liga games, and five Europa League titles as a manager.
Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa. Born in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, he was a youth graduate of Real Sociedad: a left-sided midfielder, he never really broke into the first team, appearing in five La Liga games aged 24 and scoring against Albacete in an 8–1 home win.
Quick Facts
- Full name
- Unai Emery Etxegoien
- Born
- 3 November 1971
- Birthplace
- Hondarribia, Spain
- Height
- 1.80 m / 5 ft 11 in
- Position
- Midfielder
- Current club
- Aston Villa (manager)
- Total caps
- 339
- Total goals
- 19
Facts from the source article.
Background
After Real Sociedad, Emery resumed his career mostly in the Segunda División, amassing totals of 215 matches and nine goals over seven seasons, and retired with Lorca Deportiva at the age of 32 after one season in Segunda División B. He transitioned into coaching after retiring in 2004: he suffered a serious knee injury at Lorca in the 2004–05 season and was offered the vacant coach's position by the club president, immediately helping the club achieve promotion to the second division for the first time in its history. He then joined Almería, whom he led to promotion to La Liga for the first time in the club's history, and moved to Valencia, leading the team to top-three finishes.
After six months at Spartak Moscow, Emery joined Sevilla in 2013, where he won an unprecedented three consecutive Europa Leagues. At Paris Saint-Germain he won a Ligue 1 title, two Coupe de France titles, two Coupe de la Ligues and two Trophée des Champions, including a domestic quadruple in his second season. He was Arsenal's head coach from 2018 until November 2019, won the Europa League with Villarreal in his first season (2020–21) and guided the club to a Champions League semi-final the following season, and returned to the Premier League with Aston Villa in October 2022, reaching a UEFA Conference League semi-final in 2024 and the Champions League quarter-finals in 2025 before winning his fifth Europa League in 2026. He holds the record for the most UEFA Europa League titles with five.
Emery is a native speaker of the Basque language. His father Juan and grandfather Antonio were goalkeepers (the latter played in the top division for Real Unión of Irun), and his uncle Román was a midfielder. In July 2021 the Emery family completed a takeover of Real Unión; Emery is its majority shareholder and his brother Igor became club president.
Did You Know?
- Emery's grandfather Antonio and father Juan were both goalkeepers; his son Lander is the third member of the family to wear the goalkeeper jersey for Real Unión.
- In 2002 he signed for Burgos but was released before making a single competitive appearance because the club lacked funds.
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