Pedro Munitis

Pedro Munitis Álvarez (born 19 June 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a forward, and a manager.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Munitis and the second or maternal family name is Álvarez.

Pedro Munitis
Munitis in 2013
Personal information
Full name Pedro Munitis Álvarez
Date of birth (1975-06-19) 19 June 1975
Place of birth Santander, Spain
Height 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1992–1993 Santoña
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1997 Racing B
1995–2000 Racing Santander 83 (14)
1997–1998 → Badajoz (loan) 28 (10)
2000–2003 Real Madrid 53 (4)
2002–2003 → Racing Santander (loan) 30 (8)
2003–2006 Deportivo La Coruña 90 (5)
2006–2012 Racing Santander 191 (12)
Total 475 (53)
National team
1999–2002 Spain 21 (2)
Teams managed
2012–2014 Reocín (w)
2014–2015 Bansander (youth)
2015 Racing Santander (assistant)
2015–2016 Racing Santander
2016–2017 Ponferradina
2018–2019 UCAM Murcia
2020 Badajoz
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was one of the shortest players in La Liga, and was best known for his fighting spirit. His professional career was mainly associated with Racing de Santander – he also represented Real Madrid for two years – and he played 447 top flight matches over 17 seasons, scoring 43 goals.[1][2]

A Spain international in the late 1990s/early 2000s, Munitis represented the country at Euro 2000.

Playing career

Club

Born in Santander, Cantabria, Munitis played in three separate periods for hometown Racing de Santander. He first appeared with its first team on 22 January 1995, in a 0–0 home draw against Real Sociedad.

After a loan to CD Badajoz (second division) and scoring 14 goals in 72 league games with Racing from 1998 to 2000, Munitis attracted attention from La Liga giants Real Madrid, who signed him for £6.8 million.[3] He would be relatively used during his two seasons with the capital club, helping it to one league and one UEFA Champions League.

Munitis spent the 2002–03 season on loan at Racing Santander, notably netting (and celebrating) against Real Madrid in a 2–0 home win on 19 October 2002.[4][5] In the following off-season, he was purchased up by Deportivo de La Coruña on a free transfer;[6] after a poor first year he would be one of the Galicia side's most important attacking players, also being used as a left winger, providing rest for veteran captain Fran and being his replacement when he retired at the end of 2004–05.[7]

Munitis returned to Racing in July 2006, forming an interesting attacking partnership with gigantic Serbian Nikola Žigić in his first season[8][9] and helping it achieve a first ever qualification to the UEFA Cup in his second.[10] On 19 April 2009 he played his 200th league match for the club, at RCD Espanyol.[11][12]

In the 2009–10 campaign, 34-year-old Munitis was again an undisputed starter, but did not manage to find the net in 29 league appearances, and his season was over during Racing's 3–1 home win against Espanyol due to a knee injury, on 14 April 2010;[13] at that time he ranked second in assists, only trailing FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi.[14]

On 17 October 2010, after more than one year without scoring, Munitis netted from 30 metres for the only goal of the home fixture against UD Almería.[15] During the season, he again featured prominently in the starting XI, under both Miguel Ángel Portugal and his successor Marcelino García Toral, the latter returned to the club after nearly three years; in the following campaign he failed to score in 32 matches, and Racing returned to the second level after one decade, with the player announcing shortly after his decision to leave his main club.[16]

International

Munitis earned 21 caps for Spain, scoring two goals. He represented the nation at UEFA Euro 2000, appearing as a substitute and netting in a 4–3 group stage win over Yugoslavia[17] and starting in the quarter-final loss to France (1–2).[3]

Munitis' debut came on 27 March 1999 in a Euro 2000 qualifier against Austria, playing 30 minutes in a 9–0 thrashing in Valencia.[18]

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.18 August 1999Polish Army, Warsaw, Poland Poland1–21–2Friendly
2.21 June 2000Jan Breydel, Bruges, Belgium FR Yugoslavia2–23–4Euro 2000

Coaching career

Still not having announced his retirement, Munitis began his managerial career, with women's football club SD Reocín.[19] In 2014 he was appointed at Club Bansander, taking charge of the youth squads.[20]

Munitis returned to Racing on 4 March 2015, being appointed assistant manager along with former teammate Gonzalo Colsa.[21] After their relegation, he took the reins of the team in Segunda División B and won the group, but left in June 2016 following elimination by Cádiz CF in the playoffs.[22]

On 17 October 2016, Munitis succeeded Manolo Herrero as manager of newly relegated SD Ponferradina, with Colsa as his assistant.[23] He was sacked five months later with the team lying in sixth in the third tier, having won exactly a third of his games.[24]

Munitis returned to third-level management on 26 March 2018, when he was hired by UCAM Murcia CF until the end of the season.[25] Despite missing his objective of a play-off place, he was given another year in the job.[26] He was dismissed on 29 April 2019 with the team still in contention for the play-offs with three rounds to go, and replaced by Juan Merino.[27]

On 4 February 2020, Munitis succeeded Mehdi Nafti at Badajoz, where he had played over two decades ago.[28]

Managerial statistics
As of 23 July 2020
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Racing Santander 30 June 2015 12 June 2016 43 21 11 11 56 36 +20 048.84 [29]
Ponferradina 17 October 2016 19 March 2017 21 7 9 5 15 16 −1 033.33 [30]
UCAM Murcia 26 March 2018 28 April 2019 44 20 9 15 59 48 +11 045.45 [31]
Badajoz 4 February 2020 10 October 2020 7 3 2 2 10 7 +3 042.86 [32]
Total 115 51 31 33 140 107 +33 044.35 —

Honours

Real Madrid

References
  1. "Munitis" (in Spanish). El Diario Montañés. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  2. Munitis es ya el racinguista con más partidos en Primera (Munitis is already Racing player with more games in Primera); Marca, 12 December 2011 (in Spanish)
  3. Munitis in "dream move"; BBC Sport, 11 July 2000
  4. Spain round-up: Madrid stumble at Santander; UEFA, 19 October 2002
  5. Racing 2 – Real Madrid 0 (2002–03); at YouTube
  6. Munitis makes Depor move; UEFA, 28 August 2003
  7. "Munitis: "Si soy suplente mi rendimiento baja y me perjudica"" [Munitis: "If i do not start i don't contribute as much and that is harmful to me"] (in Spanish). Libertad Digital. 3 October 2003. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  8. "Munitis y Zigic, pareja letal" [Munitis and Zigic, lethal duo] (in Spanish). Diarios de Fútbol. 25 October 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  9. "El Racing, sin Zigic ni Munitis, se hunde" [Racing, without Zigic nor Munitis, sink] (in Spanish). El País. 10 December 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  10. "El Racing se mete por primera vez en la UEFA al ganar a Osasuna (1–0)" [Racing reach UEFA for the first time after beating Osasuna (1–0)] (in Spanish). 20 minutos. 18 May 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  11. "Munitis suma 200 partidos con el Racing en Primera" [Munitis reaches 200 games with Racing in Primera] (in Spanish). Racing Santander. 20 April 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  12. "Triste celebración para Munitis y Luis Fernández" [Sad celebration for Munitis and Luis Fernández] (in Spanish). El Diario Montañés. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  13. Munitis se perderá el resto de la temporada por sufrir una rotura del ligamento lateral interno de su rodilla dercha [sic] (Munitis to lose rest of the season after internal lateral ligament rupture to his right knee); Marca, 15 April 2010 (in Spanish)
  14. Munitis es clave en la recuperación del equipo (Munitis is key in team recovery); Diario AS, 19 January 2010 (in Spanish)
  15. Racing Santander 1–0 Almeria; ESPN Soccernet, 17 October 2010
  16. Munitis se despide orgulloso de su carrera racinguista (Munitis bids farewell to Racing career with pride); Racing Santander, 18 May 2012 (in Spanish)
  17. Spain survive in seven-goal classic; BBC Sport, 21 June 2000
  18. "España vive una noche idílica" [Spain live idyllic night] (in Spanish). El País. 28 March 1999. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  19. Un gol en el minuto final priva a Munitis de un estreno con triunfo en el banquillo (A goal in the last minute deprives Munitis of win in his bench debut); El Diario Montañés, 10 September 2012 (in Spanish)
  20. Pedro Munitis dirigirá al Juvenil del Bansander (Pedro Munitis will manage Balsander's Juvenil); Contrameta, 25 April 2014 (in Spanish)
  21. Hoy comienza la quinta era de Pedro Munitis en el Racing (Pedro Munitis' fifth spell at Racing begins today); Diario AS, 4 March 2015 (in Spanish)
  22. "Munitis deja de ser entrenador del Racing" [Pedro Munitis no longer manager of Racing] (in Spanish). Marca. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  23. "Pedro Munitis, nuevo entrenador de la Ponferradina" [Pedro Munitis, new manager of Ponferradina] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  24. "Munitis dimite como entrenador de la Ponferradina" [Munitis dismissed as manager of Ponferradina] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 19 March 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  25. "El UCAM CF ficha al cántabro Pedro Munitis como entrenador" [UCAM CF sign Cantabrian Pedro Munitis as manager] (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  26. "Pedro Munitis llega a un acuerdo para seguir en el UCAM Murcia" [Pedro Munitis reaches an agreement to continue at UCAM Murcia] (in Spanish). La Opinión de Murcia. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  27. "Munitis, despedido del UCAM" [Munitis, dismissed by UCAM] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 29 April 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  28. "Pedro Munitis nuevo entrenador del Badajoz" [Pedro Munitis new manager of Badajoz] (in Spanish). Marca. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  29. "Munitis: Pedro Manuel Munitis Álvarez: Matches 2015–16". BDFutbol. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  30. "Munitis: Pedro Manuel Munitis Álvarez: Matches 2016–17". BDFutbol. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  31. "Munitis: Pedro Manuel Munitis Álvarez: Matches 2017–18". BDFutbol. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
    "Munitis: Pedro Manuel Munitis Álvarez: Matches 2018–19". BDFutbol. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  32. "Munitis: Pedro Manuel Munitis Álvarez: Matches 2019–20". BDFutbol. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
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