Iconic Spanish football manager Arsenio Iglesias has passed away at the age of 92, passing into the annals of history as one of the best managers of his time.
Iglesias was bron in Arteixo in Galicia in 1930, and would go on to carve out a career in football as a forward for Deportivo La Coruna and Granada most notably, beginning in 1950 and retiring in 1966.
The following year he would step into management, taking on Deportivo Fabril, the B side, for three years before moving up to take the senior job in 1970. That would be the first of four spells in charge of Deportivo, who he would convert in to the much-beloved ‘SuperDepor’ of the 1990s. Iglesias was key in taking Deportivo from Segunda to title-challengers in less than a decade, narrowly missing out on winning La Liga, before securing the Copa del Rey in 1995. His work would lay the foundation for their historic 2000 league title under Jabo Irureta.
His managerial career took in 10 teams, with his only other honour coming in 1978, when he won the Segunda with Real Zaragoza. His last club job came in 1996, when he left Deportivo for Real Madrid, and his last role was as manager of Galicia, which he held for three years between 2005 and 2008.
Iglesias goes down as a legend of Spanish football, and particularly in Galicia, one of the region’s proudest sons.
