Julen Lopetegui

Julen started out as a goalkeeper at La Liga club Real Sociedad he then moved to Castilla and Las Palmas before finally moving to Real Madrid. Here he went on loan to Las Palmas He became one of the best Spanish goalkeepers of the 1990’s, and made his debut with the Spanish national team during this time also. He was part of the Spanish squad that played at the 1994 World Cup in the USA. After that he went to Barcelona where he stayed three seasons before going to Rayo Vallecano where in 2002, he decided to retire from professional football.

Lopetegui then became a very successful coach. He has coached Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid Castilla, Spain Under-19, Under-20 and Spain Under-21 with considerable success and then finally with Porto FC. Currently he is Spain’s National Coach which has now successfully qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He became a Special Olympics Ambassador in March 2018.