Juan Ignacio Martínez Jiménez (; born 23 June 1964), commonly known by his initials JIM, is a Spanish football coach and former player, who played as a left back. He last managed Foolad in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

Having only played as high as Segunda División B, he began managing at age 33 and led Levante, Valladolid and Almería in La Liga, and four clubs in the Segunda División. Abroad, he had spells in Kuwait, China and Iran.

Playing career Martínez was born in Alicante. After playing youth football for both Alicante CF and Elche CF he competed only at amateur level during his career, never in higher than the third division. He played for Elche CF Ilicitano, CD Benicarló, UD Melilla – due to his compulsory military service – Alicante, UD Vall de Uxó, UD Almansa and FC Torrevieja.

Martínez ended his career in 1990, at only 26.De comercial a entrenador de moda en Primera División (From shopkeep to hip coach in Primera División); Te Interesa, 3 October 2011 (in Spanish)

Coaching career

Martínez began managing in 1997, his first stop being precisely Alicante. In the following years, he coached several teams in the lower leagues – also working in youth and women's football – his longest spell being three years with AD Mar Menor-San Javier in the fourth level, which he led to two consecutive playoff appearances albeit without any promotion.

In the 2005–06 season, Martínez led FC Cartagena to the first position in division three. He first reached the professionals in the 2007–08 campaign, coaching UD Salamanca to a final seventh place in the second tier.

After another season in the second division, with Albacete Balompié,Juan Ignacio Martínez, presentado como nuevo entrenador (Juan Ignacio Martínez, presented as new manager); Marca, 7 July 2008 (in Spanish) Martínez returned to Cartagena (recently returned to that level).Juan Ignacio Martínez: "El Cartagena debe ganarse el respeto a base de juego" (Juan Ignacio Martínez: "Cartagena must earn respect based on its game"); Marca, 2 July 2009 (in Spanish) He led the Murcian club to the fifth position in his first year, and the 13th in his second.

Affectionately known as "JIM" (his full name's initials), Martínez was appointed at Levante UD on 9 June 2011, replacing Getafe CF-bound Luis García.El Levante, en manos de Juan Ignacio Martínez (Levante, in the hands of Juan Ignacio Martínez); Marca, 9 June 2011 (in Spanish) After two draws in the first two La Liga rounds he coached the team to seven consecutive wins, including a 1–0 home victory against Real Madrid.; ESPN Soccernet, 18 September 2011

Martínez also led the Valencians to their first continental competition ever, by finishing sixth in 2011–12.El Levante se mete en Europa por primera vez en 102 años de historia (Levante go to Europe for the first time in 102-year history); Sport You, 13 May 2012 (in Spanish) After ranking only 11th in the following season he opted to not renew his contract,JIM, fin de trayecto (JIM, end of the road); Marca, 5 June 2013 (in Spanish) and signed a two-year deal with fellow league side Real Valladolid.Juan Ignacio Martínez, nuevo entrenador del Pucela (Juan Ignacio Martínez, new manager of Pucela); Real Valladolid, 17 June 2013 (in Spanish)

On 24 May 2014, after the latter's relegation, Martínez was relieved of his duties.El Valladolid comunica que JIM no seguirá como entrenador (Valladolid announce that JIM will not remain as manager); Diario AS, 21 May 2014 (in Spanish) On 11 December he was appointed at the helm of UD Almería, replacing fired Francisco;Juan Ignacio Martínez, nuevo entrenador del Almería hasta final de temporada (Juan Ignacio Martínez, new manager of Almería until the end of the season) ; UD Almería, 11 December 2014 (in Spanish) on 5 April 2015, he was sacked by the Andalusians after a heavy 1–4 home loss to his previous club Levante.El Almería decide destituir a Juan Ignacio Martínez como entrenador del primer equipo (Almería decide to sack Juan Ignacio Martínez as first-team manager) ; UD Almería, 5 April 2015 (in Spanish)

After one month as working as a personal assistant to Lorca FC's new Chinese owner Xu Genbao, Martínez moved abroad in November 2016 to manage Shanghai Shenxin F.C. on an annual salary of €600,000. He left a year later, having finished seventh in China League One and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were beaten by Super League's Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC. He remained in the country with Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. of the same league, being dismissed in September with the team third from bottom after 24 games.

Martínez was hired by Al-Arabi SC of the Kuwaiti Premier League in June 2019, working alongside Darko Nestorović. On 14 December 2020, he returned to his home country after being named at the helm of Real Zaragoza in the second division.

Martínez left Zaragoza on 30 May 2022, after avoiding relegation. On 6 September 2023, he signed for Foolad F.C. who had lost their first four games of the Persian Gulf Pro League season.

Personal life Martínez's cousin, José Bordalás, is also a football coach."Somos como hermanos, pero buscaremos ganar" ("We are like brothers, but we will play to win"); Diario AS, 25 March 2010 (in Spanish)

Managerial statistics

+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecord Alicante1 January 19971 July 1997Orihuela1 July 199730 June 1998Torrevieja30 June 19991 July 2001Mar Menor-San Javier1 July 200219 March 2005Cartagena19 March 200530 June 2006Alcoyano13 November 200630 June 2007Salamanca30 June 20077 July 2008Albacete7 July 200828 April 2009Cartagena2 July 20099 June 2011Levante9 June 20115 June 2013Valladolid17 June 201321 May 2014Almería13 December 20145 April 2015Shanghai Shenxin26 November 201628 November 2017—Meizhou Meixian Techand2 January 201824 September 2018—Al-Arabi25 June 201913 October 2019—Zaragoza14 December 202030 May 2022Foolad5 September 202313 February 2024Total—

References

External links