Xisco Muñoz
 Xisco with Levante in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Francisco Javier Muñoz Llompart[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 5 September 1980[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Manacor, Spain[1] | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Johor Darul Ta'zim (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Mallorca | |||
| Valencia | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998 | Mallorca B | 10 | (0) |
| 1999–2003 | Valencia B | 39 | (15) |
| 2000–2001 | → Recreativo (loan) | 39 | (10) |
| 2001–2002 | → Tenerife (loan) | 28 | (1) |
| 2002–2003 | → Recreativo (loan) | 23 | (6) |
| 2003–2005 | Valencia | 44 | (4) |
| 2005–2009 | Betis | 73 | (8) |
| 2009–2011 | Levante | 54 | (9) |
| 2011–2014 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 98 | (62) |
| 2014–2016 | Gimnàstic | 25 | (2) |
| Total | 433 | (117) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998 | Spain U17 | 3 | (1) |
| 1998–1999 | Spain U18 | 6 | (2) |
| 2000–2001 | Spain U21 | 8 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017 | Pobla Mafumet (interim) | ||
| 2020 | Dinamo Tbilisi | ||
| 2020–2021 | Watford | ||
| 2021–2022 | Huesca | ||
| 2022–2023 | Anorthosis | ||
| 2023 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| 2023–2024 | DAC Dunajská Streda | ||
| 2025– | Johor Darul Ta'zim | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Francisco Javier Muñoz Llompart (born 5 September 1980), known as Xisco, is a Spanish football manager and former player who played mainly as a left winger. He is the head coach of Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim.
He played 194 matches and scored 20 goals over nine seasons in La Liga, spending four years at Betis, also representing Valencia, Tenerife, Recreativo and Levante and winning the 2004 UEFA Cup with Valencia. Starting in 2011, he played four seasons in Georgia with Dinamo Tbilisi.
In 2019, Xisco rejoined Dinamo Tbilisi as part of the technical team, and in 2020 became their head coach. In December 2020, he was appointed at Watford, achieving promotion to the Premier League in his first season but being sacked in October 2021 despite the club sitting 15th. That same month, he became manager of Huesca, before being replaced in June 2022. He signed for Anorthosis in October that year, but left three months later. In July 2023, he joined Sheffield Wednesday as head coach before being dismissed in October after failing to win any matches in charge.
Playing career
[edit]Valencia
[edit]Xisco was born in Manacor, Balearic Islands. He began in the youth ranks of local Mallorca, making ten senior appearances for the B team in the Segunda División B in 1998. After two years with Valencia's equivalent, he moved on loan to Recreativo de Huelva of Segunda División,[2] scoring ten goals in his first season. He then joined Tenerife for 2001–02, before returning (always on loan) to his previous club for the 2002–03 campaign, still in La Liga.[3]
Xisco returned to Valencia in summer 2003 for two additional seasons, making 22 appearances as the Che conquered the 2004 league title; he scored once as a substitute on 2 November 2003 to conclude a 5–0 away win against Mallorca.[4] He added eight matches in their victorious run in the UEFA Cup also in that year, but remained on the bench in the final against Marseille.[5]
Betis
[edit]Xisco signed with Real Betis in 2005 on a six-year deal,[6] often delivering in various attacking positions and displaying all-around teamwork. He netted three times in 2006–07, including a couple of late goals against Racing de Santander[7] and Gimnàstic de Tarragona[8] as the Andalusians only avoided top-flight relegation in the last matchday.
In a rocky 2008–09 season, which ended in relegation,[9] Xisco only featured in nine games, scoring once.[10] Dark spots included being replaced after having himself been used as a substitute in a 2–1 home defeat to Málaga, on 11 January 2009.[11][12]
Levante and later career
[edit]In the dying minutes of the August 2009 transfer window, Xisco rescinded his Betis contract and joined Levante also in the second division, for two seasons.[13] In his first, he played the most he had in years, also scoring eight goals[14] as the Valencian Community side returned to the top flight after a two-year absence.[15]
Xisco contributed 26 matches – 18 starts – in 2010–11, as Levante finally managed to stay afloat. On 22 January 2011, he scored his only goal of the campaign in a 4–1 away loss against Sevilla,[16] and was released in May.[17]
Already aged 30, Xisco moved abroad for the first time, signing with Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia and sharing teams with several compatriots.[18] In 2012–13, he won the Erovnuli Liga and also scored a career-best 22 goals, best in the competition.[19] The player and the team retained their titles a year later, and his goal concluded the 3–0 win at Sioni Bolnisi that confirmed it.[20]
On 14 December 2014, Xisco returned to his homeland after agreeing to an 18-month deal with third-tier Gimnàstic.[21] On 18 June 2016, he announced his retirement and became