Sevilla on Sunday announced Francisco Garcia Pimienta has signed a two-year term as their new coach for the coming season
The 49-year-old former Las Palmas and Barcelona reserves coach took over for Quique Sanchez Flores, who had decided to quit the Andalucian side.
“We have reached an agreement with Francisco José García Pimienta to become our first team head coach for the next season.
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“Originally from Barcelona, it was there he first started out both his playing and coaching career.
“García Pimienta joined Barcelona’s youth academy, progressing through all the team and making his first-team debut in the 1995/96 season in the First Division.
“The following season, he was loaned to the newly promoted CF Extremadura, but a serious injury brought him back to the reserve team Barcelona B, where he achieved promotion to the Second Division in the 1997/98 season.
“After leaving Barcelona, he finished his playing career with stints at UE Figueres, CE L’Hospitalet, and UE Sant Andreu, where he retired in 2004 aged 29.
“He made his first steps into management as a youth coach at FC Barcelona. He joined in 2001 as an assistant for Cadete A, before gradually working his way up.
“From 2006 to 2015, he served as the head coach of various youth teams until he joined Barcelona B as an assistant to Gerard López in 2015.
” For the 2017/18 season, he returned to Juvenil A, where he won the UEFA Youth League title before making the return to FC Barcelona B, this time as head coach.
García Pimienta managed Barcelona’s B team for the following three seasons in Segunda B.
After finishing eighth in his first full season in 2019/20 they finished second and reached the playoffs but lost to CE Sabadell.
The season after he once again guided them to the playoffs, where they lost in the semi-final to UCAM Murcia CF.
At the end of that season, following 28 years with FC Barcelona, he parted ways with the club.
The record seven-time Europa League champions underperformed this season, placing 14th.
Sanchez Flores became their third coach of the season after Jose Luis Mendilibar and Diego Alonso were fired, and he helped them avoid relegation.
Garcia Pimienta’s Las Palmas ended 16th, having started the season strongly but failed to win any of their last 14 league games, with the coach departing at the end of the season.