Javi Rozada · Biography

Javier Fernández-Rozada Álvarez, known as Javi Rozada, was born in Oviedo on 3 July 1982. On 19 September 2019 he took charge of his first Spanish second division match with Real Oviedo: a 1-1 draw against Extremadura at the Carlos Tartiere, a few days after being chosen to replace Sergio Egea. Until then his whole career had been spent in Asturian football, from the under-11 sides of a youth club to Oviedo’s reserve team.

Early years and youth coaching

A law graduate, Rozada began coaching in 2006 at CD Covadonga, one of Oviedo’s grassroots clubs, in charge of an under-11 team. Between 2008 and 2010 he worked with the youth sides of the Asturias regional team, leading its under-11 squad at the national championship for regional teams. In 2010 he joined Real Oviedo’s academy, where he coached the under-15 side until 2013. That made seven years of work with young players before he stepped up to senior football.

Promotion with Lealtad

In June 2013 CD Lealtad, the club from Villaviciosa then playing in the Spanish fourth tier, the Tercera División, handed him his first senior job. The 2013-14 campaign ended with Lealtad as group champions and, in the play-offs, with a penalty shoot-out win over Puertollano. That sealed promotion to Segunda División B in his first season in charge. Rozada then kept the side in the third tier in 2014-15 and 2015-16. On 3 May 2016 he announced that he would leave Villaviciosa at the end of the campaign. His record with Lealtad stood at 126 matches, with 54 wins, 29 draws and 43 defeats.

Tercera División title with Vetusta

After a year without a club, on 10 July 2017 he took over Real Oviedo Vetusta, the reserve side of his hometown club, in Group II of the Tercera División. The team finished the 2017-18 league as group champions with 82 points and earned a place in Segunda División B through the play-offs. In June 2018 Real Oviedo extended his deal by two years. In 2018-19, back in the third tier, Vetusta finished fifth, just short of the promotion places. Between 2017 and 2019 he led the reserves in 90 matches, with 46 wins, 26 draws and 18 defeats.

Real Oviedo first team

In mid-September 2019, following the dismissal of Sergio Egea, the club put him in charge of the first team in the Spanish second division. He made his debut on 19 September with the 1-1 draw against Extremadura. Rozada, a product of the club’s own coaching structure, went from working with many of the reserve players to managing the professional squad in a tightly contested division. The team failed to climb away from the bottom of the table, and on 18 February 2020, with Oviedo in the relegation zone, he was replaced by José Ángel Ziganda.

Racing de Santander

On 3 August 2020 he signed as head coach of Racing de Santander, who had just been relegated from the second division to Segunda División B and were facing the restructuring of the Spanish league pyramid. His time at El Sardinero was short: the Cantabrian club dismissed him on 21 December 2020. After that exit he spent more than three years without a team.

Real Avilés and promotion to Primera Federación

On 7 May 2024 he returned to the dugout with Real Avilés Industrial in Segunda Federación, with a relegation play-off against CD Manchego Ciudad Real still to be played. In the 2024-25 campaign he took the Avilés side to the promotion play-offs, where they beat Rayo Majadahonda in the final, 2-0 away and 4-0 at home. That 6-0 aggregate win, at the end of May 2025, earned Avilés promotion to Primera Federación, the Spanish third tier. The club parted ways with him in August 2025, before the team had played in its new division.

Spell in Cyprus

In December 2025 Rozada left Spanish football for the first time to take charge of Krasava ENY Ypsonas in Cyprus. His stay there lasted only a few months. In March 2026 he moved to the bench of AEK Larnaca, of the Cypriot First Division.