Juan Manuel Lillo · Biography

Juan Manuel Lillo Díez won his first trophy in 1988-89, when he took CD Mirandés to the Tercera División title and promotion to Segunda División B, then Spain’s third tier. Born on 3 November 1965 in Tolosa, in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Lillo is a Spanish coach who never played professionally. He has managed clubs in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Japan, China and Qatar. Between 2015 and 2025 he also worked as an assistant to Jorge Sampaoli with Chile and Sevilla, and to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Early years at Tolosa and Mirandés

He began coaching at 16 with Amaroz KE, a club in his home town, where he stayed from 1981 to 1985. He then moved to the youth ranks of Tolosa CF, and in 1986-87 he took charge of the first team in the Tercera División and kept it up. In 1988 he joined Mirandés, whom he led to their group title and promotion. He returned to Miranda de Ebro for a second spell from 1990 to 1991, and the following season he coached Cultural Leonesa in Segunda B.

Salamanca: from the third tier to La Liga

He arrived at UD Salamanca in 1992. In his first season the team finished second and lost the promotion play-off. In 1993-94 he won Segunda División B and went up to the Spanish second division. A year later Salamanca finished fourth and secured promotion to La Liga through the play-off against Albacete, after overturning a 2-0 first-leg defeat. He made his top-flight debut in September 1995, aged 29. The team struggled for consistency, and he was dismissed in February 1996 with Salamanca in the relegation zone.

Oviedo, Tenerife, Zaragoza and the second division

Real Oviedo hired him in the summer of 1996 and sacked him in April 1997, with eight rounds left. In February 1998 he took over CD Tenerife in a relegation fight and kept them up, but he was replaced that December, after the 15th round of the following season. In the summer of 2000 he joined Real Zaragoza, where he lasted about three months after an early exit from the UEFA Cup. During the 2002 World Cup he worked as a pundit for Antena 3. He returned to the dugout in the Spanish second division with Ciudad de Murcia (2003-04) and Terrassa (2004-05).

Dorados de Sinaloa, Real Sociedad and Almería

In September 2005 he crossed the Atlantic to take over Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico mid-season. There he signed Pep Guardiola as a player in the final stretch of his career. Dorados finished eighth in the Clausura 2006 but went down on the relegation coefficient. In April 2008 he took charge of Real Sociedad, then in the second division. They finished sixth in 2008-09 and missed out on promotion. In December 2009 he replaced Hugo Sánchez at UD Almería and kept them in La Liga in 13th place. He was dismissed on 20 November 2010, after an 8-0 defeat to Barcelona.

Colombia, Chile and Sevilla

Millonarios hired him in December 2013. In the 2014 Apertura the Bogotá club reached the semi-finals, where they lost to Junior on penalties after two goalless draws. The club dismissed him on 2 September 2014. On 8 October 2015 he joined Jorge Sampaoli’s staff with the Chile national team, and in 2016 he followed the Argentine coach to Sevilla FC as his assistant for the 2016-17 season. On 21 June 2017 Atlético Nacional named him head coach. He resigned on 5 December that year, at the end of the 2017-II Liga Águila.

Japan and China

On 17 September 2018 he was appointed head coach of Vissel Kobe, in Japan’s J1 League, and left of his own accord on 17 April 2019. In August 2019 he took over Qingdao Huanghai, who were fifth in China League One. He won six of his first seven games, and the team finished as 2019 China League One champions, earning promotion to the Chinese Super League.

Manchester City, Al-Sadd and Mexico

On 9 June 2020 Manchester City announced him as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, replacing Mikel Arteta. During that first spell, which ran until June 2022, the club won the Premier League in 2021 and 2022 and the League Cup in 2021. In June 2022 he became head coach of Qatar’s Al-Sadd, the reigning Qatar Stars League champions, and left by mutual consent in July 2023. In August 2023 he returned to City, where he stood in for Guardiola against Sheffield United and Fulham while Guardiola recovered from back surgery. In that second spell, which ended in 2025, the team won the 2023 Club World Cup and the 2023-24 Premier League. On 28 August 2026 the Mexican Football Federation named him assistant to Rafael Márquez with the Mexico national team.