Vicente Moreno · Biography

Vicente Moreno Peris was born on 26 October 1974 in Massanassa, in the province of Valencia, and came through the youth ranks at Catarroja, Levante and Valencia. A defensive midfielder, he spent most of his playing career at Xerez, where he passed 400 appearances. As a coach he won promotions with Gimnàstic de Tarragona, Mallorca and Espanyol before working in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Youth and early years in the third tier

He made his debut in 1995 for Valencia Mestalla, the reserve side, in Segunda División B. He stayed there until 1998, playing 90 matches and scoring 9 goals, but never broke into the first team. He spent 1998-99 at Ontinyent and 1999-2000 at Guadix, both in the third tier. At Guadix he scored 11 goals from midfield, which drew the attention of Xerez.

Eleven seasons at Xerez

He joined Xerez in the summer of 2000, and the club won promotion to the Spanish second division that same season. For a decade he was a regular starter under a succession of coaches. In 2008-09 Xerez won the second division and reached the top flight for the first time. Moreno scored in the 2-1 win over Huesca in June 2009 that sealed promotion. He made his La Liga debut on 30 August 2009 in a 2-0 defeat to Mallorca and played 22 matches that season, scoring once. On 16 December 2010 the club honoured him for reaching 400 appearances. He retired in 2011 after a final second-division season with 28 matches and 3 goals.

First steps as a coach

After retiring he joined the Xerez staff as assistant coach. In December 2011, following the dismissal of Juan Merino, he took over the first team and finished 14th in the second division, with 9 wins, 6 draws and 11 defeats in 26 matches. He left the club in July 2012. In September 2013 he was appointed coach of the Valencian Community under-18 team.

Gimnàstic de Tarragona

In November 2013 he replaced Castillejo at Nàstic. He ended the 2013-14 season with ten straight wins and lost the play-off final to Llagostera in June 2014. The following year he won the 2014-15 Segunda División B title and sealed promotion with a 3-1 win over Huesca on 31 May 2015. That year he also received the Ramón Cobo award. In 2015-16 the team finished third in the second division and was knocked out of the promotion play-offs by Osasuna. After a poor start to 2016-17 and a cup exit against Alavés, he resigned, and the club accepted his departure on 27 December 2016.

Back-to-back promotions with Mallorca

Mallorca, freshly relegated to the third tier, presented him on 20 June 2017. In his first season he won the 2017-18 Segunda División B and went up to the second division. A year later he reached the play-off final against Deportivo: his side overturned the first-leg deficit with a 3-0 win in Palma on 23 June 2019 and returned to La Liga. He signed a new deal in July 2019. In 2019-20, a season interrupted by the pandemic, Mallorca were relegated on 16 July 2020 with one round left.

Espanyol, Al-Shabab and Almería

On 4 August 2020 he joined Espanyol, who had just gone down. He won the 2020-21 second division title and secured promotion on 8 May 2021 with five rounds still to play. He led the team in La Liga until 13 May 2022, when the club dismissed him along with sporting director Rufete. On 28 July 2022 he joined Saudi side Al-Shabab, winning several manager of the month awards and finishing fourth in the 2022-23 league. On 17 June 2023 he returned to Spain to coach Almería, who sacked him on 29 September that year after two points from seven matches.

Osasuna and Qatar

Osasuna announced him as coach on 27 May 2024. In 2024-25 he took the Pamplona club to the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, where they lost 2-0 to Real Sociedad, and to ninth place in La Liga. On 14 May 2025 he announced he would leave. In late June 2025 he signed for Qatari club Al-Wakrah, and on 24 March 2026, after an agreement between the two clubs, he moved to Al-Rayyan to replace Artur Jorge. On 15 April 2026 he won the Qatar Stars Cup with a 2-0 win over Muaither in the final, and on 23 April 2026 he lifted the Gulf Club Champions League after beating Al-Shabab 3-0.