Álvaro Cervera

Álvaro Cervera Díaz (born 20 September 1965) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a winger.

As a player he made 261 matches in La Liga over 12 seasons, scoring 17 goals, playing for Racing de Santander (in two spells), Mallorca and Valencia in the competition.

Cervera became a manager in 2002, going on to work with a number of clubs.

Club
Born in Santa Isabel, Spanish Guinea when both his parents worked in that country, Cervera was raised in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and played youth football for four clubs, finishing his development at Racing de Santander. He made his La Liga debut on 9 September 1984 by playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss against Real Valladolid, but only totalled seven games in his first two senior seasons, featuring much more regularly in 1986–87 but suffering relegation.

In the summer of 1987, Álvaro – known by his first name during his playing days – signed for RCD Mallorca, remaining five years with them and being relegated twice from the top flight. In the 1988–89 campaign he scored a career-best six goals in 35 matches, helping the Balearic Islands team to promote from Segunda División.

Álvaro moved to Valencia CF in June 1992, following Mallorca's relegation. He made 32 appearances and netted three times in his first year (notably once in a 4–1 away victory over Athletic Bilbao), but was more often than not a reserve from there onwards, for that and his following club Racing, which he left to play with Hércules CF in the second division.

Álvaro retired in 2001 at the age of nearly 36, following a spell in the lower leagues.

International
Álvaro earned four caps for Spain, in slightly more than one year. He made his debut on 4 September 1991, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute for Andoni Goikoetxea in a 2–1 friendly win against Uruguay in Oviedo.

Coaching career
Cervera took up coaching in 2001, working with amateurs Catarroja CF in several capacities. From 2004 to 2011 he managed almost exclusively in the Segunda División B, and his first job at the professional level arrived in 2011–12 when he was appointed at Recreativo de Huelva in division two. However, in March 2012, he arranged to have his contract terminated when he received an offer from former side Racing Santander in the top tier, but he only collected three draws in his 13 games in charge to become the competition's worst ever debutant, and was not renewed.

On 3 July 2012, Cervera signed with Tenerife where he had already played youth football more than 30 years ago. Shortly before achieving promotion to the second division in his debut season, he renewed his link until 2015, being however relieved of his duties on 2 February 2015 even though he had a contract running until 2018.

On 18 April 2016, Cervera replaced Claudio Barragán at the helm of Cádiz CF, and managed to achieve promotion to the second tier at the end of the campaign. After coming fifth the following season, the team qualified for the play-offs for top-flight promotion, losing on regulations after a 1–1 semi-final draw with CD Tenerife in June 2017; promotion was finally gained in July 2020, ending a 14-year exile.

A quote from Cervera, "La lucha no se negocia" ("The fight is non-negotiable" in Spanish), was adopted by Cádiz as a club catchphrase shortly after his arrival. On 11 January 2022, as the club was in the relegation zone, he was sacked.

On 18 October 2022, Cervera replaced Bolo at Real Oviedo. He was dismissed on 21 September of the following year, after the start of the new season saw the side placed second-bottom.