Francis Cagigao

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cagigaoand the second or maternal family name is Souto.

Francis Cagigao Souto

Personal information
Full name	Francisco Cagigao Souto
Date of birth	(1969-11-10) 10 November 1969 (age 55) [1]
Place of birth	Paddington, London, England
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1984–1988	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1988–1989	Barcelona B	9
1989–1991	Racing Santander	2
1991–1993	Southend United	1	(0)
1993–1994	Racing de Ferrol	27
1994–1995	Yeclano Deportivo	33
1995–1999 [2] [3]	Club Lemos
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Francisco "Francis" Cagigao Souto (born 10 November 1969) is a London born Spanish football Sporting Director/Head of Recruitmentscout, Coach and former player and currently serves as the Global Director, in charge of recruitment and strategy, of Galatasaray in Turkey. He played for Arsenal, where he won the FA Youth Cup in 1988 under Pat Rice, Barcelona B, Racing de Santander, Southend United, Racing de Ferrol and Yeclano Deportivo in the second tier. A Spanish u19/20 International, his career was cut short at the age of 29 due to injury. He coached Club Lemos to the Segunda División B play-offs in Spain.

Career

The trilingual Cagigao worked under Arsène Wenger for 21 years, followed by Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta. He has close ties with the Spanish FA where he has served as an instructor on the Director of Football course. ^[4]

He was responsible for direct participation in the signings of players such as Lauren, Cesc Fabregas, Jose Antonio Reyes, Santi Cazorla, Nacho Monreal, Mikel Arteta, Emiliano Martinez, Granit Xhaka, Alexis, Carlos Vela, Hector Bellerin, Robin van Persie, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba and Kieran Tierney.

In 2020, he became the Technical Director of the Football Federation of Chile where he worked for two years.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2023, he became the Global Director of Galatasaray in Turkey.

Honours

Club

Arsenal ^[5]

• FA Youth Cup: 1988

References

1. "Francis Cagigao". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
2. "ESTATÍSTICAS". Ogol.com.br.
3. "Bio". BD Futbol.com.
4. "Curso superior de formación de directores deportivos – Ponentes" (PDF). RFEF.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
5. "Interview with our Arsenal's Spanish scout". Hupu.com.