Luis Costa (Spanish footballer)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Costaand the second or maternal family name is Juan.

Luis Costa

Costa as Zaragoza manager in 1987
Personal information
Full name	Luis Costa Juan [1]
Date of birth	(1943-02-19) 19 February 1943 (age 81) [1]
Place of birth	Alicante, Spain [1]
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) [1]
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Jove Español
	Villafranqueza
1958–1960	Hércules
1960–1962	Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1966	Real Madrid	0	(0)
1962–1964	→ Elche (loan)	29	(4)
1964–1965	→ Córdoba (loan)	20	(0)
1965–1966	→ Hércules (loan)	5	(0)
1966–1969	Córdoba	81	(7)
1969–1970	Mallorca	23	(1)
1970–1973	Zaragoza	59	(13)
1973–1976	Girona
Total		217	(25)
International career
1960	Spain U18	3	(0)
Managerial career
1976–1977	Mallorca
1977–1978	Huesca
1978–1981	Deportivo Aragón
1981	Zaragoza
1981–1982	Girona
1982	Huesca
1982–1983	Palencia
1983–1984	Oviedo
1984–1985	Deportivo Aragón
1985–1987	Zaragoza
1988–1989	Málaga
1989	Elche
1992	Levante
1992–1993	Alavés
1993	Córdoba
1994–1997	Zaragoza B
1997–1998	Zaragoza
2000–2001	Zaragoza
2002	Zaragoza
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Luis Costa Juan (born 19 February 1943) is a Spanish former football forward and manager.

Most of his professional career was closely associated with Zaragoza, as both a player and a manager.

Playing career

Costa was born in Alicante, Valencian Community. After rising to prominence in amateur tournaments held in his hometown, he signed with Real Madrid from Hércules CF at the age of 17, spending four years under contract with the club as a senior but never appearing in competitive matches – whose forward line included the likes of Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa, Ferenc Puskás, Luis del Sol and Alfredo Di Stéfano – also being loaned four times to three teams, including fellow La Liga sides Córdoba CF and Elche CF. ^[2]

In 1966, Costa left Real and signed for Córdoba on a permanent basis, following an unassuming spell with Hércules in the Segunda División. From 1968 to 1971 he suffered three consecutive relegations from the main division, with the Andalusians, RCD Mallorca and Real Zaragoza; ^[2] he amassed top-flight totals of 188 games and 19 goals, and closed out his career aged 33 after three years in the Tercera División with Girona FC, having obtained his coaching license before he retired. ^[3]

Coaching career

Costa's first job in the top division came with Zaragoza, overseeing one game in the 1980–81 season, a 1–1 home draw against Hércules. ^[4] After two complete seasons in the second tier, with Palencia CF and Real Oviedo, he returned to the Aragonese for 1985–86, ^[2] winning his first Copa del Rey – 1–0 win over FC Barcelona ^{[5] [6]} – and being fired early into the 1987–88 campaign. ^[7]

In the early 90s, Costa worked in the lower leagues with Levante UD, Deportivo Alavés and his former club Córdoba. In 1994, he was appointed at Zaragoza's reserves in the Segunda División B, whom he had already coached the previous decade. ^[8]

Costa was one of four managers in Zaragoza's first team in the 1996–97 season, with the team finally ranking in 14th position. ^[9] He was in charge for the entirety of the following campaign, which finished with the side one position above. ^[10]

Having replaced Juan Manuel Lillo after the fourth round in 2000–01, ^[11] Costa led Zaragoza to another Spanish Cup triumph, now against RC Celta de Vigo. ^{[12] [13]} The team could only finish 17th in the league however, being the first above the relegation zone (one of the few bright spots of the campaign was a 4–4 draw at Barcelona). ^{[14] [15]}

On 22 January 2002, Costa replaced Txetxu Rojo at the helm of Zaragoza, ^[16] not being able to prevent top-division relegation (as last) having won only twice in his ten games in charge. ^{[17] [18]}

Honours

Manager

Zaragoza

• Copa del Rey: 1985–86, 2000–01 ^[6]

References

1. Luis Costa at WorldFootball.net
2. Luis Costa, el triunfo de la modestia (Luis Costa, the triumph of modesty); El País, 26 April 1986 (in Spanish)
3. Luis Costa cuelga las botas (Luis Costa hangs up boots); Mundo Deportivo, 27 June 1976 (in Spanish)
4. Real Zaragoza 1980–81; at ADN Zaragocista (in Spanish)
5. Hoy se cumplen 30 años de La Tercera (30th anniversary of The Third is today); El Desmarque, 26 April 2016 (in Spanish)
6. Emotivo homenaje a Luis Costa, el eterno hombre de club (Tearful homage to Luis Costa, the eternal one-club man); Heraldo de Aragón, 16 February 2023 (in Spanish)
7. Villanova sustituye a Costa como entrenador del Zaragoza (Villanova replaces Costa as manager of Zaragoza); El País, 5 December 1987 (in Spanish)
8. Luis Costa: "Aún hay gente que me para por la calle y me dice que coja al equipo" (Luis Costa: "People still come to me on the street and tell me to take the reins of the team"); El Periódico de Aragón, 13 January 2014 (in Spanish)
9. El cuarto curso con triplete de entrenadores en el Real Zaragoza (Fourth campaign with managers treble at Real Zaragoza); El Periódico de Aragón, 11 March 2024 (in Spanish)
10. Real Zaragoza 1997–98; at ADN Zaragocista (in Spanish)
11. El Zaragoza destituye a su entrenador, Juan Manuel Lillo (Zaragoza dismiss their manager, Juan Manuel Lillo); El País, 5 October 2000 (in Spanish)
12. El Zaragoza gana la Copa del Rey al imponerse al Celta en la final por 3–1 (Zaragoza win King's Cup after besting Celta 3–1 in the final); Libertad Digital, 1 July 2001 (in Spanish)
13. Luis Costa, ex entrenador del Zaragoza: "El Zaragoza va a salir a dominar y tener el balón" (Luis Costa, former Zaragoza manager: "Zaragoza are going to take over the game and have ball possession"); El Periódico de Aragón, 9 June 2007 (in Spanish)
14. Abonados al milagro (Living on the edge); Mundo Deportivo, 15 April 2001 (in Spanish)
15. El milagro repetido (Miracle repeated); El Periódico de Aragón, 5 April 2010 (in Spanish)
16. Luis Costa sustituye a Txetxu Rojo como entrenador del Zaragoza (Luis Costa replaces Txetxu Rojo as Zaragoza manager); ABC, 22 January 2002 (in Spanish)
17. Dimite Luis Costa y le suple Marcos Alonso (Luis Costa resigns and Marcos Alonso replaces him); Diario AS, 26 March 2002 (in Spanish)
18. El zaragocismo 'revive' el descenso de 2002 (Zaragoza faithful 'relive' 2002 relegation); Diario AS, 1 April 2008 (in Spanish)

External links

• Luis Costa at BDFutbol
• Luis Costa manager profile at BDFutbol