FRANCISCO JAVIER GARCÍA PIMIENTA APPOINTED AS NEW HEAD COACH

We have reached an agreement with Francisco José García Pimienta to become our first team head coach for the next season. Originally from Barcelona, it was there he first started out both his playing and coaching career. 

García Pimienta joined Barcelona's youth academy, progressing through all the team and making his first-team debut in the 1995/96 season in the First Division. The following season, he was loaned to the newly promoted CF Extremadura, but a serious injury brought him back to the reserve team Barcelona B, where he achieved promotion to the Second Division in the 1997/98 season. After leaving Barcelona, he finished his playing career with stints at UE Figueres, CE L'Hospitalet, and UE Sant Andreu, where he retired in 2004 aged 29.

He made his first steps into management as a youth coach at FC Barcelona. He joined in 2001 as an assistant for Cadete A, before gradually working his way up. From 2006 to 2015, he served as the head coach of various youth teams until he joined Barcelona B as an assistant to Gerard López in 2015. For the 2017/18 season, he returned to Juvenil A, where he won the UEFA Youth League title before making the return to FC Barcelona B, this time as head coach. 

García Pimienta managed Barcelona's B team for the following three seasons in Segunda B. After finishing eighth in his first full season in 2019/20 they finished second and reached the playoffs but lost to CE Sabadell. The season after he once again guided them to the playoffs, where they lost in the semi-final to UCAM Murcia CF. At the end of that season, following 28 years with FC Barcelona, he parted ways with the club.

He arrives after managing UD Las Palmas for the past two and a half seasons 

He made his coaching return six months later when he was appointed by UD Las Palmas. After securing 29 out of 33 points available and ending the season with five consecutive wins, Las Palmas qualified for the promotion playoff but lost in the semifinals to CD Tenerife. The season after his Las Palmas side finished second, securing direct promotion to LaLiga. In the 2023/24 season, García Pimienta made his debut in the top tier, managing to keep Las Palmas in the top flight with a sixteenth-placed finish.