Miguel Ángel Ramírez Medina (Las Palmas, 1984) is the first Spanish coach to win a CONMEBOL trophy: the 2019 Copa Sudamericana. This 36-year-old from the Canary Islands, who initially focused his career on youth football, achieved this renowned international success at the helm of Independiente del Valle after defeating Colón of Argentina at the General Pablo Rojas stadium in Asunción, Paraguay.
A historic feat for the Ecuadorian club, which secured its first title in its 61-year history—originally founded as Club Social y Deportivo Independiente José Terán—under the guidance of this methodical young coach. The Copa Sudamericana was also Ramírez Medina’s first professional trophy. He began his coaching career in the youth ranks of Unión Deportiva Las Palmas while working as a teacher after completing his studies in Education and earning a degree in Physical Education. He was committed to further education—completing two master’s degrees, one in sports management and another in sports coaching—and began a doctoral program in Physical Education in Vitoria, where he coached the Deportivo Alavés youth team.
True to his adventurous spirit – he spent an Erasmus exchange in Greece, which he used to connect with various Spanish coaches – he opted to begin a new six-year chapter at the Aspire Academy in Qatar as coordinator of technical work for the youth categories and head of the Aspire Football Learning Program, working alongside Roberto Olabe. This project aims to develop the players who will make up the senior national team that will compete in the 2022 World Cup.
He was the head coach of Qatar’s under-12, under-13, under-16, and under-17 national teams, as well as an assistant coach for the under-19 team, until June 2018 when he moved to Ecuador to take on a major challenge: managing the youth academy of Independiente del Valle, applying all the knowledge he had gained from his previous experiences. During that period, the club won the Under-20 Copa Libertadores. Just a year later, in May 2019, and almost unexpectedly for him, Ramírez was appointed head coach of the Ecuadorian first team. It was his first major opportunity on the sidelines, and it culminated in unprecedented success: the Copa Sudamericana title.
Miguel Ramírez, the Independiente del Valle coach who arrived unexpectedly (via the Copa Sudamericana)
The work of Ramírez and his coaching staff has transformed Independiente del Valle, from Sangolquí, a city of only 75,000 inhabitants located in the Valle de Los Chillos at an altitude of 2,500 meters, into one of South America’s leading teams. Beyond their sporting success, the team displays Ramírez’s ideological identity on the pitch: possession, positional play, relentless pressure, and the importance of the collective over individual talent.
• The day Louis Van Gaal said that extremes are no longer acceptable (via Tiempo Argentino)
A reflection of this was the image of the coach during the title celebration: he wore a jersey of Josué Mauricio Quiñónez, a player from the club’s youth academy who died from two gunshot wounds in May 2019. Surrounded by a trusted team (Martín Anselmi and Felipe Sánchez Mateos as assistants along with Fran Trujillo as physical trainer) he is known for his passion, dedication and ability to manage the personalities of veterans and youngsters, many of them from the high-performance center where they are also trained as individuals.
· It wasn’t Columbus, but this Spaniard conquered America (via Olé)
Ramirez, the only Canarian coach to win an international title after Luis Molowny won it at Real Madrid, was nominated for Conmebol’s best coach in 2019 alongside Marcelo Gallardo (River Plate) and Jorge Jesus of Flamengo. Precisely against the Brazilian team, champions of the Libertadores, they played the Recopa Sudamericana, although they were unable to win the trophy after losing at the Maracaná after a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Ecuador. In the summer of 2021, he signed a three-year contract with Charlotte FC after a stint in Brazil with Internacional de Porto Alegre.
Ramirez managed Charlotte in their MLS debut until May 30, 2022, leaving the team with a home record of 5 wins in 7 games and the second-highest average attendance in the competition.
In January 2023, the Canary Islander took charge of Sporting Gijón in the Liga Hypermotion. The Asturian team was struggling, having only managed one win in their last 12 matches. Ramírez and his coaching staff began implementing structural changes in the first team’s daily operations, while simultaneously ensuring the team’s survival. The improvement was evident in the 2023-24 season, in which they finished fifth, qualifying Sporting for the promotion playoffs to La Liga, where they were defeated by Espanyol. That summer, he felt it was time to end his time in Gijón with a record of 23 wins, 19 draws, and 21 losses. His legacy goes beyond the results, as Cote stated: “Ramírez and his team are incredible. They make the day-to-day work very easy because of their personality; the training sessions were excellent.”
In the summer of 2024, the Canary Islands-born coach accepted the challenge of managing Al-Wakrah in the Qatari league. At the end of September, he reached an agreement to leave the position after recording two wins, three draws, and two losses.
After his time in Qatar, Miguel Ángel begins his second project in Spanish football, where he manages one of Spain’s historic teams: Real Zaragoza.
Career
- 2004-12. Training at Unión Deportiva Las Palmas
- 2012. Training at Deportivo Alavés
- 2012-18. Aspire Academy Qatar
Coordinator of technical training for children and cadets
Head of the Aspire Football Learning Program
Head coach of the U-12, U-13, U-16 and U-17 teams
Assistant coach of the U-19 team. - 2018-19. Head of Training at Independiente del Valle
- 2019-20. Manager of Independiente del Valle
2019 Copa Sudamericana Champion.
2019 CONMEBOL Best Coach of the Americas Finalist. Third Place.
2020 Recopa Sudamericana Runner-Up - 2021. International Coach of Porto Alegre
- 2021-22. Charlotte F.C. Coach
- 2023-24. Sporting Gijón coach
- 2024. Coach Al-Wakrah
- 2024-25. Real Zaragoza coach
- 2025-26. Coach Malmo FF