Born: 28 August 1966, Asteasu, Spain
Julen Lopetegui Agote was born in August 1966 in the small mountain village of Asteasu in the autonomous Basque Country in northern Spain.
As a teenage goalkeeper, Lopetegui came through the youth academy at local Segunda División B club San Sebastián before moving to the city’s La Liga side Real Sociedad at the age of 18 in 1984.
The following year, 1985, Lopetegui moved to Madrid, where he spent three seasons keeping goal for Real Madrid’s reserve team, Castilla, in the Segunda División. He was also capped by Spain at age-group level between U19 and U21.
In 1988, he loaned to Segunda División Las Palmas, where he made 31 starts for the Canary Islands club, before returning to Real Madrid and becoming part of the La Liga-winning first-team squad, debuting in a derby at Atlético Madrid in April 1990.
In 1991, Lopetegui moved to Logroñés, where he started over 100 La Liga matches over three seasons, and his form led to a senior Spain debut in a friendly international with Croatia in March 1994. That summer, he was selected for the Spain squad for the FIFA World Cup finals in the United States, before signing for Barcelona.
Competition for places restricted Lopetegui’s opportunities at Camp Nou, but he did start the second legs of the Supercopa de España wins over Real Zaragoza and Atlético Madrid in 1994 and 1996 respectively and five La Liga matches.
The final part of Lopetegui’s playing career was also a successful one as he started 39 times as Rayo Vallecano won promotion from the Segunda División in 1998/99 – his second of five seasons with the Madrid-based club.
After retiring in 2002, Lopetegui went into coaching, assisting Spain coach Juan Santisteban at the 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He was then appointed Vallecano head coach, but his first senior role was short-lived.
After a stint in the media, Lopetegui returned to coaching in 2008, first with Castilla, then as head coach of Spain’s U19, U20 and U21 squads. It proved to be a hugely successful appointment, as Spain won the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in 2012, and UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 2013, going through both campaigns unbeaten.
Those achievements led to his appointment as FC Porto head coach. He led the Portuguese club to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and lost just three league matches in 18 months but, with expectations high, he departed in January 2016.
In July of that year, Lopetegui was appointed head coach of Spain. In 20 matches in charge, Spain did not lose once, and raced to qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. However, a prior agreement to join Real Madrid after the tournament led to him being replaced before it took place.
After three months in charge at Real Madrid, Lopetegui departed, but he would soon return, and return in style, at Sevilla. In his first season, 2019/202 he led the Spanish side to UEFA Europa League glory, defeating Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan in a thrilling final, and qualification for the Champions League. In a little over three seasons in Andalusia, he won 90 matches in all competitions.
In November 2022, he inherited a Wolverhampton Wanderers squad sat rock bottom of the Premier League table. He led them to nine top-flight wins and a comfortable mid-table finish, before leaving Molineux in August 2023.
Lopetegui was appointed West Ham United head coach on 23 May 2024, before formally starting work on 1 July.