Vázquez, new coach of the Panathinaikos subsidiary

Javier Vázquez begins a new journey in Greece as the new coach of the Panathinaikos subsidiary, which plays in Super League 2, the second category of Hellenic football. The Madrid coach, who last season won the National League title with Real Madrid’s Juvenil B team, signed his contract this Tuesday and on Wednesday he made his debut on the bench with a victory (3-1) in the League match against Ierapetras. This Sunday (13:45) he faces a new commitment at home against the leader Levadiakos.

The technician, who had had offers from Second RFEF teams, preferred to pack his bags, in what will be his first adventure abroad. Before his time at Real Madrid, Vázquez (Madrid, 7-10-86) held various positions in the Alalpardo sports structure and spent two seasons at Unión Adarve, where he coached its División de Honor Juvenil and the first team in Third division. With the first, he managed to maintain the category with the club from the Pilar neighborhood on the last day by beating Leganés 1-2, while with the second he played the playoff for promotion to Second B in the season interrupted by the pandemic. The red and black team was second classified when the league ended. As a player, he spent most of his career at Sanse, although he also played for Racing Portuense and Getafe B.

“Panathinaikos is one of the greats of world football. It is a great opportunity for me. I liked the fact that the offer came from outside Spain, because I am an adventurous man and I did not think much about it until I said yes.“, Vázquez stated in statements to the website of the Athenian club.

Vázquez somehow follows in the footsteps of another former coach from the Madrid academy, Dani Poyatos, who, after managing Juvenil A in the 2019-2020 season, was coach of the Panathinaikos first team in the first months of the 2020-2021 season. Poyatos currently trains the Japanese Tokushima Vortis.