Joaquin Alonso steps down as La Roja coach

Spain national beach soccer team coach, Joaquin Alonso, announced his exit from the coaching staff on Thursday

Over the last 23 years Spanish beach soccer has been lit up and steered by a true legend of the game, but today an era spanning nearly a quarter of a century came to an end. 

Joaquín Alonso, a footballing legend on both sand and grass, has stepped down from his position as head coach of the Spanish national beach soccer team.

In a moving statement released on Thursday, the ex-Spain midfielder said: “I’ve been in this sport from the very beginning, first as a player and then in charge of the national selection.” 

“My heart fills with pride to remember the goals that we have achieved over that time.”

Alonso says goodbye to a role which has been his for the past 17 years, after having played beach soccer for six years previously, and leaves behind a legacy of success, titles and extraordinary development in the sport.

In his career playing on grass, the moustachioed mediocampista represented Spain at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as well as in the 1982 World Cup held in his home country, playing a total of 18 games.

For 16 seasons he was part of the squad of Real Sporting de Gijón, playing a grand total of 479 matches in the First Division, which was a record at the time of his retirement at the end of the 1991/92 campaign.

No sooner had the Spaniard hung up his boots than he began playing barefoot. In his own words: “the sport was captivating from the moment I started playing.”

Among the trophies that he has accumulated in his lengthy career in beach soccer, Joaquin Alonso boasts having won, in some cases on more than once, the European League, the European Championship, the World Cup, World Cup runner-up, Olympic runner-up and an Olympic gold achieved just a matter of short weeks ago at the World Beach Games in Doha as part of the technical staff of the women’s team.

It is always sad to say goodbye to legends in any sport, but someone who has been such a familiar face and an crucial figure in beach soccer for so long will be truly and sorely missed.

Gracias por todo, Joaquin!