Juan Manuel Lillo

Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lillo Díez (born 3 November 1965) is a Spanish football manager.

Having started coaching before his 20s, he was the youngest manager in charge of a La Liga club, having taken over Salamanca at not yet 30 years of age. He also coached Oviedo, Tenerife, Zaragoza and Almería in the top-flight, and had spells in charge of clubs in Mexico, Colombia, Japan, China and Qatar.

Born in Tolosa, Gipuzkoa, Lillo began coaching local Amaroz KE at just 16 and, four years later, he took charge of Tolosa in the Tercera División. He moved to Mirandés also in that level afterwards, and led the side to promotion to Segunda División B in the 1988–89 season, as champions.

Lillo spent the 1991–92 campaign at Cultural Leonesa, advocating a 4–2–3–1 formation. He became the youngest coach to attain the national coaching badge in Spain.

Lillo made his name as a manager at Salamanca, joining the club in mid-1992 at the behest of its chairman Juan José Hidalgo. In his first season he finished second in the third division, narrowly missing out on promotion playoffs which he attained the following campaign without any major squad changes. This prompted reported interest from Real Valladolid, but the coach stayed until the end of 1995–96 as they competed in La Liga– this made him the youngest ever person to manage at the highest level, at only 29; after 28 games in charge, with Salamanca four points into the relegation zone, he was dismissed, but players and fans publicly opposed the sacking, supporting him in recognition of his achievements – the team finished in last position, eleven points behind 21st-placed Mérida.

Lillo then had some spells in the top division: in the 1996–97 season he worked with Real Oviedo, but was fired before its closure due to poor results. He returned to management in February 1998 with Tenerife, helping them to avoid relegation in his first year; the following campaign, however, he did not see out the year, being sacked after 15 matches as the team were ultimately relegated.

After a year-and-a-half break, Lillo returned to take the reins of Real Zaragoza – the team had qualified for the UEFA Cup the previous season, and manager Txetxu Rojo moved to Athletic Bilbao. He set about fulfilling the task of progressing in the European competition and repeating European qualification through the league but did not achieve this, being relieved of his duties after barely three months.

Lillo did not return to coaching quickly: he worked as a sports commentator for television channel Antena 3, during its 2002 FIFA World Cup coverage. From 2003 to 2005 he coached in Segunda División, with Ciudad de Murcia and Terrassa, with little success (the Catalans were even relegated).