Unai Emery

Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Since 2021, he is also the majority shareholder of fourth-tier Spanish club Real Unión.

After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coaching after retiring in 2004. He began at Lorca Deportiva, where he achieved promotion to the Segunda División in his first season. He then joined Almería, whom he led to promotion to La Liga for the first time in the club's history. He subsequently moved to Valencia, leading the team to top-three finishes. After his contract was not renewed at Valencia, he moved to Spartak Moscow for six months but was sacked due to poor performance, before moving to Sevilla in 2013, where he won an unprecedented three consecutive Europa Leagues.

Emery moved to French club Paris Saint-Germain in 2016. There, he won a Ligue 1 title, two Coupe de France titles, two Coupe de la Ligues, and two Trophée des Champions, including a domestic quadruple in his second season. After the expiry of his contract, Emery was appointed as head coach of English club Arsenal in 2018, succeeding Arsène Wenger. He finished Europa League runner-up in his first season, before being dismissed in November 2019. He was hired by Villarreal in July 2020, where he won the Europa League in his first season and guided the club to a Champions League semi-final run in the following season. In October 2022, he returned to the Premier League to manage Aston Villa and guided them to a UEFA Conference League semi-final in 2024 and the Champions League quarter-finals a year later after successfully finishing in the top four of the Premier League.

Emery was born in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. He is a native speaker of the Basque language. His father and grandfather, named Juan and Antonio respectively, were also footballers, both goalkeepers. The former appeared for several clubs in the second tier including Real Unión, while the latter competed with that club in the top division. Emery's uncle, Román, played as a midfielder. In July 2021, the Emery family completed a takeover of Real Unión, and his brother Igor became club president.

Emery's wife is Luisa Fernández. Their son Lander, also a goalkeeper, played for Aston Villa's Under-21s team between January 2024 and July 2025 and currently plays for Real Unión - the third member of the Emery family to wear the goalkeeper jersey for the club.

Emery, a left-sided midfielder, was a youth graduate of Real Sociedad, but never really broke into the first team (aged 24 he appeared in five La Liga games, scoring against Albacete in an 8–1 home win). After that, he resumed his career mostly in the Segunda División, amassing totals of 215 matches and nine goals over seven seasons. He retired with Lorca Deportiva at the age of 32, after one season in Segunda División B. In 2002, he signed for Burgos but was one of several players released before making a single competitive appearance due to lack of funds.

Emery suffered a serious knee injury while at Lorca in the 2004–05 season, and he was offered the vacant coach's position by the club president. He immediately helped the club achieve promotion to the second division for the first time in its history, as well as beating top-level side Málaga in the Copa del Rey. He was subsequently awarded the Miguel Muñoz Trophy as coach of the season. In his second season, the Murcians' first ever in the second division, the team finished fifth with 69 points, only five points off promotion to the top flight; they suffered relegation in 2007, after Emery's departure.

Emery then moved to Almería in division two, and again helped his squad overachieve: after guiding them to a first ever promotion in 2007, the Andalusian side finished eighth in La Liga in 2007–08. This prompted a move to Valencia, where he succeeded Ronald Koeman as coach.