Alfonso Perez

Alfonso Pérez Muñoz (Getafe, Madrid, September 26, 1972), known simply as Alfonso, is a Spanish former footballer and coach.

Footballer trained in the Real Madrid youth academy, he played four seasons in its first team. In 1995 he signed for Real Betis, a team in which he remained for five seasons, in which he achieved the best records of his career. In 2000 he was transferred to Barcelona for around €20m, returning two seasons later to the Verdiblanco team, where he concluded his career in 2005, being the third top scorer in the history of the Betic team.

He was an absolute international with Spain, totaling 38 games and 11 goals. He played in two European Championships (1996 and 2000) and one World Cup (1998). Previously, he went through all the youth national teams and the Olympic team, which achieved gold in Barcelona '92.

Sports career

As a player

Real Madrid

Trained in the youth ranks of Real Madrid (like his brother Iván Pérez), he debuted with the first team in the 1990/91 season, where he remained until 1994/95, without establishing himself as a starter in that period. He achieved a League, a Cup and a Super Cup.

Real Betis

In 1995, Real Betis obtained his loan, and the following year, his signing. In his second season 1996/97, he scored 25 goals, being the league's top scorer behind Brazilian Ronaldo, also becoming the Green and White player with the most goals in a League season. Between 1995 and 2000, he became the Betis team's reference player, playing 152 games and scoring 57 goals. During this stage, in which the majority of footballers wore black boots, the sports brand Joma created a model called "Joma Alfonso", white, which was very popular and gave rise to other models such as colored boots. red by Fernando Morientes.

F. C. Barcelona

In 2000 and after an outstanding performance with Spain in the Euro Cup that summer, he was signed by FC Barcelona, in a transfer of around 20 million euros, from Betis. The Barça club previously tried to hire him for the 1997/98 season, after Ronaldo's departure to Inter Milan, but Louis Van Gaal's preference for Sonny Anderson cut short his transfer.

Alfonso was an express request from the then Barça coach Serra Ferrer, who already had him under his command at Betis, to compete for ownership with Patrick Kluivert and Dani García. His signing for Barça coincided with a terrible sporting period for the club, in which his soccer team remained without titles for five years. This circumstance, together with his frequent injuries, prevented him from succeeding in the Barcelona team, with which in his first season 2000/01, he played 17 League games (2 goals), 8 Cup games (3 goals) and 6 League games. Champions. The following 2001/02 season, the club signed the young Argentine promise Javier Saviola and Alfonso gradually lost his place in the team.

Passage through Marseille and return to Betis

In January 2002, coinciding with the winter market, he was loaned to the French Olympique de Marseille, where he scored 4 goals in 11 league games. He was loaned the following 2002/03 season to Real Betis, who signed him at the end of the campaign. With the Verdiblanco team he played his last three seasons as a professional, before retiring at the conclusion of the 2004/05 campaign, after winning the Copa del Rey. In this second stage he played 45 games, scoring 10 goals. With 69 goals in the League, is the third top scorer in the history of Real Betis, in the First Division, after Rubén Castro and Poli Rincón.

National team

Alfonso was international with all the lower categories of the Spanish team, achieving gold with the Olympic team in Barcelona 1992. He debuted as an absolute international in a friendly against England in Santander, on September 9, 1992. He totaled 38 games and 11 goals and played in two Euro Cup finals (1996 and 2000) and the 1998 World Cup.

Hero of Bruges

One of his most memorable goals was the one scored at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges against Yugoslavia, in the third and final group stage match of Euro 2000. The Spanish team lost 3-2 in the 90th minute. 39; match and needed the victory to qualify. In added time, Mendieta tied the match from the penalty spot and in the last action of the match, in the 95th minute, Guardiola hits a ball into the area from the center of the field, which Urzaiz heads down, assisting to Alfonso, who scores with his left foot on a volley, making it 3-4, thus giving qualification to the quarterfinals and a historic victory for his team.

Participations in final phases

Competition	Headquarters	Outcome
1992 Olympic Games	Barcelona	Champion
Euro Cup 1996	England	Final rooms
World Cup 1998	France	First phase
Euro 2000	- Netherlands-Belgium	Final rooms

As a coach

Real Mallorca

In 2014 he joined the Mallorca youth team as a coach, forming a tandem with Pepe Gálvez, in the Honor Division youth team. In the 2015/16 season, they took the reins of the Real Mallorca first team, until their dismissal. in January 2016. Between December 2016 and May 2017, they took charge of Mallorca B, after Javier Olaizola came on board to take the reins of the first team.

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Country	Year	Parties	Goles
Real Madrid B	SpainSecond Division B	1988-1990	15	3
Real Madrid	SpainFirst Division	1990-1995	89	13
Real Madrid B (given)	SpainSecond Division	1991-1992	2	1
Real Betis	SpainFirst Division	1995-2000	152	59
FC Barcelona	SpainFirst Division	2000-2002	21	2
Olympique de Marseille (given)	First Division	2002	11	4
Real Betis	SpainFirst Division	2002-2005	45	10
Total			335	92

Palmarés

National Championships

Individual distinctions

Alfonso Pérez Coliseum

Since 1998, the municipal stadium where Getafe Club de Fútbol, his hometown club, plays its home games, has been named Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.