Manolo Lama

Manuel Lama Jiménez (Madrid, January 3, 1962), known as Manolo Lama, is a Spanish sports announcer. He works on the radio, on the COPE network. He is especially known for being a narrator of the Spanish soccer team's matches on the radio media for which he has worked, and for several editions of the FIFA video game, from the EA Sports franchise.

Biography

He was born in Madrid in 1962, although he and his family come from the Andalusian town of Cabra (Córdoba). He is married and has five children.

Radio

At Cadena SER he was editor-in-chief of Deportes, a station where he edited and presented the sports section of Hora 25 and Ser Deportivos, both in its midday and afternoon editions. He was also a narrator and commentator on Carrusel Deportivo and collaborated on El larguero . On January 4, 2011, Lama announced the unilateral termination of the contract that linked him to Cadena SER until the end of 2011.

He then became part of the COPE sports team, where he performs the same functions as in his previous station. Currently he is editor-in-chief of Sports, where he narrates the main matches of the Spanish league and events such as the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, especially those of Real Madrid and the Spanish team in Tiempo de Juego. He also edits and presents the evening edition of Deportes Cope from Monday to Friday at 8:30 p.m. He participates in the program El Partidazo de Cope.

Events covered

He covered the following sporting events for Cadena SER (until 2011) and Cadena COPE:

• Olympic Games (Los Angeles 84, Seoul 88, Barcelona 92, Atlanta 96, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020).
• World Cup (Mexico 86, Italy 90, USA) UU. 94, France 98 Korea and Japan 02, Germany 06, South Africa 2010Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018)
• Eurocopas of Football (Germany 88, Sweden 92, England 96, Belgium and Holland 2000, Portugal 04, Austria and Switzerland 08, Poland-Ukraine 12 and France 16).
• FIFA Confederations Cup (South Africa 2009 and Brazil 2013).
• Basketball (since 1984).
• 21 cycling rounds, as well as all kinds of sporting events.

Video games

Since 1997 Manolo Lama has been a commentator alongside, usually, Paco González, in EA Sports football games, ranging from FIFA: Heading to the 98 World Cup, to the game FIFA 23, which would be the last one in which he acts as a commentator.

Television

Between 1995 and 2005 he hosted the sports section of Telenoticias 1 on Telemadrid.

Later, together with Manu Carreño, he presented the midday edition of Noticias Cuatro Deportes on the Cuatro television channel from its birth in 2005 until September 16, 2016, the date on which the network decided to dispense with him (after finishing the broadcast of that day's program). The network issued a statement stating that they hoped to have a relationship with him in another way.

In January 2017, Lama's incorporation to Antena 3 was announced to present, together with Arturo Valls and Pilar Rubio, the new program Ninja Warrior, a contest produced by Globomedia. In the month of February That same year, his signing for Gol was announced, in El golazo de Gol alongside Jesús Gallego.

Controversies

• On September 11, 2008 he was severely attacked by Javier Clemente, then coach of Real Murcia. Clemente referred to the car accident that Lama had in the company of other members of the SER Chain, claiming that, if he were selfish, he would think that he would have "goodly come that Lama would have died in 1987," letting him see that he repented that he had sent him a telegram at the time desiring an early recovery. He justified these statements on the basis of the belligerent attitude that Lama has always shown towards his work as a coach. The journalist answered with irony, "I feel I don't like Clemente and I haven't died."

• On March 10, 2009, before making a connection with your colleagues Sports FourWhile he was in Liverpool to relay the UEFA Champions League meeting between Liverpool and Real Madrid, he was attacked by two Ultras South, radical fans of the white team.

• On May 12, 2010, while reporting for Sports Four on the previous of the end of the UEFA Europa League together with fans of the Atlético de Madrid, he focused his attention on a homeless city of Hamburg. The scene provoked controversy, as he was accused by various organizations, media and spectators of humiliating the beggar. Both Manolo Lama and the Four television network apologized and explained that it had been a misunderstanding. Days later, while numerous amateur groups (both in the comments made on the digital media and through a complaint group created ad hoc On Facebook) they expressed their repulsion for the incident, the Spanish Ministry of Industry decided to open to the Cuatro chain an "information source" based on article 57.1 of the General Audiovisual Law, but there was finally no sanction because it considered that it was a "insulated fact".

• On August 20, 2023, during a tertulia in the COPE chain, the kiss in the mouth that Luis Rubiales gave footballer Jenni Hermoso after the victory of Spain in the Women's World Cup of that year. Lama joked about the issue and said that “I think those who piss off is because they have never kissed them,” a comment that went viral on Twitter and was very criticized. The journalist apologized the following day in a statement but insisted that Rubiales’s kiss had been the product of the euphoria and without evil, and complained that “Spain has become a country of inquisitors... If you think differently, they will stone you."

Prizes

Together with the Carrusel Deportivo team he received the 2002 Ondas Award for "Best nationally broadcast radio program".

He received great recognition in 2006, when he was awarded the Golden Microphone in the Radio category.

In 2008 he received another Ondas Award along with the entire sports editorial staff of Cadena SER for the coverage carried out both at the Euro Cup in Austria and Switzerland and at the Beijing Olympic Games.

In 2011 and 2016 he received the Antena de Oro Award in the Radio category.