Agustín Abadía

Agustín Abadía Plana (Spanish pronunciation: [aɣuz'tin aβa'ði.a 'plana]; born 15 April 1962) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left midfielder, and a current coach.

Blessed with few technical skills but a tremendous hard-worker,^[1] his professional career – which included 243 La Liga games and 13 goals over the course of nine seasons – was closely associated with CD Logroñés, as he served the club in several capacities, and in two of its denominations.

Playing career

Born in Binéfar, Province of Huesca, Aragon, Tato Abadía made his senior debuts with local CD Binéfar. After two consecutive Tercera División championships, he helped the club promote to Segunda División B for the first time in its history, in 1983.

Two years later, Abadía signed for CD Logroñés in Segunda División, scoring three goals in 33 games in his second season as the Riojans reached La Liga for the first time ever, and helped them retain their league status in the following two years, being an important first-team member. In the 1989 summer he signed for Atlético Madrid, but returned to his previous club after only one season.

From 1990 to 1993, Abadía helped modest Logroñés consecutively retain its top level status, netting a career-best – both in the league and as a professional – five goals in the 1992–93 campaign, two of those coming on 14 March 1993 as the team came from behind 0–2 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium to draw 2–2 against Real Madrid.^[1] Aged 31, he signed for SD Compostela and achieved another first-ever promotion in his career in his first year, with the Galicia side reaching the top flight after finishing third and promoting in the playoffs against Rayo Vallecano, with the player appearing in all 270 minutes in the tie (two games and a third after the teams drew 1–1 on aggregate).^[2]

After only appearing in 14 league matches in 1995–96 (only three starts), 34-year-old Abadía returned again to Logroñés, but this time could not help prevent his main club's top division relegation. He closed out his career with Binéfar in 1999, winning another division four championship in his first season.

Manager career

Abadía started coaching with his last club, first at youth level, then successfully leading the team into safety in two consecutive third tier seasons. He started 2002–03 with Logroñés' juniors, but was promoted to the main squad for the second division promotion playoffs, eventually falling short.

Abadía then managed Girona FC in level three, being sacked after round seven in his second season, which ended in relegation. Subsequently, he returned to Logroñés, and in the following years acted as both manager (youth and seniors) and director of football.

In late January 2011, after one year with CD Calahorra in the fourth division – fourth position, no playoff promotion –^[3]Abadía signed for another team in the category, SD Logroñés (Club Deportivo had already folded after severe economical problems).^[4]

References

External links

• Agustín Abadía profile at BDFutbol
• Agustín Abadía manager profile at BDFutbol