ArmInfo.Renowned Spanish coach Gines Melendez has been appointed Technical Director of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) and will take up his duties on January 1, 2019, the official site of the FFA informed. Melendez will coordinate the work of various age teams of Armenia, as well as develop a program for the development of youth football, women's football and football hall.
The technical staff of Melendez will also include two Spanish specialists, one of whom will be responsible for the system of sports education, and the other for the physical training of youth teams. Gines Melendez was born on March 22, 1950. He started his sports career in the Albacete club, later on he held various posts in the club system. Since 2008, he has been the technical instructor of UEFA, and since 2011 - FIFA. In 2011-2018 served as technical director of the Spanish Football Federation and coordinator of national teams. During this period, various age teams of Spain won seven times champion titles in various championships, and also became silver medalists three times. In addition to working in the field of sports education, Gines Melendez also led various Spanish age teams, with whom he achieved exceptional success in the history of football, in particular, six times with him he became European champions in age categories up to 17 and 19 years old. . Melendez in various age teams coached such great players as Javi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Iker Casillas, David Villa, Cesc Fabregas, Juan Mata, Gerard Pique, Isco and others.
Earlier, the Director of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, the head of the FFA, Artur Vanetsyan, said that as a result of the difficult negotiations, the Football Federation of Armenia was able to invite the legendary football player to the republic, whose name he abstained from. According to Vanetsyan, this is a football legend who agreed to come to Armenia and work with our coaches. "Those countries in which he worked during the last 20 years have become leaders on the football map of the world," said the head of the FFA.