Unai Emery

Facts of Unai Emery

Unai Emery born Unai Emery Etxegoien is a Spanish-born professional football coach who is currently the head coach of La Liga club Villarreal. 

He retired from his playing career at 32 following his injury and soon started his managerial career with Lorca Deportiva. 

His two seasons at Deportiva led the club to the second division promotion, four seasons at Valencia to top-three finishes, four seasons at Sevilla to three Europa Leagues titles, two seasons at PSG to five trophies, including 1 Ligue 1 title. 

The marriage turned into divorce

Unai married Luisa Fernandez in the year 1998 in a private ceremony. The couple was first introduced through their mutual friends in a restaurant. 

However, the marriage could not last long, which later ended in divorce. The couple shares an 18-year-old son Lander Emery Fernandez.

Both his father and grandfather were goalkeepers

Unai’s father Juan and grandfather Antonio both were goalkeepers. His grandad played for the Real Union in the 1920s and contributed to winning Copa del Rey in 1924 and 1927. 

Growing up in a family of goalkeepers where football used to be a day topic developed a passion for football. He started playing football with his feet which later became his career as a left-sided midfielder. There is one more member who is a goalkeeper, and that is his son Lander. His son’s first memory of football is with his grandfather as a goalkeeper.

He labeled his ex-girlfriend a white witch

Unai was in a relationship with Sacha Wright until they broke up with one another in September 2019. The couple first met in the summer of 2018. 

Sacha confessed to not being aware of his popularity earlier since she did not follow football that much. 

The Gaucho steak restaurant at Hampstead, North West London, was their regular meeting place. 

She got to know his football obsession when they moved to his beautiful house in Barnet andhe started watching games in bed. 

Later he slowly started blaming her for every failure while at Arsenal, labeling her a white witch and bringing bad luck in his life. 

According to her, he always watched games and checked results and would lie in bed watching games with one game on the computer and the other on the tablet. 

She eventually got used to his behavior, but her frustration level slowly rose to a peak when he was not ready to introduce her to his friends and family and would get upset if anyone would try to take pictures of them together. 

The relationship, which she thought to be serious, was not serious to him, so she decided to call it a quit. 

When Unai was sacked from Arsenal’s job, she flew back to Unai, but he blamed her for losing his job. 

According to the sources, Unai was dating another woman named Lucila Vila Segui, a bar owner in his native Spain, at the same time with whom he is still together.

What he loves outside football?

Unai is deeply religious and loves his hometown’s biggest festival, The Alarde de Hondarribia, the one he hardly misses. 

The festival is celebrated on the 8th of September, since 1639 to gratitude the Virgin of Guadalupe for the liberation from the siege which they had vowed after the city was surrounded by French troops on 1st of July, 1638, and in the memory of those who lost their lives in the siege. 

They had vowed to visit her shrine in the promontory of Olearso if they managed to set themselves free through her prayers. 

It existed for 69 days, and the city was destroyed after 25,000 French troops blasted the city leaving only 300 survivors in the end, but still, they kept on fighting. 

At last, the French troops withdrew. He also loves to play racket sports padel, and chess. Besides that, he is fond of walking and is a frequent walker.

Net Worth

According to the sources, his annual salary at Arsenal was reported to be £6 million and £4.5 million at PSG. His estimated net worth as of 2021 is:

Age

1. He was born on the 3rd of November, 1971. He is currently 49 years old.