Ex-Barça: Abelardo to Sporting Gijon B

Former Barcelona central defender Abelardo Fernández (38) has this week been appointed as new head coach of Sporting Gijón B, the second team of Primera División team Sporting Gijón that plays in the Spanish third division.

Abelardo has been coaching several Sporting youth teams over the last five years and was last season the coach of the Juvenil B team.

In an interview with Asturias regional newspaper La Nueva España, Abelardo says that he is delighted with the new challenge: "This is a reward for my work over the last years, I'm very happy and motivated. I still have a lot to learn but I'll try to give my best to prepare some players for the step to the first team."

Arriving from Sporting Gijón in 1994, Abelardo played eight seasons for Barcelona. In the summer of 2002 he left for Deportivo Alavés. With Barcelona, Abelardo won two Spanish league titles in 1998 and 1999, two Spanish cups in 1997 and 1998, two Spanish super cups in 1994 and 1996, one European Cup winner's cup in 1997 and one European super cup in 1997.

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