- Full nameManuel Sainz Márquez
- Place of birthTetuan (Morocco)
- Date of birth28/08/1940
“A synonym of success”
He began as a small forward while playing for Hesperia, the Real Madrid reserve side, although shortly after he took the reins of the first team as the point guard. With leadership skills and vision of play only possessed by a select few, he had an irreproachable career crowning Real Madrid as the best team in Spain and Europe during the sixties.
With barely any time to rest, Sainz retired as a player and began coaching. After three seasons coaching in the youth teams, he became the assistant to Pedro Ferrandiz, the first team coach. In 1975 he succeeded him as coach.
Despite the difficulty in substituting the ‘master’, Sainz accepted the challenge and had overwhelming success. Eight ACB League titles, two Copa del Rey, two European Cups, two European Cup Winner’s Cups, three Intercontinental Cups, one Korac Cup and the World Club Championship. Years later (1993) his wisdom was made available to the Spanish national team, who he coached to the 1999 Eurobasket silver medal in France.
Honours
As a player:
As a coach:
- European Cup (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968).
- ACB League (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968).
- Copa del Rey (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967).
As a coach:
- European Cup (1978, 1980).
- Intercontinental Cup (1976, 1977, 1978).
- European Cup Winner’s Cup (1984, 1989).
- Korac Cup (1988).
- World Club Championship (1981).
- ACB League (1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1986 with Real Madrid, and 1991, 1992 with Joventut de Badalona).
- Copa del Rey (1977, 1985, 1986, 1989).