Sergio Navarro Barquero

Sergio Navarro Barquero was born in Huelva on October 17, 1979. He began his career as a left-back at Vall de Uxó, completing his youth career with Villarreal. He was called up to the first team in 1997/98, the year the club achieved promotion to La Liga. He continued his footballing career by playing for several Spanish Third Division and regional teams over the following years, before retiring in 2005 to fully dedicate himself to his coaching career.

In 2006, Sergio Navarro Barquero was called up to join the Castellón youth academy, and a few years later, he also managed the Valencian club's second team. Two important and formative stints as Director of Methodology followed, first at Rubin Kazan between 2011 and 2013, then at Villarreal between 2014 and 2017. In 2017, he became a first-team coach for the first time, arriving in Ukraine to lead Karpaty Lviv. He returned to Spain in 2018 to join Paco López's coaching staff at Levante, a position he held until 2021. He then spent three years, from 2022 to 2025, at Athletic Club Bilbao as Head of the Youth Sector. Before arriving in Italy to lead Milan Futuro, he was head coach of Hungarian club Debrecen during the 2025/26 season, a season that culminated in a fourth-place finish in the league and qualification for the UEFA Conference League.