The former Mexican defender has gone through the activities of manager, businessman and technical director since his retirement in August 2018. Today he announced his departure as coach to undertake a new project
It’s been a little over two years since Rafael Márquez’s last game as a footballer, with Atlas and during his participation in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and the former Mexican defender continues to look for a place off the field.
Márquez was part of various projects after retiring as a professional footballer: he was manager of Rojinegros, reopened his football and boxing academy, as well as a gym, and began his career as a coach in a youth team. to Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá, from Spain.
However, on Monday, he announced his resignation as coach of the Spanish team, without giving details about his future, whether he will be on the bench or in the office; He will return to Mexico or stay in Spain right now, when Barcelona is being restructured by the board of directors and will start a new project at the hands of Joan Laporta, the manager who took him to the Blaugrana team.
In this context, in ESPN Digital We present to you the journey of Rafael Márquez after his retirement from professional football.
Atlas sports chair
After retiring as a professional footballer in August 2018, Rafael Márquez became president of Deportivo del Atlas, after the dismissal of Fabricio Bassa, due to the poor results of the red-black team.
However, with two coaches in his leadership and the poor choice of reinforcements, accompanied by poor results, after nine months as manager, he left his position at the red-black institution, with the sale of Grupo Salinas to Grupo Orlegi in May 2019 .
Gymnasium inaugurated with Julio César Chávez
In January 2020, the “JC Chávez: Boxing Studio” gym was inaugurated in Zapopan, Jalisco, where Márquez teamed up with historic Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez to start a boxing academy in Jalisco.
In December of the same year, the project between the two references of Mexican sport was extended to the inauguration of the “RM4 Fitness” gymnasium, to ensure physical conditioning, as well as the boxing academy in the same place.
Inaugurated the football academy
In July 2020, the former Mexican footballer inaugurated his football academy in Guadalajara, for children aged 6 to 16, the project is led in the sports part by former Chivas and Atlas coach Efraín Flores, and his goal is in a few years to become a Third or Second Division team.
Coach Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá
In August 2020, Rafael Márquez began his new adventure in football, after becoming technical director in Spain and was introduced as a basic forces strategist in the cadet A of Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá.
After completing the theoretical part of his coaching process, in order to obtain the UEFA Pro license as a coach, the former Atlas director started his coaching process for the 15-16 years old categories.
Trial, as DT concludes in Spain
After seven months as coach in Spain in the Cadet A category with the Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá team, Márquez announced his departure from the club, through a message on his Twitter account, without revealing the reasons for his departure.
So far, the club has not offered any answer to the departure of the former Mexican footballer on his website or through his Twitter account.