VALENCIA: Spanish football team Villarreal’s newly appointed coach Manuel Preciado died of a heart attack on Thursday. He was 54.
Preciado, who only agreed to take charge of the team on Wednesday, had agreed to a one-year deal at Villarreal. The team was relegated from the Spanish league last season.
Villarreal’s website said the team had expressed its condolences to Preciado’s family.
Preciado is a former player with several clubs including Racing Santander and had also previously coached teams including Racing, Levante, Murcia and Sporting Gijon.
The team said Preciado was in Valencia when he was stricken early Thursday.
“We are all shocked,” Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said from Poland where he is preparing his team for the European Championship.
“We were having breakfast and we were all taken back by the news,” he told Spanish radio Marca. “He was a caring person and a great sportsman. He was a man of football that was an honor to coaching.”
Preciado’s sudden death led to an outpouring of emotional responses from Spanish clubs, coaches and players. Real Madrid was one of several teams to express its condolences to his family.
“We all burst into tears on hearing the news,” said Mallorca coach Joaquin Caparros. “I was so happy for him joining Villarreal. I am sure he would have taken it back to the first division.” Preciado, a native of the Cantabria region in northern Spain, began coaching in the third division in 1995. (Agencies)
