Manuel Alfaro

Manuel "Manolo" Alfaro de la Torre (born 19 January 1971) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker, and a current manager.
His 12-year professional career was mainly associated with Hércules, for which he scored more than 60 official goals whilst competing in all three major levels of Spanish football.

Born in Alcalá de Henares, Community of Madrid, Alfaro made his professional debuts with the team at which he finished his football formation, Atlético Madrid. He appeared rarely for the Colchoneros' first team, with 19 of his 25 appearances coming in the 1992–93 season, and was also loaned to Real Valladolid during his link with the Spanish capital team.

In 1994, Alfaro signed for Hércules CF, scoring 20 Segunda División goals in his first two seasons combined, including 12 in the 1995–96 campaign en route to a La Liga return after a ten-year absence for the Alicante outfit. In the following year he netted a career-best 15 goals, but his team was immediately relegated back.

In 1998–99 Alfaro produced another solid season in the top flight, now with Villarreal CF (35 games and 12 goals), but suffered another relegation. After years battling with chronic tendinitis he decided to retire from football in December 2002, aged only 31; his last club was Hércules, now in Segunda División B.

After his retirement, Alfaro coached mainly in amateur football. In the 2004–05 season he worked alongside former Hércules teammate Josip Višnjić at hometown's RSD Alcalá, acting as director of football, youth coordinator and first-team assistant manager for the third division club; in the following year, he returned to his main team Hércules as a scout.

After two seasons in Tercera División with as many teams, Alfaro again worked with Hércules, as director of football. In 2009–10 he returned to coaching duties in the category where he left off, with Talavera CF, but the team folded soon after. In November 2010 he was appointed at another fourth level club, CD Toledo.

Player

Atlético Madrid

• Copa del Rey: 1990–91, 1991–92

Hércules

• Segunda División: 1995–96

Manager

Toledo

• Tercera División: 2010–11

• "El Mallorca, finalista elemplar" [Mallorca, the perfect finalist] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 30 June 1991. Retrieved 26 February 2014.