Everything indicates that Luis García Fernández will be confirmed as the new coach of UD Las Palmas for the 2025-26 season upon his return to LaLiga Hypermotion.
As is the usual trend in everything that conceives the UD Las Palmas Lately, news stories, before being confirmed, are often rumors that resonate through local and national media. This is what has happened with the future of the Yellows' bench, which, despite no official confirmation, is already considered resolved within the Unión Deportiva community.
In the capital, they assume that Diego Martínez is already history and that his replacement will be confirmed before the Vigo-born coach boards his return flight. After a long casting process in which names such as Eder Sarabia and Rubén de la Barrera were considered, the replacement – if everything goes as indicated by sources close to the club – will be Luis García Fernández.
Few footballers can boast of having been idols at Sarrià, fleeting heroes at Zaragoza, and having reinvented themselves as coaches around the world. The (presumably) new Yellows manager is of that ilk.
A forward with the soul of a playmaker, he was one of those players who didn't attract attention for his speed, but rather for his intelligence and eye for goal. His thing was being where he needed to be at the right time. A textbook opportunist, from the school of Raúl Gonzalez Blanco, one of those players forged in schoolyards and polished through mud-slinging and regional matches.
He started in the quarry of Real Madrid and made his debut with the Real Madrid first team in the 2003 Copa del Rey. After playing for the reserve team and gaining experience at Murcia, it was at Real Mallorca where he began to make his mark. But his definitive breakthrough came with RCD Espanyol, a club where he achieved iconic status, scoring more than 50 goals and leading the team with a brace in the memorable 2006 Copa del Rey final, which the Espanyol side won against Real Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabéu.
He played for Real Zaragoza, where he emerged as one of the team's leaders thanks to his experience and seniority, but where he only scored 8 goals in two seasons. After a brief transatlantic adventure at the Tigers UANL Mexican, he ended his career as a footballer at KAS Eupen in Belgium, a club where he hung up his boots at the age of 39.
His relationship with football was a long one, so it was no surprise that, after hanging up his boots, he threw himself headfirst into the technical area. Luis García Fernández took his first steps as a coach with CF Damm's youth "A" team, where he spent three seasons (2019–2022) developing the youth system and gaining experience, until being replaced by Sergio García. In 2022-23, he took the helm of RSC Internacional FC, a club in Group VII of the Third Federation, with aspirations of becoming the new Real Madrid "C".
His big break came in April 2023, when RCD Espanyol, in the midst of a First Division crisis, offered him the position of manager following the dismissal of Diego Martínez. He failed to avoid relegation and, although he started the following season in the Second Division, he was dismissed in November despite keeping the team in the playoff spots.
Far from staying at home, he closed out 2023 with a contract as assistant coach of the Qatar national team, alongside Tintín Márquez. In December 2024, he took over as head coach for the Gulf Cup of Nations, but in May 2025, he was replaced by Julen Lopetegui. A journey that confirms that he's all about moving: from the youth academy to Espanyol, and from there to international coaching.
García is one of those young coaches with a distinguished past and a modern approach, trying to make his way among the veterans of Spanish football who have reinvented themselves on the bench; a sought-after profile with a long history, as demonstrated by the recent signing of Xabi Alonso as Real Madrid manager or Luis Enrique's Champions League success with Paris Saint-Germain.
García will be the man the Yellows fans will have to rely on in the club's new adventure in the Second Division, whose objective has been set since the relegation was confirmed: to return to the top flight of Spanish football as soon as possible.
