Jesús Casas

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Casas and the second or maternal family name is García.

Jesús Casas
Casas in 2024
Personal information
Full name Jesús Casas García
Date of birth (1973-10-23) 23 October 1973
Place of birth Madrid, Spain
Team information
Current team
 Lion City Sailors (head coach)
Youth career
GE CASA
1985–1992 Cádiz[1]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1993 Balón de Cádiz
1993–1995 Cádiz B
1994–1995 → Sanluqueño (loan)
1995–1996 Jerez Industrial
1996–1998 Chiclana
1998–2001 Puerto Real
2001–2002 Jerez Industrial
2002–2003 Puerto Real
Managerial career
2003–2004 Cádiz (youth)
2004–2005 Cádiz B (assistant)
2005–2007 Balón de Cádiz (youth)
2007–2008 Balón de Cádiz
2008–2009 Cádiz B
2009–2010 Rota[2]
2010–2011 Deportes Romero[3]
2012–2013 Conil
2013–2014 Balón de Cádiz (youth)
2018 Watford (assistant)
2018–2022 Spain (assistant)
2022–2025 Iraq
2026– Lion City Sailors
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Iraq (as manager)
Arabian Gulf Cup
Winner 2023 Iraq
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jesús Casas García (born 23 October 1973) is a Spanish football manager who is the head coach of Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors.

Managerial career

Early career

Casas began his coaching career at age 29 with the youth sides of Cádiz CF. He later worked as match analyst for SD Eibar and FC Barcelona B, before becoming a scout and match analyst at FC Barcelona. He then returned to Cádiz, to become a director of their youth department.

On 21 January 2018, Casas became an assistant manager to Javi Gracia at Premier League club Watford but then left the club on 9 July 2018 to became an assistant manager to Luis Enrique and Robert Moreno with the Spain national team, a position he held until February 2022.[4]

Iraq

On 5 November 2022, the IFA confirmed that Casas would take charge of Iraq national team for four years on an annual payment of $1m split into monthly wages. Radhi Shenaishil was supposed to lead the national team for the Mexico and Ecuador friendly games in Spain, while Casas would take charge of the games against Costa Rica and Venezuela in Iraq, with his first game coming on 17 November 2022. The following matches were cancelled, as for Costa Rica match due to passport stamp issues at the border, while the match against Venezuela was called off for an unknown reason.[5][6]

Casas began with the national team officially on 30 December 2022 in a friendly against Kuwait as a preparatory match for the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup in Basra, which they eventually won after a 3–2 victory over Oman in the final, to be their first title in the competition since 1988.[7]

On 19 January 2024, in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup held in Qatar, Iraq beat Japan 2–1 in what was Japan's first group stage loss in the tournament since 1988, and also broke Japan’s streak of 10 wins in a row. The win also ensured that Iraq would top their group, which last happened in the 2007 edition of the competition. In the Round of 16 knockout stage, Iraq lost 2–3 to Jordan, as Aymen Hussein was sent-off during the match for excessive celebration. At the press conference, several Iraqi journalists began to point and yell at Casas. The situation necessitated the intervention of security who escorted the journalists out. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) later decided to ban those journalists for covering any future AFC tournaments.[8] The Iraq Football Association showed their full support for Casas following the ordeal. On 1 February 2024, Casas met with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani and the President of the Iraqi Football Association Adnan Dirjal where the incident was discussed, with Casas receiving further backing as Al Sudani promised the journalists involved would be investigated.

On 27 March 2025, following Iraq's 2–1 loss to Palestine in the 2026 AFC World Cup qualifiers, IFA held an urgent meeting that resulted in a unanimous decision to sack Casas and his staff. Casas' contract was terminated on 15 April 2025.[9]

Lion City Sailors

Casas who were at the verge of signing a deal with Honduras national team collapsed after Honduras team director failed to reach an agreement due to a differing visions on the composition of his coaching staff in which see Casas signing a two and a half year contract with Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors until the end of the 2027–28 season on 23 February 2026.[10][11][12]

Managerial statistics

As of 23 February 2026
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat. From To Record Ref.
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Iraq 5 November 2022 15 April 2025 34 18 8 8 56 34 +22 052.94
Lion City Sailors 23 February 2026 Present 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !—
Career Total 34 18 8 8 56 34 +22 052.94

Honours

Manager

Iraq

References

  1. ^ "Reseña histórica: Jesús Casas, una carrera en continuo ascenso | Cádiz CF - Web Oficial". Reseña histórica: Jesús Casas, una carrera en continuo ascenso | Cádiz CF - Web Oficial. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  2. ^ Cádiz, Diario de (20 January 2010). "Jesús Casas deja de ser entrenador del Rota". Diario de Cádiz. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ^ Cádiz, Diario de (30 May 2010). "Jesús Casas se convierte en nuevo entrenador del Deportes Romero". Diario de Cádiz. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Jesús Casas: The full story of Iraq's 7-month managerial search". socceriraq.net. 29 October 2022. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Spanish coach Jesus Casas to coach Iraqi national team". iraqinews.com. 3 November 2022. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Jesus Casas takes charge of Iraq". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Manaf Younis nets winner to help Iraq edge out Oman 3-2 in Gulf Cup final". Gulf Newsdate=19 January 2023. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Journalists banned after confronting Iraq manager Jesús Casas". Espn.co.uk. Joey Lynch. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Dismissal of Iraqi national team coach Casas". Al Sharqiya.
  10. ^ Sailors, Lion City (23 February 2026). "Lion City Sailors appoint Jesús Casas as Head Coach". Lion City Sailors FC. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  11. ^ Tan, Gabriel (23 February 2026). "Ex-Iraq coach Jesús Casas takes over at the helm of Lion City Sailors". ESPN.com. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Former Iraq coach Jesus Casas to helm Lion City Sailors". The Straits Times. 23 February 2026. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
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