Juan Otxoantezana

Juan Ochoantezana Milicua (25 October 1912 – 10 February 1998), also known as Juanito Ochoa, was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Real Madrid in the early 1940s.

He later worked as a manager in the 1950s and 1960s, taking charge of several clubs, such as Racing de Santander, Real Zaragoza, Deportivo de La Coruña, Real Oviedo, and Athletic Bilbao.

Playing career Juan Ochoantezana was born on 25 October 1912 in the Biscayan town of Plentzia, but it was in Valencia where he began his football career, joining the ranks of third division team Gimnástico in 1933, aged 21, where he quickly stood out from the rest, so in the following year, in 1934, he was signed by top-flight club Valencia CF, with whom he played for just one season, starting in only four La Liga matches. With the latter team, he only played a single official match, a La Liga fixture against Real Oviedo on 5 March 1944.

After leaving Madrid in 1945, Ochoa joined Indautxu, then in the third division, with whom he played for three years, until 1948, when he retired at the age of 36. He then took over Sabadell, which he oversaw for three seasons, from 1955 until 1958, when he was signed by another top-flight club, Real Zaragoza, where he stayed for two seasons, surviving relegation on both occasions.

After a short stint at the helm of Recreativo de Huelva, Ochoa was appointed as the new coach Málaga CF on 25 July 1960, a position that he held for nearly a year, until 3 June 1961, overseeing a total of 32 matches, which ended in 11 wins, 6 draws, and 15 losses, with his team scoring 43 goals and conceding 54.

In 1961, Ochoa took charge of Deportivo de La Coruña, which he guided to a triumph in the 1961–62 Segunda División, thus achieving promotion to La Liga, a feat that earned him a move to the top-flight club Real Oviedo, where he only stayed for a little over a year, from 8 May 1962 until 31 May 1963. Under his leadership, Real Oviedo claimed five consecutive victories against Deportivo (1–0), Valencia (2–0), Sevilla (2–3), Atlético Madrid (3–0), and Zaragoza (1–0), thus setting a club record.

Ochoantezana then coached several top-flight clubs, such as Athletic Bilbao (1963–64), Deportivo de La Coruña (1964–65), Pontevedra (1965–66), and Las Palmas (1966–67), before finally returning to the second division in 1967, now at the helm of Real Oviedo. The following year, in 1968, he took over the third division side Osasuna, which he led to its largest-ever victory on 24 March 1969, a 11–1 trashing of Binéfar.

Death Ochoantezana died on 10 February 1998, at the age of 85.

Honours As a manager Deportivo de La Coruña Segunda División: Champions (1): 1961–62