Chivas appoint Fernando Hierro as new Sporting Director

Chivas de Guadalajara confirmed Fernando Hierro will be the team’s new Sporting Director, replacing Ricardo Pelaez.

The team parted ways with Pelaez after a disappointing 2022 Liga MX Apertura campaign, concluding the regular season in ninth before losing to Puebla in the playoffs reclassification match. 

Hierro will now take over, arriving with plenty of time to make changes before the 2023 Clausura tournament kicks off on January 6.

"Excited, is the word, with the new challenge, it will be a fantastic experience, there are different motivations and Chivas is one of them, we know what the club and identity means, it is different from the rest, it is a very nice personal challenge to which I am going with great enthusiasm," he told Chivas TV. 

"When one tells you the number of fans they have, not only in Mexico, and the heart they have, that awakens the illusion, for me from the first day, I have to admit that a motivation awoke in me, because it is a differentiating project. A methodology, a way of understanding what the basic forces are, but we cannot forget the first team."

Hierro arrives with years of experience, having worked as Sporting Director with the Spanish FA and second division side Malaga. He also served as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant at Real Madrid in 2014, head coach of Real Oviedo in 2016 and led Spain at the 2018 World Cup. 

His first task with Chivas will be looking for a head coach, after the team parted ways with Ricardo Cadena this week.

"He must be young, who knows, who has a mentality that has trained in the big leagues in Europe," Hierro said of the search. 

"People are calm that we are trying to bring someone with a young profile who knows how to work with young people, who knows the area and the mentality of Mexican soccer and that he has trained in Europe."