Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa. Since 2021, he has been the majority shareholder of fourth-tier Spanish club Real Unión. One of the most successful managers in the history of European continental competitions, Emery holds the record for the most UEFA Europa League titles with five, and is widely considered one of the best managers in the world.
After a career as a midfielder spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coaching after retiring in 2004. He began at Lorca Deportiva, where he achieved promotion to the Segunda División in his first season. He then joined Almería, whom he led to promotion to La Liga for the first time in the club's history. He subsequently moved to Valencia, leading the team to top-three finishes. After his contract was not renewed at Valencia, he moved to Spartak Moscow for six months but was sacked due to poor performance, before moving to Sevilla in 2013, where he won an unprecedented three consecutive Europa Leagues.
Emery moved to French club Paris Saint-Germain in 2016. There, he won a Ligue 1 title, two Coupe de France titles, two Coupe de la Ligues, and two Trophée des Champions, including a domestic quadruple in his second season. After the expiry of his contract, Emery was appointed as head coach of English club Arsenal in 2018, succeeding Arsène Wenger. He finished Europa League runner-up in his first season, before being dismissed in November 2019. He was hired by Villarreal in July 2020, where he won the Europa League in his first season and guided the club to a Champions League semi-final run in the following season. In October 2022, he returned to the Premier League to manage Aston Villa and guided them to a UEFA Conference League semi-final in 2024, the Champions League quarter-finals in 2025 as well as finishing in the top four of the Premier League. In 2026, with Aston Villa, he won his fifth Europa League title.
Emery was born in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. He is a native speaker of the Basque language. His father and grandfather, named Juan and Antonio respectively, were also footballers, both goalkeepers. The former appeared for several clubs in the second tier including Real Unión, while the latter competed with that club in the top division. Emery's uncle, Román, played as a midfielder. In July 2021, the Emery family completed a takeover of Real Unión, and his brother Igor became club president.
Emery's wife is Luisa Fernández. Their son Lander, also a goalkeeper, played for Aston Villa's Under-21s team between January 2024 and July 2025 and currently plays for Real Unión – the third member of the Emery family to wear the goalkeeper jersey for the club.
Emery, a left-sided midfielder, was a youth graduate of Real Sociedad, but never really broke into the first team (aged 24 he appeared in five La Liga games, scoring against Albacete in an 8–1 home win). After that, he resumed his career mostly in the Segunda División, amassing totals of 215 matches and nine goals over seven seasons. He retired with Lorca Deportiva at the age of 32, after one season in Segunda División B. In 2002, he signed for Burgos but was one of several players released before making a single competitive appearance due to lack of funds.
Emery suffered a serious knee injury while at Lorca in the 2004–05 season, and he was offered the vacant coach's position by the club president. He immediately helped the club achieve promotion to the second division for the first time in its history, as well as beating top-level side Málaga in the Copa del Rey. He was subsequently awarded the Miguel Muñoz Trophy as coach of the season. In his second season, the Murcians' first ever in the second division, the team finished fifth with 69 points, only five points off promotion to the top flight; they suffered relegation in 2007, after Emery's departure.
Emery then moved to Almería in division two, and again helped his squad overachieve: after guiding them to a first ever promotion in 2007, the Andalusian side finished eighth in La Liga in 2007–08. This prompted a move to Valencia, where he succeeded Ronald Koeman as coach.
In 2008–09, his first season with Los Che, Emery led them to a sixth-place finish, with subsequent qualification to the UEFA Europa League, in spite of the club's serious financial problems. The team reached the Round of 32 in the UEFA Cup, losing on away goals after a 3–3 aggregate draw against Dynamo Kyiv, and the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, exiting against Sevilla.
In 2009–10, Emery led Valencia to third place, so the club returned to the UEFA Champions League after two years. After dropping down to Europa League (previously known as UEFA Cup), they lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Atlético Madrid on away goals, and exited in the round of 16 in the Copa del Rey against Deportivo La Coruña, losing 4–3 on aggregate. In May 2010, Emery renewed his contract for another year.
2010–11 started without David Villa and David Silva, sold to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively. Despite this, Valencia won five out of the first six league games (with one draw), starting the Champions League campaign with a 4–0 win in Turkey against Bursaspor, before being eliminated in the round of 16 by Schalke 04, and being knocked out in the same stage in the Copa del Rey by Villarreal. In the domestic league, the side finished third, thus again qualifying for the Champions League.
In 2011–12, Emery's side entered the Champions League and were paired with Chelsea, Bayer Leverkusen and KRC Genk. They finished third in their group and subsequently entered the Europa League. Valencia lost in the semi-finals to eventual winners Atlético Madrid again. He left the club in June 2012, after again finishing third in 2011–12, ensuring Valencia's qualification for Champions League.
On 1 July 2012, Leonid Fedun, owner of Spartak Moscow, announced Emery as the Russian club's coach for the following two seasons. On 25 November, he was sacked after a run of poor results, after only managing the side for six months. His last game in charge was a 5–1 home loss in the derby against Dynamo Moscow.
Emery returned to Spanish football on 14 January 2013, replacing the sacked Míchel at the helm of Sevilla. He led the club to fifth position in 2013–14, his first full season. On 14 May 2014, he won the Europa League final, defeating Benfica on penalties.
After finishing the 2014–15 season in fifth place, one point behind former club Valencia, Emery again won the Europa League after defeating Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, thus qualifying for the following Champions League. The victory meant that Sevilla became the most successful club in the history of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, with four wins, and Emery signed a one-year contract extension on 5 June 2015 which would have kept him at the club until 2017, after reported interest from West Ham United and Napoli.
In 2015–16, Emery led Sevilla to seventh position, having played the final games of the domestic league with several reserves and youth team players after the team confirmed their place in the Europa League final. This season, Sevilla entered the UEFA Champions League group stage as title holders of UEFA Europa League the previous season, they were third in the group and transferred to UEFA Europa League again. On 18 May 2016, despite trailing 1–0 at half-time, a goal from Kevin Gameiro and two from Coke resulted in a 3–1 victory over Liverpool at St. Jakob-Park in Basel.
On 12 June 2016, after Emery expressed his desire to leave Sevilla, the club announced that they would be parting ways.
On 28 June 2016, Emery signed a two-year deal, with the option of a third, to succeed Laurent Blanc at French quadruple-holders Paris Saint-Germain. In his first competitive match in charge, on 6 August, his side beat Lyon 4–1 in Austria to lift the Trophée des Champions.