Carlos García Badías (born 29 April 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He is the current manager of Eerste Divisie club Jong Ajax.

He spent most of his career with Almería, playing 208 competitive matches for the club and appearing in three La Liga seasons. Additionally, he had a four-year spell with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League.

Club career Espanyol and Almería Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, García was a product of local RCD Espanyol's youth ranks. He would only appear for the first team on three occasions, during the 2003–04 season (three defeats),Clemente propone y Ronaldo dispone (Clemente proposes and Ronaldo disposes); El País, 6 October 2003 (in Spanish)El Valencia arrolla al Espanyol (Valencia crush Espanyol); El País, 20 October 2003 (in Spanish)El Madrid se dispara en Montjuïc (Madrid shoot for the sky at Montjuïc); El País, 22 February 2004 (in Spanish) also serving a loan stint with Polideportivo Ejido in the Segunda División the following campaign.El Almería pretende quitarle al Poli Ejido a Carlos García (Almería want to rob Poli Ejido of Carlos García); ABC, 12 July 2005 (in Spanish)

García stayed in Andalusia in 2005, being sold by Espanyol to second-division UD Almería.El central Carlos García nuevo jugador de la U. D Almería (Stopper Carlos García new player of U.D Almería); ABC, 19 July 2005 (in Spanish) He was a starter from the beginning, being instrumental in their first-ever La Liga promotion in the 2006–07 campaign.Carlos García, al club de los '100' de la UD Almería (Carlos García, to UD Almería's '100' club) ; Ideal, 25 March 2008 (in Spanish)

Deemed surplus to requirements by manager Hugo Sánchez, García was loaned to neighbours Real Betis for 2009–10's second-tier season.Carlos García pasa el reconocimiento previo a su cesión al Betis (Carlos García undergoes medical prior to Betis loan); Marca, 25 June 2009 (in Spanish) After not being able to help the Verdiblancos return to the top flight he rejoined Almería,El Almería confirma la vuelta de Carlos García (Almería confirm return of Carlos García); Marca, 1 July 2010 (in Spanish) being first-choice under new manager Juan Manuel Lillo and both his successors José Luis Oltra and Roberto Olabe, scoring onceL'Almeria aconsegueix el primer triomf com a local de la temporada davant l'Osasuna (3–2) (Almeria get first home win of season against Osasuna (3–2)); Ara, 23 January 2011 (in Catalan) in 33 games as they were eventually relegated after a four-year stay.Carlos García: "Bajar es fracasar en lo personal y en lo colectivo" (Carlos García: "To be relegated is a personal and collective failure"); Marca, 5 May 2011 (in Spanish)

Maccabi Tel Aviv García moved abroad for the first time in his career in June 2012, signing a three-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. in the Israeli Premier League.Carlos García pasa el reconocimiento del Maccabi Tel-Aviv y firma tres años (Carlos García passes medical at Maccabi Tel-Aviv and signs for three years); Almería 360, 13 June 2012 (in Spanish) In his first season he was teamed up in the centre of defence with Eitan Tibi, with the pair performing solidly as the club won the national championship after a ten-year drought.Maccabi Tel Aviv ends 10-year drought, wins Israeli soccer championship; Haaretz, 22 April 2013

Aged 29, García made his debut in European competition in the 2013–14 campaign, featuring in both the UEFA Champions League qualification matchesSlick Stocker gives Basel slender lead; UEFA, 30 July 2013Maccabi revival comes too late to halt Basel; UEFA, 6 August 2013 and the UEFA Europa League group stage.Maccabi Tel-Aviv battle back to beat Bordeaux; UEFA, 3 October 2013Eintracht cruise to Maccabi Tel-Aviv success; UEFA, 24 October 2013 In the domestic front he was part of the squad that set a new league record for minutes without conceding a goal, surpassing Hapoel Haifa FC's 585 from 1999.Juan Pablo: "I came for the championship", Walla!, 29 October 2013 (in Hebrew)

García retired in 2017 at the age of 33, after one season in the Turkish Süper Lig with Alanyaspor.Oficial: El Alanyaspor ficha a Carlos García (Official: Alanyaspor sign Carlos García); Nuevo Fútbol, 4 July 2016 (in Spanish)

International career García was part of the Spain under-16 squad at the 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Championship in England, winning the tournament alongside top scorer Fernando Torres.La cantera vuelve a coronarse (Youth system crowned again); Última Hora, 7 May 2001 (in Spanish) Two years later, he contributed seven starts for the under-20s as they finished runners-up to Brazil in the FIFA World Cup.España en los mundiales sub’20: Emiratos Árabes Unidos 2003 (Spain in under'20 World Cups: United Arab Emirates 2003); Cuadernos de Fútbol, April 2015 (in Spanish)Spain denied at final hurdle; UEFA, 19 December 2003

Coaching career Immediately after retiring, García returned to Maccabi as assistant to his compatriot Jordi Cruyff.Carlos appointed as assistant coach; Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, 29 December 2017 The pair worked together again in the Chinese Super League, at Chongqing Dangdai Lifan F.C. and Shenzhen FC.La Superliga china arranca con mucho acento español (Chinese Superleague gets started with heavy Spanish accent); Diario AS, 27 February 2019 (in Spanish)Pleno español en el 'play-out' de la Superliga china (Spaniards win it all in Chinese Superleague play-out); Diario AS, 3 November 2020 (in Spanish)

García became manager of Liga Leumit side Beitar Tel Aviv Bat Yam F.C. in January 2022.Carlos Garcia has been appointed coach of Betar Tel Aviv / Bat Yam; Time News, 7 January 2022 He returned to assistant duties subsequently, at Serie A's Udinese Calcio“En mi época, los chicos querían ir al Espanyol antes que al Barça” ("In my time, kids wanted to go to Espanyol instead of Barça"); Diario AS, 18 June 2023 (in Spanish) and Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire FC.

On 27 June 2025, García was appointed head coach of Flamurtari FC, recently returned to the Albanian Kategoria Superiore.Flamurtari me trajner spanjoll, zyrtarizohet Carlos Garcia (Flamurtari with a Spanish coach, Carlos García is made official); Televizioni Klan, 27 June 2025 (in Albanian) In October, he left by mutual agreement.Jo vetëm Carlos Garcia, te Flamurtari pritet një tjetër shkarkim (EMRI) (Not only Carlos García, another dismissal is expected at Flamurtari (NAME)); Klikoje, 8 October 2025 (in Albanian)

García joined AFC Ajax in February 2026, initially as assistant manager at the reserve team in the Eerste Divisie.El español Óscar García Junyent, nuevo entrenador del Ajax sub-23 (Spain's Óscar García Junyent, new manager of Ajax under-23); Infobae, 10 February 2026 (in Spanish) The following month, however, after head coach Óscar García was promoted to the main squad, he accompanied him.Òscar Garcia, nombrado primer entrenador del Ajax (Òscar Garcia, named Ajax head coach); Mundo Deportivo, 8 March 2026 (in Spanish)

Ahead of the 2026–27 season, García became manager of Ajax B.

Honours Maccabi Tel Aviv Israeli Premier League: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Israel State Cup: 2014–15 Toto Cup: 2014–15

Spain U16 UEFA European Under-16 Championship: 2001

Spain U23 Mediterranean Games: 2005

Spain U20 FIFA U-20 World Cup runner-up: 2003

References

External links