Last Updated on September 11, 2026 by Wilson
José Bordalás Jiménez is one of the most recognizable Spanish coaches of his generation, but his character and approach to football are closely connected to a much less glamorous beginning. Born on March 5, 1964, in Alicante, Spain, the longtime Getafe CF coach grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Rabasa as the eighth of ten children.
Bordalás has repeatedly said that growing up with nine siblings taught him about discipline, effort, responsibility and helping others. His parents came from Níjar in Almería before settling in Alicante, where they raised their large family with limited financial resources.
José later became a father himself at only 18 years old. Reliable sources confirm that he has two children, a son and a daughter, and that he is now also a grandfather. His son, Roberto Bordalás, has followed him into football coaching and has worked alongside his father at Getafe.
Who Is José Bordalás’s Wife or Partner?
José Bordalás has always been extremely private about his romantic life.
Reliable reporting confirms that Bordalás was married and that his wife accompanied him at important moments during his coaching career. For example, when Deportivo Alavés celebrated promotion to La Liga in 2016, Spanish media reported that Bordalás’s wife, daughter and son were present with him.
However, the identity of his wife has not been widely published by established sports outlets, and there is not enough reliable recent information to confidently describe Bordalás’s current marital or relationship status.
For that reason, it is more accurate to say that Bordalás has had a documented marriage and family life while keeping the identity of his partner away from the public spotlight.
Is José Bordalás Currently Married?
As of now, Bordalás’s current marital status is not clearly established by authoritative recent sources.
Older reporting refers to his wife, while Bordalás himself generally avoids discussing his romantic relationships publicly. Unlike his football philosophy, children and childhood, his relationship life rarely appears in interviews.
Any claims naming a current partner should therefore be treated cautiously unless confirmed by Bordalás or a reliable publication.
Does José Bordalás Have Children?
Yes. José Bordalás has two children: a son and a daughter.
He became a father unusually young. Biographical accounts of his life confirm that his first child was born when Bordalás was only 18 years old, at a time when he was still trying to build his own playing career.
He subsequently had a second child.
Bordalás has spoken about parenthood as an experience that forced him to mature quickly. Becoming responsible for a family while still a teenager meant that football was no longer his only concern and that earning money became particularly important.
Who Is José Bordalás’s Son?
José Bordalás’s son is Roberto Bordalás.
Roberto has followed his father into football, although not as a professional player at the highest level. Instead, he has developed on the coaching and analytical side of the game.
During José Bordalás’s second spell at Getafe, Roberto became part of the club’s technical environment. Reporting in 2023 described him as an analyst and technical assistant, while a 2025 profile presented him as one of his father’s assistants.
He could regularly be seen on the Getafe bench speaking with José and the other members of the coaching staff.
Roberto Bordalás Worked Alongside His Father at Getafe
The father-and-son combination attracted comparisons with other coaching families in European football.
Spanish reporting even compared Roberto’s role beside José with Davide Ancelotti’s work alongside his father Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.
Roberto studied and observed the tactical ideas developed by his father while also working with experienced Getafe coaches including Patricio Moreno and José Luis Vegar.
For José, the arrangement represented an unusual opportunity to share his professional world directly with his son after spending decades building his coaching career.
Is Roberto Bordalás Still on Getafe’s Coaching Staff?
Roberto was publicly documented within Getafe’s technical structure in recent seasons. However, Getafe’s official announcement for the 2026/27 coaching staff names Patricio Moreno and José Vegar as assistant coaches, Darío Montero as coaching assistant, Javier Vidal and Diego Megías in physical preparation and Curro Galán as goalkeeper coach.
Roberto is not included in that current official list.
Therefore, it is safest to describe Roberto as having worked with his father at Getafe rather than state that he currently holds a specific first-team position.
Did José Bordalás’s Son Play Football?
Bordalás has indicated that his son was interested in football and attempted to pursue the sport when he was younger.
However, he did not develop into an elite professional player.
Bordalás has explained that he deliberately avoided placing excessive pressure on his son or trying to force him into professional football simply because his father was a coach.
Roberto remained connected to sport and eventually became involved in coaching and football analysis instead.
Who Is José Bordalás’s Daughter?
José Bordalás also has a daughter.
Her name and professional background have not been reliably publicized by major football outlets, and she has generally remained outside the spotlight surrounding her father’s career.
Her existence has nevertheless been confirmed directly through Bordalás’s own comments and contemporary reporting.
While coaching Alcorcón in 2013, Bordalás jokingly mentioned that his daughter attended matches and was never afraid to express an opinion when she disliked something she saw on the pitch.
José Bordalás Became a Father at 18
One of the most significant facts about Bordalás’s personal life is how early he became a parent.
He was only 18 years old when his first child was born.
At that age, Bordalás was still trying to establish himself as a footballer. He had spent years within Hércules’s structure but was repeatedly sent on loan to smaller clubs rather than establishing himself in the first team.
Early parenthood added another responsibility at a time when professional football offered him very little financial security.
José Bordalás Worked Different Jobs to Support His Family
Bordalás’s early adult life involved considerably more than football.
Because his playing career was spent largely in Spain’s lower divisions, he took various jobs to earn money.
Accounts of his youth describe him working as a newspaper deliveryman, window cleaner and in other temporary jobs.
He had already learned this mentality as a teenager. During summer holidays, Bordalás traveled to the Almería area and worked picking watermelons and melons with relatives.
He once explained that he wanted a bicycle his parents could not afford, so he worked during the summer to earn money himself.
José Bordalás Is a Grandfather
Yes. José Bordalás is also a grandfather.
Recent Spanish reporting has explicitly described the Getafe coach as a grandfather, another consequence of becoming a father when he was only 18.
Bordalás has generally protected his grandchildren from publicity, and reliable sources do not consistently publish their names, ages or other personal details.
That privacy is consistent with the way he has handled most of his family life throughout his coaching career.
Who Were José Bordalás’s Parents?
José Bordalás was born to parents whose family roots were in Níjar, Almería.
They moved to Alicante for employment and eventually established their home in the working-class neighborhood of Rabasa.
His mother was known as Paca, while his father’s full name is not consistently documented in authoritative sports reporting.
Together, they raised ten children under financially difficult circumstances.
Who Was José Bordalás’s Mother, Paca?
José Bordalás’s mother was known as Paca.
She came from the same family as Carmen Jiménez, the mother of football coach Juan Ignacio Martínez.
Paca and Carmen were sisters, making Bordalás and Martínez first cousins.
The two branches of the family grew up close together in Alicante after their relatives moved from Níjar in Almería.
José Bordalás’s Mother Raised Ten Children
Raising ten children required an enormous amount of organization and sacrifice.
Bordalás has said that his mother could not possibly manage everything alone, meaning the older children frequently helped care for the younger ones.
The arrangement created an unusually strong sense of collective responsibility inside the household.
Rather than viewing nine siblings as a disadvantage, Bordalás has repeatedly said that it meant there was almost always another family member available to offer support.
Who Was José Bordalás’s Father?
José Bordalás’s father worked as a tailor.
Although his full name has not been consistently published by major sports media, his profession has been referenced in profiles about José’s upbringing.
The elder Bordalás worked long hours to help provide for ten children, leaving relatively little free time.
José has explained that this was another reason why the older siblings had to help their mother look after the younger members of the household.
José Bordalás Learned Attention to Detail From His Father
Some journalists have drawn a connection between Bordalás’s highly detailed coaching methods and his father’s profession as a tailor.
Tailoring demands precision, patience and careful attention to individual details—characteristics often associated with Bordalás’s preparation of football teams.
More importantly, Bordalás himself repeatedly credits both parents with teaching their children about effort and appreciating what they had.
He has said that nothing came easily to his parents and that they expected their children to respect rules and fulfill their responsibilities.
How Many Siblings Does José Bordalás Have?
José Bordalás grew up with nine siblings.
He was the eighth of ten children.
Biographical records describe the family as consisting of five sisters and five brothers in total, meaning José had four brothers and five sisters.
Growing up in such a large household became one of the defining experiences of his childhood.
What Has José Bordalás Said About His Nine Siblings?
Bordalás has described life with nine siblings as challenging but ultimately extremely valuable.
He explained that the older children effectively helped raise the younger ones because their father worked for much of the day and their mother could not handle ten children alone.
This system meant responsibility began at an early age.
Bordalás later carried many of the same ideas into football: discipline, collective effort, sacrificing for others and ensuring that everyone understands their responsibilities.
Did José Bordalás’s Siblings Play Football?
Interestingly, football was not the main sport for the rest of the Bordalás children.
José has said that his siblings tended to prefer other sports, meaning he did not have to fight with them over the football at home.
The greater challenge was finding enough access to the ball when playing outside because the neighborhood streets were full of children wanting to join the game.
Bordalás spent much of his childhood outdoors playing football in Rabasa.
Who Was Javier Bordalás?
One of José Bordalás’s brothers was Javier Bordalás.
Javier pursued a very different sporting passion: bullfighting.
He became a novillero during the 1970s and performed alongside figures who later became major names in Spanish bullfighting.
Javier died in Alicante in July 2022. Contemporary reports identifying his relatives specifically confirmed that he was a brother of Getafe and former Valencia coach José Bordalás.
Who Was Manolo Bordalás?
Another of José’s brothers was Manolo Bordalás.
Manolo was closely associated with bullfighting culture in Alicante and became president of the Peña Taurina El Arte.
He died before his brother Javier, and bullfighting publications later remembered both men when reporting Javier’s death.
The sporting interests within the Bordalás family were therefore diverse, ranging from José’s football career to his brothers’ involvement with bullfighting.
José Bordalás and His Cousin Juan Ignacio Martínez
Football coaching also appears elsewhere in José Bordalás’s extended family.
His first cousin is Juan Ignacio Martínez, commonly known as JIM, another experienced Spanish football coach.
Their mothers, Paca and Carmen, were sisters.
Bordalás and Martínez were born only a few months apart in 1964 and grew up within the same extended family environment in Alicante.
Both eventually earned coaching qualifications and built long careers in Spanish professional football.
José Bordalás and Juan Ignacio Martínez Are Like Brothers
The relationship between the two coaches has always been particularly close.
When their teams faced each other in 2010, both told AS that although they are technically cousins, they consider themselves almost like brothers.
They naturally want to defeat each other when their teams meet, but outside competition they have consistently supported each other’s coaching careers.
The connection provides another example of how important extended family has remained to Bordalás throughout his life.
How José Bordalás’s Childhood Shaped His Coaching Style
Bordalás regularly connects his coaching values with his childhood.
Growing up in a household of ten children meant there was little room for selfishness. Everyone had responsibilities and older siblings were expected to help younger ones.
Money was limited, so the children were also expected to understand the value of possessions and hard work.
Those principles closely resemble what Bordalás demands from his teams: collective effort, discipline, organization and players working for one another.
Family Is Central to José Bordalás’s Philosophy
Bordalás frequently describes his dressing rooms as families.
He has explained that players and coaches sometimes spend more waking hours together than they spend with their actual relatives during the football season.
For that reason, he tries to build a close atmosphere in which players feel responsibility toward one another.
Many of his players are young enough to be his children, and Bordalás openly says he develops paternal feelings toward footballers he has coached for long periods.
Why José Bordalás Calls His Players His Children
The language Bordalás uses with his players reflects his own family background.
He frequently refers to footballers as his “sons,” while former players often describe him as a father figure.
For Bordalás, this does not simply refer to affection. It also involves demanding standards, telling players uncomfortable truths and trying to help them develop professionally.
His experiences as one of ten siblings and as a father from 18 years old help explain why family metaphors appear so frequently in his coaching philosophy.
José Bordalás’s Childhood in Rabasa
Bordalás was raised in Rabasa, Alicante.
His childhood was very different from the academy-controlled lives of many modern footballers. He spent long periods playing outside in the street with neighborhood children.
Bordalás remembers his grandmother encouraging him to leave the house and go outside to play rather than remain indoors.
Football gradually became his greatest passion, inspired especially by Johan Cruyff and the Netherlands team of the 1970s.
José Bordalás’s Parents Could Not Afford Luxuries
Bordalás has spoken openly about his family’s financial situation.
He once wanted a BH bicycle, but his parents simply did not have enough money to buy it.
Rather than receiving it anyway, José worked during his school holidays picking fruit in Almería until he could afford the things he wanted.
He later said experiences like these made him appreciate success and material possessions far more when they eventually arrived.
José Bordalás’s Family and His Career as a Player
Bordalás initially hoped to make his living as a professional footballer.
He developed with Hércules but suffered a serious knee injury at only 16 and was subsequently repeatedly loaned to smaller clubs.
Further injuries eventually forced him to retire as a player at around 28.
By that time, however, Bordalás had already become a father and needed to provide for his family, which encouraged him to pursue coaching seriously.
José Bordalás’s Family and His Coaching Career
Bordalás began coaching young players before gradually working through the lower levels of Spanish football.
His career took him through clubs including Alicante, Benidorm, Eldense, Hércules, Alcoyano, Elche, Alcorcón and Alavés before he established himself in La Liga with Getafe.
The journey lasted decades and included numerous setbacks.
Bordalás often cites the values learned from his parents and siblings—persistence, work and collective responsibility—as reasons he continued even when progress was slow.
Frequently Asked Questions About José Bordalás’s Family
Who is José Bordalás’s wife?
Bordalás has kept his partner’s identity private. Reliable reporting confirms that his wife attended Deportivo Alavés’s promotion celebration with his children in 2016, but authoritative recent sources do not clearly establish his current marital status.
Does José Bordalás have children?
Yes. José Bordalás has two children, a son and a daughter.
How old was José Bordalás when he became a father?
He became a father at only 18 years old.
Who is José Bordalás’s son?
His son is Roberto Bordalás, who has worked within Getafe’s technical structure as an analyst and coaching assistant.
Does José Bordalás have a daughter?
Yes. He has a daughter, although her identity and professional life have largely remained private.
Is José Bordalás a grandfather?
Yes. Recent Spanish reporting confirms that Bordalás is a grandfather. Details about his grandchildren remain private.
Who was José Bordalás’s mother?
His mother was known as Paca. Her family came from Níjar in Almería before settling in Alicante.
What did José Bordalás’s father do?
His father worked as a tailor and spent long hours working to provide for the family’s ten children.
How many siblings does José Bordalás have?
Bordalás grew up with nine siblings. He was the eighth of ten children, with four brothers and five sisters.
Who were José Bordalás’s brothers Javier and Manolo?
Javier Bordalás was a novillero associated with bullfighting in Alicante, while Manolo Bordalás was a well-known bullfighting enthusiast and president of the Peña Taurina El Arte.
Is Juan Ignacio Martínez related to José Bordalás?
Yes. Former La Liga coach Juan Ignacio Martínez is Bordalás’s first cousin. Their mothers, Paca and Carmen, were sisters.
Where is José Bordalás from?
He was born in Alicante, Spain, on March 5, 1964, and grew up in the Rabasa neighborhood.
Wilson Gaspar is a football analyst covering the UEFA Champions League, focusing on match previews, tactical reviews, and the performance of Europe’s top clubs throughout the competition.
