The Big Interview: Milagros Martínez

The current Tigres head coach speaks about her first few months coaching one of Mexico's giants, her time spent coaching a men's team in Japan, Spain's World Cup legacy and more in an exclusive chat.

Mila Martínez has quickly become a vastly respected coach in the women’s game.

It is fair to say Milagros Martínez has enjoyed an eclectic career until this point. Known more commonly as 'Mila', the Spanish coach has gone from Europe to Asia to Latin America, in both the men’s and the women’s game.

She became the first female coach to manage a men's team in Japan, before embarking on a new journey in the ever-increasingly popular Liga MX in Mexico, back in the women's game, and a successful spell with Juárez led her to taking over Tigres UANL in the summer, replacing the departing Carmelina Moscato.

It's a big step for Martínez into a top job with one of Mexico's top teams in a league growing more and more, but still in its infancy with the seventh season having just got under way in the summer.

Tigres has been one of the leaders in the women's game since the inception of the league less than a decade ago, and Martínez has been tasked with recreating the success of last season.

It's been a good start, with her side unbeaten in 11 games and sitting top of the table with a game in hand.

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"So, apart from being very busy, the truth is that I’m very happy," smiles Martínez. "The truth is that it has been going very well, the team is better every week.

"I think the players are increasingly more adapted to what we want and they know it is a very demanding club, but that we are all working to have another good tournament, successes, and hopefully championships."

Martínez only arrived in Mexico just over 12 months ago when mid-table side Juárez offered her the opportunity to guide them forward. Starting later than many of their rivals in only coming into the league in 2019, Juárez finished 11th and outside the play-offs during the first half of the year, with the league split into two separate competitions, but finished sixth come the summer, therefore being able to fight for the overall title.

“It’s not just about coming to training, it’s rest, then extra work, gym, how you eat, taking care of yourself…”

They fell well short, but their rapid improvement and growth under the Spaniard led Martínez to getting arguably the biggest job in Mexico after former Canada international Moscato left at the end of the season.

"Well, I think that this is something super positive," when I ask about her previous experience of the league has helped settle into Tigres life.

On the development of the league overall, she adds "I think it’s like the basics that is needed in a league to grow. Apart from the visibility, because all of the games are open and another of the most important things I think that have helped with the growth was the arrival of foreign players.