Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera is an Argentine professional football manager who is the current manager of the Uruguay national team. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential coaches of all time. Bielsa played as a defender for Newell's Old Boys, Instituto, and Argentino de Rosario.
Bielsa played as a defender in Newell's Old Boys' First Division team and was a member of Argentina U23 in the 1976 Pre-Olympic Tournament, but retired when he was 25 to focus on coaching. Bielsa has managed several football clubs and also the national teams of Argentina and Chile. He developed his career as coach of Newell's Old Boys where he won several titles in the early 1990s, before moving to Mexico in 1992, briefly coaching Club Atlas and Club América. Bielsa returned to Argentina in 1997 to manage Vélez Sarsfield, leading them to the 1998 league title.
His personality and gestures during his stint in Chile captured the attention of media and unleashed a series of minor controversies both in sports and politics. He had a two year-spell in Spain at Athletic Bilbao between 2011 and 2013, leading them to domestic and continental cup finals in the first season, though they lost both. In May 2014, Bielsa was appointed coach of Marseille, starting with good results but finishing outside the expected first three places in Ligue 1, resigning after just over a year at the French club. He remains highly regarded by OM fans for his offensive playing style and personality.
In June 2018, Bielsa was appointed manager of then-Championship club Leeds United, leading the club to promotion back to the Premier League in 2020 after a 16-year absence as a result of winning the 2019–20 EFL Championship. Leeds United is the club at which he spent the most time as manager in his career, taking charge of 170 games before departing in February 2022. He is considered a cult figure among Leeds fans.
In 2023, he became manager of Uruguay, becoming only the second non-Uruguayan manager to coach the team. He led Uruguay to two record-breaking wins against Brazil and Argentina before subsequently achieving qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Managerial career
In 1980, after retiring from playing in football, Bielsa decided to start a career as a football manager. His first job was coaching the youth divisions of Newell's. In 1990, he was given the task of managing their first team, where he would go on to win the 1990 Torneo Apertura and the 1990–91 Torneo Integración, defeating Boca Juniors on penalties. Bielsa managed the squad that competed in the final of the 1992 Copa Libertadores, losing to São Paulo on penalties. Weeks after the Libertadores defeat, Bielsa and Newell's won the 1992 Torneo Clausura. After a period in Mexico, he returned to Argentina and won another league title – the 1998 Clausura – while coaching Vélez Sarsfield.Argentina national team
In 1998, Bielsa was given the job of manager at Spanish La Liga side Espanyol, but he soon left after being offered the management of the Argentina national team later that year, taking over after a four-year period by Daniel Passarella as manager. At the 1999 Copa América, Argentina were beaten 3–0 by Colombia in a game where Argentina forward Martin Palermo missed three penalties and Bielsa was sent off. On Bielsa's post match reaction, Tim Vickery of the BBC wrote:In the press conference he sat staring into space, refusing to make eye contact with anyone – his usual stance. He was asked what he had made of the referee's performance. If the question was predictable, the answer was anything but. "One doesn't usually have the habit of commenting on referees, but…" he said, leaving everyone to believe he would continue with a rant about a joker running amok with a whistle. Instead he proceeded with, "but in respect of my expulsion, the referee was absolutely correct because I protested in an ill mannered form."
Argentina won the qualification group for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but did not progress through the first knockout round at the tournament. Despite this, Bielsa stayed on his position as Argentine manager. The Albicelestes were runners-up in the 2004 Copa América and won the 2004 Olympic Games' gold medal. With the latter, his team became the first Latin American team to win the Olympic title in football since 1928, the first Argentinian Olympic gold medal in 52 years. Bielsa, however, resigned at the end of 2004, being succeeded by José Pékerman.
Chile national team
Under Bielsa's guidance, the Chile national team underwent many positive and negative historic firsts. For the first time in its history, Chile was able to earn a point playing Uruguay away in Montevideo. Chile also suffered their worst defeat ever when playing at home during qualifiers losing 3–0 against Paraguay. This historic low was repeated with a Chile loss of 3–0 against Brazil, which also marked the first home loss against Brazil in a qualification game in nearly 50 years. On 15 October 2008, however, Bielsa masterminded a 1–0 win over his native Argentina, Chile's first win ever over Argentina in an official match; Argentina's loss prompted the resignation of its coach Alfio Basile.Chile soundly beat Peru 3–1 in Lima, a location where they last won in 1985. Bielsa then led Chile to a 2–0 win at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium against hosts Paraguay, obtaining an away triumph on this location for the first time in almost 30 years. The team continued the road to the 2010 World Cup with a victory over Bolivia, 4–0. After a 2–2 tie against Venezuela in Santiago, and travelling to Brazil to lose 2–4, Chile finally achieved qualification to the World Cup after defeating Colombia 4–2, a result that was also Chile's first ever away win against the Colombians.
By helping Chile qualify for a World Cup after two tournament absences, Bielsa attained great popularity there. His appointment brought about visible changes in the Chilean set-up, with the fast-tracking of young talents and a more attacking mindset away from home. Due to the rumors that Bielsa would not continue to lead Chile after finishing their campaign at the World Cup, Chilean fans campaigned for him to remain as coach, with the movement titled "Bielsa is NOT leaving!" Chile reached the round of 16 of the World Cup, where they were eliminated by Brazil. On 2 August 2010, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, President of the Chilean Football Board, announced that Bielsa would remain with the Chile team until 2015. Bielsa, however, stated that he would leave his position if Jorge Segovia was elected as the new President of the Chilean Football Board. He followed through on this threat, despite Segovia's election being annulled, and resigned in February 2011.
According to Hermógenes Pérez de Arce, President of Chile Sebastián Piñera had a personal long-term interest in removing Mayne-Nicholls from the Presidency of the Chilean Football Board and pushed for him to be replaced. Bielsa subsequently made headlines for his brief and cold greeting to Piñera in the farewell before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Both Bielsa and Mayne-Nicholls had good relations with former president Michelle Bachelet, Piñera's political rival.
Athletic Bilbao
On 8 July 2011, Josu Urrutia announced Athletic Bilbao would appoint Bielsa as manager after Urrutia promised the appointment of Bielsa in his campaign to become president of the club. On 18 August 2011, Bielsa took charge of his first game at San Mamés, drawing 0–0 against Turkish side Trabzonspor in the UEFA Europa League play-offs.On 3 October 2011, Bielsa, a devout Roman Catholic, visited the Poor Clares of Guernica, Spain, alongside his wife. He wanted them to pray for his team, which they continued to do. The players began to adjust to the changes as the season progressed, and following an away victory at local rivals Real Sociedad. Athletic Bilbao produced a good run of autumn form which included wins over Paris Saint-Germain, Osasuna and Sevilla, as well as credible draws with Valencia and Barcelona, then only to drop points at home to newly promoted Granada. The team also finished top of their UEFA Europa League group and defeated Lokomotiv Moscow in the last 32.
Athletic then drew Manchester United and in impressive style won 3–2 in the first leg at Old Trafford, going on to knock them out of the tournament with a 2–1 victory at home. In the quarter-final, they went to Schalke 04 and won the first leg 4–2, despite being 2–1 down after a Raúl brace on 72 minutes. Athletic drew the second leg against Schalke 2–2, going through to the semi-finals with a favourable aggregate score of 6–4 to face Sporting CP.
After Athletic lost the first leg of the semi-final 2–1 in Lisbon, they overturned this result in the return leg and ran out 4–3 winners on aggregate when Fernando Llorente scored the winner in the 88th minute. This set up a match with Atlético Madrid in an all-Spanish Europa League final. Athletic, however, would lose 3–0 in the final, played on 9 May at the Arena Națională, Bucharest. On 25 May 2012, Athletic also lost the Copa del Rey Final against Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, falling 3–0.
The 2012–13 season was a major disappointment for Athletic: the sale of key midfielder Javi Martínez to Bayern Munich, and striker Fernando Llorente being frozen out of the club over contract disagreements, led to the Lions' performances faltering. After finishing only in 12th place in La Liga, on 7 June 2013 Athletic's president revealed that Bielsa would not be offered a new contract. When it expired on 30 June 2013, he left the club.