Marcos Calderón


Marcos Calderón Medrano was a Peruvian football coach and player.
Nicknamed El Oso or El Chueco, this former Sport Boys midfielder remains the most decorated coach in the history of the Peruvian league with ten titles.
He managed Peru six times, winning the 1975 Copa América and leading the Blanquirroja to the 1978 World Cup. To this day, he is the only Peruvian coach to have qualified the Peruvian national team for a World Cup. He died in a plane crash on 8 December 1987, along with the entire Alianza Lima team.

Playing career

Compared to his successful coaching career, his playing career remains relatively modest with only two club experiences, at Carlos Concha, then at Sport Boys where he reunited with his cousin Luis Calderón and won the first professional championship of Peru in 1951.

Coaching career

Club

Just two years after retiring as a player, Marcos Calderón replaced Dan Georgiadis as manager of Sport Boys and won the championship in 1958, his first title as a coach, and in his very first year in charge. This inaugural success set the tone for his coaching career, which was laden with titles, to the point that he was nicknamed Don Títulos by Pocho Rospigliosi, a famous Peruvian sports journalist.
Indeed, besides Sport Boys – where he won a second championship in 1984 – Calderón distinguished himself at the three biggest clubs in Peru: Club Universitario [de Deportes|Universitario de Deportes], Sporting Cristal and Alianza Lima. With the latter club, he reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores in 1976.

Peru national team

A Copa América winner in 1975, Marcos Calderón experienced both highs and lows with the Peruvian national team. Replacing György Orth in 1961, he led La Blanquirroja during the 1962 World Cup qualifiers, a first experience that proved unsuccessful, as the Peruvians were eliminated by a Colombian team that was considered inferior on paper. This did not prevent the Peruvian Football Federation from recalling him in 1965, only to see another disappointing performance from the Incas, who were overtaken by Uruguay in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.
After a third return to the Peruvian bench in 1967, Marcos Calderón enjoyed greater success in the 1970s, culminating in the aforementioned 1975 Copa América victory, followed by qualification for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, where Peru reached the second round. His last experience in charge of Peru was in 1980.

Alianza Lima air disaster

Calderón, coach of Alianza Lima in 1987, perished with his team on 8 December 1987, off the coast of Callao when the plane carrying them crashed into the sea, an air crash that left a lasting mark on the Peruvian national consciousness. Seventeen days after the accident, his decomposing body was found on a beach near Huacho, a town 150 km north of Lima. His son, "Marquitos" Calderón, was able to identify his father's body by his bowed feet.

Honours

Player

Sport Boys

Manager

Sport Boys
Universitario de Deportes
Sporting Cristal
Alianza Lima
  • Peruvian Primera División: 1975
Peru

Statistics (manager)