Francisco Maturana

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Francisco Maturana, also known as Pacho (born February 2, 1949 in Quibdó) is a Colombian ex-football player and later a successful football manager.

A dentist by profession, he was an active player from 1970 to 1982. He was a defender in clubs like Atlético Nacional, Atlético Bucaramanga and Deportes Tolima, winning the Colombian football championship in 1973 and 1976. He played several times for Colombia national football team, including the qualifying matches for the 1982 World Cup.

He started in 1986 as a trainer for the colombian team Once Caldas. A year later, he was selected to coach Colombia National Football Team, with which he reached the 3rd position in the 1987 Copa America.

As coach of Atlético Nacional he won the Copa Libertadores in 1989. That same year he qualified Colombia for the 1990 World Cup, after 28 years of absence. The following year in Italy, he got Colombia into the second round of Italia 90, Colombia's best performance in a World Cup ever.

After the World Cup, he got briefly involved in Colombian politics, being elected to the National Asembly in 1991. He resigned that post when he was hired as coach of Spain's Real Valladolid.

He returned to Colombia in 1992. and got his team América de Cali champion of Colombia. In 1993 he got Colombia qualified for a second time in a row to a World Cup, with a historic triumph over Argentina in Buenos Aires by 5-0. That score made Colombia a surprising favorite for the 1994 World Cup, but the performance there was disappointing, as the team was eliminated in the first round, being defeated by such teams as the United States and Romania.

He had later a brief stint as coach of Atlético Madrid and in 1995 he was hired as the trainer of Ecuador National Football Team. After failing to get Ecuador qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he returned to Colombia to coach Millonarios.

In 1999 he briefly coached Costa Rica, and in 2000 he also coached for a few months Peru, failing to qualify it for the 2002 World Cup. He would later returned to coach Colombia for the 2001 Copa América, winning it for the first time. His latest jobs as a coach would include Arabian side Al-Hilal, a new and unsuccessful stint for Colombia and Argentina's Colón de Santa Fe.

He's currently working for FIFA as a technical adviser.

[edit] Teams as coach

[edit] Clubs

[edit] National teams

1987-1994: Colombia
1995-1997: Ecuador
1999: Costa Rica
1999-2000: Peru
2001-2003: Colombia

Preceded by: Telê Santana	South American Coach of the Year 1993	Succeeded by: Carlos Bianchi

	Colombia squad - 1990 World Cup
1 Higuita \| 2 Escobar \| 3 Gilardo Gómez \| 4 Herrera \| 5 Villa \| 6 Pérez \| 7 Estrada \| 8 Gabriel Gómez \| 9 Guerrero \| 10 Valderrama \| 11 Redín \| 12 Niño \| 13 Hoyos \| 14 Álvarez \| 15 Perea \| 16 Iguarán \| 17 Cassiani \| 18 Cabrera \| 19 Rincón \| 20 Fajardo \| 21 Mendoza \| 22 Hernández \| Coach: Maturana

	Colombia squad - 1994 World Cup
1 Córdoba \| 2 Escobar \| 3 Mendoza \| 4 Herrera \| 5 Gaviria \| 6 Gómez \| 7 de Ávila \| 8 Lozano \| 9 Valenciano \| 10 Valderrama \| 11 Valencia \| 12 Mondragón \| 13 Ortiz \| 14 Álvarez \| 15 Perea \| 16 Aristizábal \| 17 Serna \| 18 Cortés \| 19 Rincón \| 20 Pérez \| 21 Asprilla \| 22 Pazo \| Coach: Maturana