Hugo Sánchez

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Sánchez and the second or maternal family name is Márquez.
Hugo Sánchez Marquez

Sánchez in 2008
Personal information
Full nameHugo Sánchez Márquez
Date of birthJuly 11, 1958
Place of birthMexico City, Mexico
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionStriker
Youth career
1972–1975UNAM
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1976–1981UNAM183(99)
1979–1980→ San Diego Sockers (loan)19(13)
1981–1985Atlético Madrid111(54)
1985–1992Real Madrid207(208)
1992–1993América29(11)
1993–1994Rayo Vallecano29(16)
1994–1995Atlante32(13)
1995–1996Linz20(6)
1996Dallas Burn23(6)
1997Celaya12(2)
Total639(382)
National team
1977–1994Mexico58[1](29)
Teams managed
2000Mexico
2000–2005UNAM
2006Necaxa
2006–2008Mexico
2009–2010Almería
2012Pachuca
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born July 11, 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager.

He began his career playing for Pumas de la UNAM in 1976, and briefly on loan to the San Diego Sockers (NASL) of the North American Soccer League in 1979. He returned to UNAM in 1980. Sánchez then moved to Spain to play for Atlético Madrid in 1981, playing for the Colchoneros for four years before moving to cross-town rivals Real Madrid, where he would experience the best years of his career, winning numerous titles and accolades. He is currently the third highest scorer in the history of Spain's top division.

Sánchez was a member of the Selección de fútbol de México (Mexico national team), gaining 58 caps and scoring 29 goals. He participated in three FIFA World Cup tournaments and starred in the Mexico team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup.

As a manager, he won two-consecutive league championships with UNAM. After managing Necaxa, he was announced as coach of the Mexico in 2006, but was fired on 31 March 2008 based on poor results.[2] In 2009, Sánchez was named manager of UD Almería[3] of the La Liga (LFP; Professional Football League) (First Division) in an attempt to save the team from relegation. Almería was not subject to relegation for the 2009–2010 season.

A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, in 1999, the IFFHS voted Sánchez the 26th best footballer of the 20th century, and the best footballer from the CONCACAF region.[4] In 2004 Sánchez was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[5]

Club career

UNAM

Hugo Sanchez at the beginning of his career with Pumas

As a teenager, Sánchez played for the Mexico national team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Having already played in over 80 international matches, Sánchez signed as a youth player at the age of 18 for UNAM Pumas, which is a professional team representing Mexico's national university, where he completed a degree in Dentistry while maintaining his football career. That year, UNAM managed to get its first championship in the Primera División. Two years later, he became top-scorer in the league with 26 goals. In 1979, UNAM agreed to exchange players during the off-seasons with the San Diego Sockers. He played in the NASL during the summer and in the Mexico League during the fall, winter and spring. UNAM loaned Sánchez to the Sockers in 1979 and 1980 where he became a dominant striker for the Sockers, averaging nearly a goal for game. Sánchez' five seasons with UNAM were the team's golden years. In his last season with the team, Hugo and UNAM won its second championship, the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Copa Interamericana.

Atlético Madrid

After five successful seasons in Mexico, with 99 goals to his record, Sánchez drew the attention of several Spanish sides, and signed with Atlético Madrid in 1981. It took him a while to find his feet in La Liga, but by the 1984-85 season he was scoring regularly with a team that won the Copa del Rey, finished in second place in the Spanish League and won the Spanish Super Copa. That year Hugo also won his first Pichichi trophy for being the most prolific scorer in the league.

Real Madrid

At the high-point of his career, he signed for Real Madrid in 1985 and played with players such as Camacho, Butragueño, Gordillo, Schuster, Valdano and Míchel. This team won five consecutive league titles (from 1985-86 to 1989-90), the Copa del Rey in 1989, and the UEFA Cup in 1986. During those five years, Sánchez won four consecutive Pichichi trophies (the only player in Spain's football history to achieve this without sharing the trophy in any season), scoring 253 goals in 283 games. He scored 27 or more goals in four consecutive seasons between 1986 and 1990, including 38 goals in the 1989-90 season, tying the single-season record set in 1951 by Telmo Zarra and earning the European Golden Boot award to the best scorer in Europe. Remarkably, all 38 of these goals were scored with only a single touch. Overall, he scored 47 goals in 45 European Cup games, though he failed to win the trophy.

Return to Mexico and later Career

In 1992, Sánchez returned to his native Mexico for a season and there he won 1992 CONCACAF Champions' Cup with Club America before playing for a variety of clubs in Spain, Austria and the USA (he played for the Dallas Burn in the inaugural year of Major League Soccer, becoming one of two people, along with Roy Wegerle, to play outdoor football in both the NASL and MLS). He finished his career playing for Atlético Celaya with Butragueño and Míchel, his old colleagues from Real Madrid.

International career

In comparison to his "domestic" club success, Sánchez did not have a successful international career with the Mexico national team. He played 60 matches and scored 29 goals for the Mexico national team, but his years as a Mexico international coincided with a difficult period of the nation's football. Mexico did not participate in the World Cup of 1982 and 1990, in which Sánchez would have most likely been part of the Mexico squad. He scored one goal in eight appearances in the three World Cups in which he competed, this goal being the second goal in Mexico's victory against Belgium in Mexico 1986. He also failed to score a penalty kick against Paraguay in the same tournament. Sánchez's brash personality is often cited as the reason he did not play many games at the 1994 World Cup, purportedly as a result of internecine frictions between Hugo and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF).

International goals

Retirement

Sánchez retired from Spanish football on May 29, 1997, playing with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium—the stadium that witnessed most of his glory throughout his career. His last official game was in the 1998 World Cup preliminaries where he just touched the ball as a symbol of his retirement.

Legacy

His trademark was to perform a celebratory somersault after each goal he scored, honoring his sister, who was a gymnast and participated in the Montreal Olympics.[6] He is also known for acrobatic goals, some involving his trademark windmill kick, a product of his own early training in gymnastics.

Career statistics

Club

Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Mexico UNAM 1976/77 195----195
1977/78 3413----3413
1978/79 3826----3826
1979/80 4430--434833
1980/81 4422----4422
Total 179 96 - - 4 3 183 99
United States San Diego Sockers 1979 1712----1712
1980 1514----1514
Total 32 26 - - - - 32 26
Spain Atlético Madrid 1981/82 10854201712
1982/83 341521--3616
1983/84 341220203812
1984/85 331986204325
Total 111 54 17 11 6 0 134 65
Spain Real Madrid 1985/86 3322521154929
1986/87 413464735441
1987/88 362973735035
1988/89 352785755037
1989/90 353873314542
1990/91 191233352520
1991/92 821011103
Total 207 164 37 20 39 23 283 207
Grand Total Total 529 340 54 31 49 26 632 397

International

Mexico national team
Year Apps Goals
197764
197884
197944
1980107
198165
198200
198300
198400
198521
198641
198700
198800
198900
199010
199100
199200
1993143
199420
199500
199600
199700
199810
Total5829

Managerial

Last updated 25 May 2011

Nat From To Record
GWLDWin %GFGA+/-
UNAM1, 2 Mexico 2000 2005 20289635044.06%328295+33
Club Necaxa Mexico 2006 2006 724128.57%811-3
Mexico3 Mexico 2006 2008 26139450%4532+13
Almería Spain 2009 2009 1764735.29%56-1
Career 252110806243.65%386344+42

1Includes results from 2003 Copa Libertadores
2Includes results from CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005
3Includes results from 2000 U.S. Cup

Managerial career

Club

In 2000, UNAM was having a terrible league campaign. A new manager was needed, someone who could take the lead of one of the most important clubs in Mexico. The designated manager was Hugo Sánchez, idol and figure for UNAM's followers. So, in March, he signed for a 2 years contract with his most "beloved team". Although the very good campaign made by the team for that tournament, many differences became evident with the president of the club Javier Jiménez Espriú, which resulted in his distitution in August of the same year. "I'll be back when Jimenez Espriu is out. I know I'm right and I know I'll be back", were his words as he left the team.

One year passed and Jimenez Espriu resigned as the club's president. The new president, Luis Regueiro, knew exactly who was going to be the next coach for the team, so in November 2001, Sánchez was again signed as head coach of all UNAM's teams and given all the confidence of the new broad.

His labor was long and well planned, as for two years he forged a very competitive team. In 2003, the results were evident, and the Pumas were one of the best teams in the league, but the championship was still missing. Falling twice in semifinals all was set to the New Age Golden Year, 2004.

Sánchez' Pumas won everything they played in 2004: Clausura 2004, Apertura 2004, Champion of Champions 2004 and Santiago Bernabéu's Cup. Also he is the only manager in the history to lead a Mexico team to two consecutive championships in the Mexican Primera División in the new "short tournament" format (South American format).

However, by the end of 2004 things weren't as good as it might seem. The Clausura 2004 tournament was won taking advantage of the competition format, as they only made the minimum points during the league to qualify to the playoffs. For the next tournament Pumas was the worst team of the tournament and in Winter 2005 Pumas was having the worst year of its history. The club needed a change and Sánchez decided to resign in November 2005.

There are many speculations about why he resigned. The best known was that the future didn't seem too optimistic. He stated "If you think I'm the problem, I leave now that there is time, before the team is in danger of descending".

After this turns of events, Sánchez took some vacations and went to Spain to offer his services. Getafe almost signed him but economic differences got in the way. In 2006, Club Necaxa, another Mexico team, signed him as a head coach, but this was very quickly finished as he was called as Mexico national team coach.

He was the coach of La Liga's UD Almería, but after accomplishing the goal of avoiding relegation from La Liga, and despite on 2 June 2009 the Almeria chairman Alfonso García announcing the renewal of his contract,[7] he was released on 20 December 2009.

Mexico

After briefly managing Club Necaxa, Sánchez was named head coach of the Mexico national team, with the commitment of leading Mexico through the qualification process for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

During his coaching career especially, Sánchez has been known for his volatile temperament and willingness to speak candidly, often expressing strong emotions and opinions, a trait that engenders equally emotional and strong responses from those he criticizes. He has a long-standing feud between with former Mexico national Coach, Ricardo La Volpe.

Sánchez's first match as Mexico coach was a 2-0 loss to the United States in Phoenix, Arizona before Mexican fans in February, 2007. Sánchez recorded his first coaching victory against Venezuela (3-1) in front of 67,000 "Tri" fans in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium. Hugo's first game in Mexico took place against Paraguay in Monterrey, Mexico on March 25, 2007, which Mexico won 2-1. A few days later on March 28, 2007, Mexico defeated Ecuador 4-2 in Oakland, California at McAfee Coliseum.

In June, 2007 Sánchez coached Mexico in the 2007 edition of the Gold Cup, his first official competition. After struggling in the first stages of the tournament, México reached the final June 24, 2007 and lost it against the US (2-1).

On 27 June 2007, in the opening game of the 2007 Copa América held in Venezuela, Sánchez led the Mexico national team to a stunning 2-0 win over 5-time world champions Brazil, Hugo's first major victory as a coach. After glancing through the group stage of the tournament, Hugo led the team to the semi-finals (beating Paraguay 6-0 in the quarter-finals) where they were beaten 3-0 by Argentina. Mexico ended the tournament in 3rd place by defeating Uruguay 3-1.

In August 2007, Sánchez announced that Mexico would permanently, or at least in his time coaching the team, drop their famous green home kit, replacing it with their white away kit, meaning that their new away kit would be red. For this decision, Sánchez was subject of a lot of criticism. The two main arguments against him were that the decision was breaking a long-standing Mexican tradition, yet the strongest critics suggested that he should devote more time to the strategy and training of the Mexico team rather than entertaining himself with superfluous features of the sport.

In March 2008, Sánchez had some very upsetting results, including draws with Australia and Finland, and a loss at home in Querétaro against Ecuador's U-23 team. Disappointing results continued in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualification, a tie with Canada and a loss with Guatemala. His only victory was against Haiti with a 5-1 score. Nevertheless, the goal difference eliminated Mexico from the Pre-Olympic qualifying tournament. This was a tremendous disappointment in Mexico, particularly to the owners of the Mexico soccer clubs. They had supported players by providing financial resources and separation from their teams during the time that remained of the Mexico season.

Many analysts claim that Sánchez's first year as the national coach has resulted in a Mexico team with poor soccer variants, no collective game, tactical stiffness and a general lack of strategy. A significant proportion of the Mexican press agree that this situation has reached a point of no return with the U-23 elimination from the Pre-Olympic tournament. Sanchez also made the decision to change the jersey color of the Mexico national team from green to white, in reference to his concern how the color green would blend with the tuff. On 31 March, Hugo Sánchez was fired from the Mexico team via a 16-2 vote from the main leaders of the sixteen Primera División Club Owners.

Honours

Player

UNAM
Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid
América
Linz
Mexico

Individual

Managerial

UNAM

Personal life

Hugo Sánchez is the son of Héctor Sánchez, who was also a footballer who played for Asturias and Atlante. Sánchez is currently married to Isabel (née Martín), and has two children, a son and an older daughter from his previous marriage. His son, Hugo Sánchez Portugal, was also a footballer and played for UNAM and Atlante. On November 8, 2014, Sánchez Portugal died from the effects of a gas leak in a Mexico City apartment as stated by the Mexican Red Cross.[8]

Sánchez was appointed as the official FIFA/SOS Ambassador for Mexico, joining Wayne Rooney (Ambassador for England), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), and fifty others in fund raising for the official 2006 FIFA World Cup Charity.[9]

On September 1, 2007, Hugo Sánchez inaugurated a street with his name in Puebla, central Mexico, before a thousand of the locals around there.[10]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/mex-recintlp.html
  2. ↑ "Hugo Sanchez fired as coach of Mexico". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  3. ↑ http://www.udalmeriasad.com/udalmeria/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1773&Itemid=59
  4. ↑ Stokkermans, Karel. "IFFHS' Century Elections". RSSSF. Retrieved 2006-12-17.
  5. ↑ "Pele's list of the greatest". BBC Sport. 4 March 2004. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Andaló, Paula. "Hugo Sánchez, con alas en los pies" (in Spanish). Univision. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  7. ↑ Hugo Sanchez To Stay On As Almeria Coach - Reports
  8. ↑ http://www.record.com.mx/articulo/noticias/2640606/futbol+futbol-nacional/encuentran-muerto-a-hijo-de-hugo-sanchez
  9. ↑ "Hugo Sánchez to attend 6 villages for 2006 opening in Morelia". SOS Children's Villages. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  10. ↑ "Inaugurada en México la calle Hugo Sánchez". El País. Retrieved 2007-09-01.

External links