Jorge Sampaoli

Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxorxe sampaˈoli]; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football manager. He is currently the manager of Argentina national football team. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury. Sampaoli started with an impressive managerial run at Coronel Bolognesi in 2004, and continued with brief but successful terms at O'Higgins and Emelec.

Sampaoli earned praise as the head coach of Universidad de Chile, winning three league titles and the Copa Sudamericana championship. This success led him to coach the Chilean men's national team in 2012, replacing Claudio Borghi. He led the Chilean national football team to their first Copa América title, after defeating Argentina in the final in the 2015 tournament in Chile. He is well known for his attacking tactics which are similar to those of Marcelo Bielsa, according to the press and fans alike.^[1]

On 28 June 2016, Sampaoli signed a two-year contract with Sevilla.

After leading Sevilla to fourth spot in La Liga and allowing them to play in the Champions League football next season. Sampaoli left Sevilla to coach the Argentina national team after spending only one year in Spain.^[2]

Early life

He was born in Casilda, a small town located in Caseros Department of the Santa Fe Province in Argentina. In his youth, Sampaoli was very passionate about football, playing for amateur teams in his hometown league, and eventually joining the Newell's Old Boys youth team, where he suffered a tibia and fibula injury in 1979, forcing him to retire from playing football at the age of 19.

Managerial career

First hit at Peru

In January 2002, Sampaoli was contacted by the Peruvian club Juan Aurich after four seasons at Primera B Metropolitana. He finally signed up with Chiclayo in the Primera División, the first professional club in his career.^[3] On February 24, he directed his first professional game against Universitario (country's powerhouse club), where he lost 2–1 after leading the whole game due to a Penalty kick well scored by Carlos Flores (66th' minute). However, Sampaoli had a poor spell in Juan Aurich, directing only eight games, five of which the team lost and two where the team tied with Coopsol Trujillo and Alianza Lima. The team only won against Cienciano 2–0 with goals from César Sánchez and Carlos Flores. Sampaoli left the club in May, when Aurich was sitting at the bottom of the table.^[4] Months later, in June, he was hired by Sport Boys to direct the team in the Torneo Descentralizado, debuting with a 2–0 victory over Coronel Bolognesi, finishing sixth in the tournament, with important triumphs over Alianza (1–0 with a goal of Alfredo Carmona) and Universitario (2–0 with goals by Paolo de la Haza and Carmona again at Estadio Monumental). Then, in 2004, he was hired by Coronel Bolognesi. There, he had an irregular start, but soon managed to settle the team during the Peruvian 2005's Descentralizado, finishing 5th in the Apertura, and then managed to finish 3rd in that same year's Clausura, taking the club to their first international competition. He then returned to the Peruvian soccer to compete in the 2006's Clausura as well as in the Sudamericana tournament, finishing 3rd in the national league. In 2007, he was hired as the head coach of Sporting Cristal. However, his time at Cristal turned out to be disappointing after 17 matches and only 4 wins. At the end of the year Sampaoli was dismissed from the "Celestes", thus ending his Peruvian management career.

Spells in Chile and Ecuador

Towards the end of 2007, Sampaoli arrived in Chile to take over at O'Higgins. In 2008, the team proved to be tough to crack for bigger Chilean teams, finishing 3rd in that year's Apertura. They were eliminated by powerhouse Universidad de Chile in the playoff quarterfinals. The next year turned out to be a tough year for Sampaoli, as "La Celeste" had an irregular campaign, where they finished in 8th place, and, despite qualifying to the 2009's Apertura Playoffs, ended up being thrashed 6-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinals by Santiago's Unión Española. Sampaoli was fired in August 2009.

In 2010, Emelec contacted Sampaoli and asked him to join as the team's manager. Under Sampaoli, the team competed in the 2010 Copa Libertadores, being eliminated in the group stage, but had an impressive run in the local competition, finishing 1st in the 2010's tournament first stage, earning them a spot in the next 2010 Copa Sudamericana and 2011 Copa Libertadores preliminary stage. That year, Emelec faced Liga de Quito, who had reached 1st place in that year's second half, but ended up losing.

Chile

On 3 December 2012, Chile's Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional announced that Sampaoli would take over as manager of the national team after a successful run with Universidad de Chile where he helped the club win three league titles and the 2011 Copa Sudamericana.^[5][6]

Sampaoli's arrival brought about a turnaround in performances and results, with Chile winning three of their first four World Cup qualifiers after his appointment. Under Sampaoli, Chile returned to the energetic, high-pressing game of Marcelo Bielsa,^[7] the Argentinian coach which inspired Sampaoli's managerial philosophy.

In 2015, Jorge Sampaoli led Chile to victory in the 2015 Copa America.

On 30 November, he was named on the final three-man shortlist for the 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year award, joined by Spaniards Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) and Luis Enrique (Barcelona).

On 19 January 2016, he resigned as manager of Chile.^[8]

Sevilla

On 27 June 2016, La Liga club Sevilla announced that Sampaoli would take over Sevilla on a two-year deal.^[9] On 15 January 2017, Sampaoli's Sevilla beat the eventual champions, Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid, by a score of 2-1,^[10] thereby ending Los Blancos' record 40-match unbeaten streak in all competitions.

Argentina

On 20 May 2017, the Argentine Football Association announced that Sampaoli would take over as the Argentinian national team's coach. On 1 June 2017, he was presented as the new coach of Argentina. Jorge Sampaoli's first game in charge was a friendly match against Brazil on 9 June in Australia, with Argentina winning 1–0.^[11]

Managerial statistics

As of 13 June 2017

Honours

Club

Universidad de Chile

• Torneo Apertura (2): 2011, 2012
• Torneo Clausura: 2011
• Copa Sudamericana: 2011

International

Chile

• Copa América: 2015

Individual

• Copa América Team of the Tournament (Manager): 2015^[13]
• South American Coach of the Year: 2015
• La Liga Manager of the Month: October 2016^[14]

References