Queiroz: another European manager in the Conmebol

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The Portuguese coach, recently introduced in Colombia, is not the manager from the old continent in this part of the world. We present you some other examples

On February 7,  public news announced that the Portuguese coach, Carlos Queiroz, was selected by the Dimayor as the new coach of the Colombian national team. Moreover, and according to Marca Colombia, the Colombian directives selected the trainer of Mozambican origin to fulfill two objectives: on the one hand, to win the Copa America that will be played in Brazil, so Quiroz will have his first test in this contest; on the other hand, and its main objective, the classification to the World Cup. On this, the Colombian directives explained that "the real goal for which the Portuguese coach was brought is the World Cup".

Leer en español: Queiroz: otro europeo dirigiendo en la Conmebol

European Managers in South America

Although at present the history of the Conmebol has not been full of European managers, the reality is that Latin America has had a tradition with coaches born in the old continent.

From Budapest to Santiago de Chile

Chile has had a tradition of European coaches: a total of 9 European managers, as the AS newspaper explained. Four of them have been Hungarians, and the others have been Croatian, English, German and Spanish.

For example, one of the coaches that has left a mark in South America was Xabier Azkargorta (Spanish), and not exactly with the Chilean national team. Well, as the newspaper Gol explained: "in 1993 he achieved the historic milestone of classifying the Green (Bolivia) to the 1994 United States World Cup".

Another one of Chileans' historical ones was the Yugoslavian Mirko Jozić. According to El Tiempo , this Croatian coach managed to win the South American Recopa Cup and the Inter-American Cup with Chile. In addition, he has been the only non-South American coach who won the liberators with Colo Colo (1991).

7 Europeans in Peru

The 'Albirroja', after Chile, has been one of the teams with more managers from the old continent, with coaches from nationalities such as Hungarian, Irish, Spanish, and Yugoslavian. For example, it is worth mentioning one of the first European coaches that led a Latin American team in a World Cup, Francisco Bru. This native of Malaga directed Peru in the Uruguay World Cup in 1930, according to 10 PE.

In addition, we must also mention the participation of Vladimir Popović in South America. Although this Yugoslavian did not have the best performance with Peru, he did have a great career in clubs such as Millonarios, Santa Fe, Cali, Nacional, and Deportivo Calí, according to the archives of the newspaper El Tiempo.

Bolivia with a Croatian-Ecuadorian manager?

Bolivia has also had a penchant for hiring Europeans to guide its national soccer team. Spaniards, Germans, Italians and Yugoslavs have passed through its ranks; 6 in total.

One of the most striking coaches for the history of South American soccer is Dusan Dráskovic. According to the newspaper El Comercio , Dráskovic was a coach in 1988 of the Ecuadorian national team and in 1995 he held the same position in Bolivia. In addition to being nationalized as an Ecuadorian, Dráskovic also worked with clubs such as Atlético Junior and Deportivo Quito.

Read also: Meet the selections of other confederations that have marked the Copa América

Yugoslavs in Colombia

The European quota in Colombia was covered by the Yugoslav Todor Veselinović and Blagoje Vidinić.

According to the newspaper AS, Veselinović directed Colombia's national team from 1972 to 1973, the time in which the team arrived at the World Cup in Germany 74. His passage through Colombia was not unnoticed, as he also directed the clubs Millionaires and Santa Fe, the two most important clubs of Bogotá.

For his part, the Yugoslav ex-goalkeeper, Vidinić, directed Colombia between 76 and 79. Finally, AS exposed the European managers who have directed two national teams in Latin America, which are:

Xabier Azkargorta: Bolivia and Chile.

Rudi Gutendorf: Chile and Venezuela.

Gyorgy Orth: Chile and Peru.

Dusan Dráskovic: Ecuador and Bolivia.

Ratomir Dujkovic: Venezuela

LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Díaz

Translated from "Queiroz: otro europeo dirigiendo en la Conmebol