 Sabella during a press conference in 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alejandro Javier Sabella | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1954-11-05)5 November 1954 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 8 December 2020(2020-12-08) (aged 66) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1974–1978 | River Plate | 117 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 1978–1980 | Sheffield United | 76 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 1980–1981 | Leeds United | 23 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1982–1987 | Estudiantes (LP) | 149 | (10) | ||||||||||||||
| 1985 | →Grêmio (loan) | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | Ferro Carril Oeste | 27 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1988–1989 | Irapuato | 31 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 433 | (33) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1984 | Argentina | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Qatar U20 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Estudiantes | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2014 | Argentina | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Alejandro Javier Sabella (locally[saˈβela]; 5 November 1954 – 8 December 2020) was an Argentinefootballplayer andmanager. Born inBuenos Aires, he began his playing career withRiver Plate in his home country before moving to England in 1978 to play forSheffield United. He then had a spell with another English side,Leeds United, before returning to South America and representingEstudiantes,Grêmio,Ferro Carril Oeste andIrapuato.
After retiring from playing, Sabella became a coach and began a long association with fellow countryman and close friendDaniel Passarella, serving as his assistant manager during Passarella's spells managingArgentina, Italian clubParma,Uruguay, Mexican clubMonterrey andCorinthians in Brazil. The duo finally returned to River Plate for whom they had both played before Sabella struck out on his own to become manager of Estudiantes in his own right, winning theArgentine Primera División Apertura championship and the2009 Copa Libertadores. Sabella resigned from Estudiantes in February 2011 and was subsequently appointed as the coach of the Argentina national team, coaching them to the2014 FIFA World CupFinal againstGermany, where they lost 1–0 in extra time. Sabella had scheduled his resignation to take effect after the conclusion of the World Cup.
Sabella died on 8 December 2020, due to an infection caught during a stay in hospital.
Alejandro Sabella was born to a middle-class family in Buenos Aires' well-off Palermo neighborhood.[1][2][3][4] He was an excellent student at school, and was admitted to the Faculty of Law of theUniversity of Buenos Aires, but his career as a football player eventually forced him to abandon his studies.[4] As a young man Sabella was politically active in the left-wingPeronist Youth and worked to aid the urban poor in the slums. He stated, "I felt a growing need to be always on the side of solidarity and of the distribution of wealth for a fairer, more egalitarian society, in which we can all have equal opportunities."[4]
As a footballer, Sabella rose through the junior divisions ofRiver Plate in the early 1970s, when his position ofattacking midfielder was covered byNorberto Alonso. His style reflected Alonso's, with emphasis on individual technique and short passes. His slow pace gained him the nickname ofPachorra (lunfardo, Spanish for "slowcoach").[5] In 1975, River Plate won their first title after an 18-year drought, and Alonso became the fans' undisputed hero. Sabella got his break in 1976, when Alonso was transferred toMarseille. He played a key role when River won the1977Metropolitano championship. Nevertheless, when Alonso returned to River Plate, Sabella was again relegated to the bench.
Second Division sideSheffield United had tried to signDiego Maradona fromArgentinos Juniors. However, the club decided that Maradona was too expensive,[6] and instead turned to Sabella, whom they signed for £160,000 on 19 July 1978.[7] Known as Alex while in England,[6] Sabella made his debut for the Blades in a 2–1 defeat againstLeyton Orient on 19 August 1978.[7]
Sabella played for United until 1980, scoring eight league goals in 76 appearances. After relegation to theThird Division, managerHarry Haslam agreed a fee of £600,000 withSecond Division clubSunderland.[7] However, Sabella had ambitions to play in theFirst Division and refused to go.[7] His last appearance for United came with a goal in the final of theSheffield & Hallamshire County Cup, (a regional competition betweenSouth Yorkshire teams) giving victory overSheffield Wednesday on 8 May 1980.[7]
During the close season, Sabella was sold toLeeds United for £400,000. He played for Leeds without much success between 1980 and 1981, making 23 appearances and scoring two goals.[7]John Lukic used to give him a lift to training and matches from Sabella's digs in Sheffield.
In December 1981, Sabella started looking for an Argentine club and was eventually sold toEstudiantes de La Plata. Under coachCarlos Bilardo, the team reached the semi-finals of the1982 Nacional tournament (Sabella was injured in the first semi-final match againstQuilmes). Subsequently, Sabella, together withMarcelo Trobbiani,José Daniel Ponce andMiguel Ángel Russo, made up the solid midfield of the Estudiantes team that went on to win two back-to-back championship titles.
When Bilardo was put in charge of theArgentina national team, Sabella competed for his place with veteransNorberto Alonso andRicardo Bochini, as well as younger players likeCarlos Daniel Tapia,Jorge Burruchaga andDiego Maradona. Sabella played eight times for the national team, playing in all four games in the1983 Copa América and in four friendlies; against Chile in May 1983 (as substitute), Paraguay in July 1983, Brazil in June 1984 and Uruguay in July 1984.[8]
The Argentine midfielder then moved toBrazilianGrêmio, where he played from 1985 to 1986. He subsequently returned to Estudiantes, but retired after a short spell in the Mexican league withIrapuato in 1989.
After retirement, Sabella became a coach, but worked mostly as field assistant forDaniel Passarella. The duo coached the Argentina national team, Italian sideParma, theUruguay national football team, MexicanMonterrey, and BrazilianCorinthians. In 2006, they were hired back by River Plate, that finished in third place in theApertura tournament.
On 15 March 2009, Sabella became coach of Estudiantes de La Plata, where he won the2009 Copa Libertadores. On 2 February 2011, he announced his resignation. Due to protestations from the team's players and management, he agreed to reconsider his decision,[9] but made it final the following day.[10] He officially resigned on 3 February 2011.
After Argentina's early exit at the2011 Copa América, Sabella was appointed as the manager of theArgentina national team.[11][12] Sabella was originally set to be the new coach ofUAE League teamAl-Jazira Club but backed out of the agreement after theArgentine Football Association (AFA) had shown interest in him.[13] After his appointment in August 2011, Sabella namedLionel Messi as Argentina's new captain.[14] He made his debut in charge of the Argentina in a 1–0 victory againstVenezuela atSalt Lake Stadium inKolkata, India.
In the2014 FIFA World Cup, Sabella coached Argentina to thefinal. The last time Argentina had advanced beyond the quarter-finals was when they made the final in1990 where they lost 1–0 toWest Germany.
Argentina never trailed during the whole tournament until the final. They won all three of their group games, where Lionel Messi scored all four of his goals againstBosnia and Herzegovina (2–1),Iran (1–0) andNigeria (3–2). They defeatedSwitzerland 1–0 in extra time during the Round of 16, and then dispatchedBelgium 1–0 in the quarter-finals. Reaching their first semi-final since 1990, Argentina eliminated theNetherlands in a penalty shootout after a scoreless draw. Argentina finished the tournament as runners-up after losing the final toGermany 1–0 through an extra time goal scored byMario Götze. Sabella's substitutions in the final, notablySergio Agüero forEzequiel Lavezzi andRodrigo Palacio forGonzalo Higuaín, were said to have blunted the team's attacking threat against the Germans,[15][16] although many managers, such asAtlético Madrid'sDiego Simeone, praised Sabella's tactical performance throughout the World Cup.[17]
Sabella officially resigned on 30 July 2014.[18]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Ref. | |||
| Estudiantes | 15 March 2009[19] | 3 February 2011[19] | 97 | 58 | 21 | 18 | 151 | 69 | +82 | 059.79 | [20][21][22] |
| Argentina | 2 August 2011[12] | 30 July 2014[18] | 40 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 74 | 32 | +42 | 062.50 | [23][24][25][26] |
| Total | 137 | 83 | 31 | 23 | 225 | 101 | +124 | 060.58 | — | ||
Sabella was interested in politics and history and had strong political views. He was aleft-wingPeronist, and believed that "the state needs to be present to regulate politics and mark the path. We can't wait for the trickle-down effect to overflow, because that is a lie."[4] In an interview he gave to La Garganta Poderosa, an Argentine alternative media outlet, he posed before a chalkboard with a "Dream Team" made up not of football players, but left-wing activists who have been killed or have gone missing since the return of democracy in 1983, many of them young victims of police violence.[4]
Sabella was admitted to hospital on 25 November 2020 with cardiac problems. He caught a virus in hospital, and died on 8 December 2020. He was 66 years old.[27]
River Plate
Estudiantes (LP)
Grêmio
Estudiantes (LP)
Argentina
Argentina squads | |||||||||||||
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