 Guillermo during a master lecture in 2014. | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Guillermo Barros Schelotto | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-05-04)4 May 1973 (age 52) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | La Plata, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward,attacking midfielder,winger | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Vélez Sarsfield (manager) | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| –1985 | For Ever La Plata[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1991 | Gimnasia La Plata | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1997 | Gimnasia La Plata | 184 | (49) | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2007 | Boca Juniors | 300 | (86) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2010 | Columbus Crew | 102 | (33) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Gimnasia La Plata | 20 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 526 | (145) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1999 | Argentina | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Lanús | ||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Palermo | ||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Boca Juniors | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | LA Galaxy | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2023 | Paraguay | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Vélez Sarsfield | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Spanish pronunciation:[ɡiˈʎeɾmoˈβaroseskeˈloto]; born 4 May 1973) is an Argentinefootball manager and former player who played as aforward. He is the current manager ofVélez Sarsfield.[2]
Barros Schelotto played 16 years of his professional career in theArgentine Primera División (six withGimnasia La Plata and 10 withBoca Juniors). With these two teams, he won a total 17 official titles (one with Gimnasia and 16 with Boca). In 2007, Barros Schelotto left Boca Juniors forColumbus Crew inMajor League Soccer, his first move outside his native country. The forward won oneleague championship and twoSupporters' Shields with Columbus as well as two individual awards, before moving back toGimnasia La Plata in 2011.
Born with a twin brother,Gustavo, Barros Schelotto was hence nicknamedEl Mellizo ("the twin"). He started playing professionally at the end of 1991 with his hometown teamGimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, where he scored 45 goals in 181 matches in five seasons and in 1993 won theAFA Centenario Cup. On 14 September 1997 he transferred toPrimera División Argentina powerhouseBoca Juniors, for whom he played for almost 10 years. He was considered an idol by Boca fans and in his later years at the club showed his experience whenever he stepped on the pitch. Barros Schelotto remains one of Boca's top scorers in international matches with 25 goals, with just one goal behind former teammateMartín Palermo.
In 1996, he was offered to play forRiver Plate, but after club iconEnzo Francescoli was not happy with the potential signing, the deal collapsed.[3] In mid-1997, Boca Juniors showed interest for him and his brotherGustavo. It was like that that Barros Schelotto twins arrived to Boca teaming up to a former rival:Martín Palermo, Gimnasia's archrivalEstudiantes de La Plata former player. The three of them were repeatedly recommended to Boca byDiego Maradona, who was playing his last season for the Buenos Aires team, retiring on October the same year. Once in Boca, he made his debut as a substitute forClaudio Caniggia, scoring against Newell's Old Boys in a 2–1 victory.[3]
WithCarlos Bianchi as Boca Juniors' coach, Barros Schelotto got his traditional 7 shirt and kept it until 2006–07 season. He and former rival Martin Palermo became a successful attacking duo, who highly contributed in the 1998–99 title-winning season. He missed the 2001 and 2003 clubs international achievements due to injuries. In 2003, he was a key piece in the winningCopa Libertadores side, with his peak performance at the Round of 16 match against Brazilian team Paysandú, where he scored a hat-trick and assistedMarcelo Delgado's goal. In the second half of 2003 he again suffered from injuries and could only play for 46 minutes in theCopa Intercontinental winning match againstAC Milan, when he replacedCarlos Tevez. WithAlfio Basile as Boca coach, his participation in the first team was gradually lowering. He even was out of some first team matches and had to play for the second team to maintain his performance level. He scored 87 goals in 302 games for Boca Juniors.
Close to the end of his contract with Boca in 2007, it was rumored that he would leave the club to join a team where he would get more playing time. On 19 April 2007 he announced he would sign a two-year contract withMajor League Soccer'sColumbus Crew.[4]
Barros Schelotto made his debut in theUnited States on 5 May, as a 75th-minute replacement, as the Crew lost the match againstKansas City Wizards 1–0. On 12 May 2007 he made his home debut in a game againstChivas USA. The game was tied 1–1, and Schelotto had the assist for the Crew goal. Barros Schelotto quickly became a team leader and fan favorite in Columbus, helping to turn their season around. In the 2007 season he played as an attacking midfielder and led the team with 11 assists, also adding 5 goals, in 22 games.[5]
Barros Schelotto had a strongMLS season in 2008, being chosenPlayer of the week four times,Player of the month once, and recording 19 assists and 7 goals during the regular season. He was awarded theMajor League Soccer MVP on 20 November 2008.[6] Barros Schelotto capped off his 2008 MLS campaign with an MVP performance in the2008 MLS Cup which Columbus won 3–1 againstNew York Red Bulls at theHome Depot Center on 23 November 2008, behind Barros Schelotto's 3 assists.[7] For his performance in the 2008 MLS season in which he displayed his leadership, vision, passing, scoring and positioning; Barros Schelotto was namedSports Illustrated Latino's Sportsman of the Year[8] He became the Crew's first everDesignated Player on 2 December 2008.[9]
“The world seemingly slows down for him and he sees the ball that nobody was looking for. In tight spaces, people tend to rush, but Guillermo slowed down. Everything became clearer for him, whereas for everyone else it would become more hectic. That's the difference between superstars and the rest of us.”
During the 2009 season, Barros Schelotto transitioned to a more advanced role as asecond striker—scoring 12 goals while assisting just three times in 24 games.[11]
On 16 November 2010, Barros Schelotto's option was not picked up by the team, along with several other veterans of the club, effectively ending his career in Columbus.[12] Barros Schelotto elected to participate in the2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft and became a free agent inMajor League Soccer when he was not selected in the Re-Entry draft, while leaving Columbus as a club legend.[13][14]
Barros Schelotto had decided to retire but on 13 January 2011, he went back on that decision and decided to see out his career with his childhood clubGimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. He returned 14 years after leaving the club in 1997 to joinBoca Juniors. Barros Schelotto declined to accept a wage from the club and as such he was contracted unpaid, "ad honorem".
Barros Schelotto's spell at the club lasted 6 months. In that time he played 17 matches, primarily as a winger, and scored 3 goals. His last goal came against Boca Juniors, this was not only his last goal for Gimnasia but also his 110th goal in the Primera Division. As a result of his contributions to the club and his playing abilities, Barros Schelotto is revered by the fans as an idol.[15]
Barros Schelotto obtained ten senior caps for theArgentina national football team between 1995 and 1999, and also won thegold medal in theunder-23 Panamerican Games in 1995.
Following his retirement in 2011, he and fellow Argentine,Gino Padula, established SP Soccer Academy inWesterville, Ohio.[16]
In July 2012, Barros Schelotto took his first job as a manager, taking charge ofClub Atlético Lanús replacing former managerGabriel Schürrer.[17]
On 11 January 2016, Barros Schelotto was named as new coach of Italian sidePalermo after his contract with Lanús had ended.[18] Due to bureaucratic issues related to his appointment as head coach, however, Palermo was forced a few days later to hireGiovanni Tedesco, who already had the required coaching badges, as new "official" head coach, with Schelotto working alongside him and sitting on the bench during league games as "team manager".[19] On 10 February 2016, Palermo confirmed Schelotto's resignation from his role at the club after UEFA refused to hand him a coaching badge.[20]
On 1 March 2016, Barros Schelotto signed with his former clubBoca Juniors.
With Barros Schelotto at the helm, Boca reached the semi-finals of the2016 Copa Libertadores, and won the2016–17 Argentine Primera División despite many issues, including club legendCarlos Tevez's exit with a multi-million-dollar deal toShanghai Shenhua. Barros Schelotto's Boca also won the2017–18 Argentine Primera División.
Despite the back-to-back league titles, the club lost the2018 Copa Libertadores finals against rivalsRiver Plate, and a few days later Boca Juniors presidentDaniel Angelici decided not to extend his contract.[21]
On 2 January 2019,MLS sideLA Galaxy named Barros Schelotto as their new head coach.[22] On 29 October 2020, Barros Schelotto was relieved of his duties as head coach.[23]
On 20 October 2021, Paraguayan Football Association named Barros Schelotto as their new manager of theParaguay national football team.[24] On 16 September 2023, Barros Schelotto was relieved of his duties as manager, four days after a 1–0 loss in a South America's World Cup qualifying match against Venezuela.[25]
Barros Schelotto'stwin brother,Gustavo, was a teammate of his atGimnasia La Plata, and also briefly at Boca Juniors. Since 2012, they work together with Guillermo as head coach and Gustavo as assistant coach. Barros Schelotto and his wife, Matilde, have three young sons, Máximo, Nicolás, and Santiago.[26] His nephewsJuan, Salvador, and Tomás Cataldi andBautista Barros Schelotto are footballers. His father, Hugo Barros Schelotto, was one of Gimnasia y Esgrima's presidents in the 1980s.[27][28][29]
On July 7, 2013, he was immortalized with a statue located in theMuseo de la Pasión Boquense [es], a venue that also features statues of figures such asDiego Maradona,Juan Román Riquelme, andMartín Palermo.[30]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Lanús |  | 10 July 2012 | 10 December 2015 | 167 | 75 | 51 | 41 | 221 | 149 | +72 | 044.91 |
| Palermo |  | 11 January 2016 | 10 February 2016 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 025.00 |
| Boca Juniors | | 1 March 2016 | 31 December 2018 | 117 | 63 | 31 | 23 | 204 | 98 | +106 | 053.85 |
| LA Galaxy |  | 2 January 2019 | 29 October 2020 | 62 | 23 | 8 | 31 | 97 | 123 | −26 | 037.10 |
| Paraguay |  | 20 October 2021 | 16 September 2023 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 22 | −10 | 023.53 |
| Vélez Sarsfield | | 18 March 2025 | present | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 041.67 |
| Total | 403 | 181 | 104 | 118 | 581 | 428 | +153 | 044.91 | |||
Argentina
Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata
Boca Juniors
Columbus Crew
Individual
Lanús
Boca Juniors
Vélez Sarsfield
