 Bianchi withVélez Sarsfield c. 1970 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Bianchi | ||
| Date of birth | (1949-04-26)26 April 1949 (age 76) | ||
| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Unión de Paz | |||
| Ciclón de Jonte | |||
| 1960–1967 | Vélez Sarsfield | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1967–1973 | Vélez Sarsfield | 165 | (121) |
| 1973–1977 | Reims | 124 | (107) |
| 1977–1979 | Paris Saint-Germain | 89 | (76) |
| 1979–1980 | Strasbourg | 22 | (8) |
| 1980–1984 | Vélez Sarsfield | 159 | (85) |
| 1984–1985 | Reims | 18 | (8) |
| Total | 562 | (393) | |
| International career | |||
| 1970–1972 | Argentina | 14 | (8) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1985–1988 | Reims | ||
| 1989–1990 | Nice | ||
| 1993–1996 | Vélez Sarsfield | ||
| 1996–1997 | Roma | ||
| 1998–2001 | Boca Juniors | ||
| 2003–2004 | Boca Juniors | ||
| 2005–2006 | Atlético Madrid | ||
| 2013–2014 | Boca Juniors | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Carlos Bianchi (born 26 April 1949), nicknamedEl Virrey (The Viceroy), is an Argentine formerfootball player and manager. A prolific goalscorer, although he had a bright career as aforward in Argentina and France, Bianchi is best known as one of the most successful coaches of all time managingVélez Sarsfield andBoca Juniors to a great number of titles each. Bianchi is the only coach to win fourCopa Libertadores.
He is also the only coach to secure three Intercontinental Cups, and shares withJosep Guardiola andCarlo Ancelotti a joint record of three club world championship titles. He most recently served as manager of Boca Juniors. Boca Juniors and Vélez Sársfield made him a statue.[1][2][3]
Born inBuenos Aires, Bianchi was raised in a middle-class family. In 1972, he married Margaret Mary Pilla, and they had two children: Mauro Carlos and Brenda. Now has four grandchildren: Paul, Carlos and Louis (who are sons of Mauro) and Mateo (son of Brenda andHuracán defenderEduardo Dominguez). His father worked in a sales position in which Carlos regularly helped until he made his debut as a player in first-division football forVélez Sarsfield, the club which he was a fan of.
During his tenure as coach of Vélez Sarsfield he was known as the "Virrey" (viceroy, in Spanish), named by sports writerVictor Hugo Morales. The reason is based on footballing and historical grounds, as Bianchi obtained several titles as a player and coach with Vélez Sarsfield. The club is located in the neighbourhood of Linier,s alluding to theVirrey Liniers, who was in command of theViceroyalty of the Río de la Plata by early 1800.
Like so many other Argentine men's footballers, Bianchi gave his first steps playing "baby fútbol", a five-a-side variant offutsal mainly played by children and youth, practised on smaller surfaces (usuallyparquetry,cement orsynthetic grass).[4] At 11 years old, Bianchi started playing for Club Ciclón de Jonte, a type of subsidiary ofVélez Sarsfield[5] A representative of the club saw Bianchi's potential and took him to play at the youth divisions of Vélez Sársfield. By the time he was 16 yo, Bianchi had been promoted to the third division.
Bianchi was finally promoted to the first squad by Vélez Sarsfield managerVictorio Spinetto, making his debut with the team at the age of 18 in a 1–1 tie againstBoca Juniors.[6] One year later, Bianchi scored his first goal in Primera vArgentinos Juniors, on July 7, 1968. One week later, Bianchi broke the long-standingAmadeo Carrizo's record of 769 minutes with his goal unbeaten.[5][7]
With only 19 years old, Bianchi was part of the Vélez Sarsfield team that won the1968 Nacional championship and was consecrated as the top scorer of1970 Nacional championship with 18 goals and1971 Metropolitano with 36.[8] His good performances with the team and a serious injury of forward Omar Wehbe allowed Bianchi to be the centre forward of Vélez Sársfield.[9]
In 1973, Bianchi was signed byReims, a French team ofLigue 1. In hisfirst season with the club, Bianchi was the top scorer of the league with 30 goals. Some of his most notable achievements in that year included the six goals scored in the 6–1 win overParis Saint-Germain. Bianchi was seriously injured in a friendly match vBarcelona atParc des Princes so he missed the season. After he recovered, Bianchi became the top scorer of the league once more, scoring 34 goals in1975–76 and 28 in1976–77.
During his tenure at Reims, Bianchi showed his scoring touch, scoring 107 goals in four seasons and being the top scorer in the French championship in 1974, 1976 and 1977 marking 30, 34 and 28 goals, respectively.[10] In 1977, he joinedParis Saint-Germain in which Bianchi was again the top scorer of the league in two seasons spent in the club.[10] Because of the club's financial problems, Bianchi was transferred to Paris St. Germain in 1977.[11]
Inhis first season with the Parisian club, Bianchi scored 37 goals in 38 matches, being also named best player of the season. The next season,1978–79, Bianchi was the top scorer again with 27 goals. Despite those outstanding individual performances, PSG did not achieve any title; on the contrary, their performance was very poor, finishing eleventh. and 13th in the last seasons. Because of that, Bianchi chose to move to a more competitive team.[11]
When I was part of the team, PSG was a more modest team, with less attacking power. But despite that, I scored 37 goals in 38 league matches during my first season with the club. I had intuition, I knew where the ball was about to be. It's that being a scorer was my life.
— Carlos Bianchi
In the 1979–80 season, he played forStrasbourg, without success, scoring only eight goals. Bianchi returned to his home country in 1980 to play for Vélez Sarsfield, where he became top scorer in the1981 with 15 goals.[8] He would return to Stade de Reims, where he would retire in 1984.[6]
Bianchi is the top scorer in the history of Vélez Sarsfield with 206[6] goals and ninth overall in Argentine football.[12] He is also the 9th top scorer in the history of theFrench League with his 179 goals.[13] After his retirement, Bianchi is recognized byFIFA as Argentina's top scorer in the history of first division tournaments of the world, scoring a total of 385 goals (206 in Argentina and 179 in France) surpassingAlfredo Di Stefano (377 goals) andDelio Onnis (352 goals, 53 in Argentina and 299 in France), a great merit not recognized by many due to his coaching career greatly overshadowing his days as a player. Carlos Bianchi is the 8th top scorer in the history of first-division football.
He also earned 14 caps forArgentina, scoring 7 goals, during the period from 1970 to 1972.[6]
At the end of the French season, Bianchi returned to his home country to play for Vélez Sarsfield, becoming the top scorer of1981 Nacional with 15 goals. His last season in Argentina was in the1984 Metropolitano, where he played his last match with Vélez Sarsfield, a 1–2 defeat to Boca Juniors atJosé Amalfitani Stadium on July 1, 1984. Bianchi remains as all-time top scorer for Vélez Sarsfield, with 206 goals in 324 matches with the team.[14]
Bianchi returned to French football in1984–85 to play for Reims, his first team in Europe, which was playing inLigue 2 (Second Division). Nevertheless, the club did not make a good performance, finishing 12th. of Group A. Bianchi was not the temible scorer of his glory days, either. He only scored eight goals in the season and then retired from football. Nevertheless, Bianchi would stay in Reims after becoming manager of the team and being in charge during the1985–86 season.
Bianchi made his debut as manager in March 1985 withReims (where he had previously retired as player), spending three seasons in the Second Division without achieving promotion to the Ligue 1, despite the team reaching the semi-finals ofCoupe de France twice. After his tenure with Reims, Bianchi was hired byNice in Ligue 1, coaching the club in 24 matches between 1989 and 1990. Nice remained in the top division after beatingStrasbourg in a playoff with an aggregate score of 7–3.[15]
After Bianchi left Nice, he returned to Paris to coachParis FC, where he stayed two years (1991–92).
Bianchi returned to Argentina in December 1992 to coach Vélez Sarsfield, the club where he had debuted, in place ofEduardo Luján Manera. His first match on the bench was on February 21, 1993, when Vélez beatDeportivo Español 2–0 with two goals byOmar Asad in the first round of the1993 Clausura season. Vélez won that championship with 27 points in 19 matches played, achieving their 2nd. league title.[16]
As Argentine champion, Vélez qualified to1994 Copa Libertadores, where the team shared a group with strong and experienced rivals such asBoca Juniors and BrazilianCruzeiro, andPalmeiras. Nevertheless, Vélez placed 1st in the zone; therefore, the squad qualified for the next stage. Vélez would then eliminateDefensor,Minervén, andAtlético Junior to face defending championsSão Paulo in the finals. After both teams won one game each by the same score (10), a penalty shootout was run to decide a champion. AfterJosé Luis Chilavert stopped one shot andRoberto Pompei scored, Vélez Sarsfield won the series, achieving their first Copa Libertadores trophy.[17][18] The next step was the1994 Intercontinental Cup, where Bianchi led Vélez Sarsfield to win their second international title after beatingMilan 2–0.[19] Vélez would go on to in two more league titles with Bianchi, establishing the most successful period in the club's history.
After a brief passage in the Italian clubRoma, Bianchi returned to Argentina to coachBoca Juniors. In two stints in the club, Bianchi won four league titles, threeCopa Libertadores titles and twoIntercontinental Cup titles, becoming the club's most successful manager.
Bianchi is regarded as one of the best forwards of all time,[20] because of his impressive record of goals scored both in France and Argentina. He is the all-time top scorer of Vélez Sarsfield with 206 goals. He is also one of the all-time top scorers of the French Division 1 with 179 goals scored.[21]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Vélez Sarsfield | 1967–68 | Primera División | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1968–69 | 18 | 9 | — | — | 18 | 9 | ||||
| 1969–70 | 27 | 17 | — | — | 27 | 17 | ||||
| 1970–71 | 23 | 20 | — | — | 23 | 20 | ||||
| 1971–72 | 46 | 42 | — | — | 46 | 42 | ||||
| 1972–73 | 37 | 27 | — | — | 37 | 27 | ||||
| 1973–74 | 11 | 6 | — | — | 11 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 165 | 121 | — | — | 165 | 121 | ||||
| Reims | 1973–74 | Division 1 | 33 | 30 | 8 | 8 | — | 41 | 38 | |
| 1974–75 | 16 | 15 | — | — | 16 | 15 | ||||
| 1975–76 | 38 | 34 | 5 | 5 | — | 43 | 39 | |||
| 1976–77 | 37 | 28 | 7 | 10 | — | 44 | 38 | |||
| Total | 124 | 107 | 20 | 23 | — | 144 | 130 | |||
| Paris Saint-Germain | 1977–78 | Division 1 | 38 | 37 | 3 | 2 | — | 41 | 39 | |
| 1978–79 | 36 | 27 | 3 | 5 | — | 39 | 32 | |||
| Total | 74 | 64 | 6 | 7 | — | 80 | 71 | |||
| Strasbourg | 1979–80 | Division 1 | 22 | 8 | — | 3[b] | 3 | 25 | 11 | |
| Vélez Sarsfield | 1980–81 | Primera División | 9 | 5 | — | — | 9 | 5 | ||
| 1981–82 | 44 | 21 | — | — | 44 | 21 | ||||
| 1982–83 | 50 | 29 | — | — | 50 | 29 | ||||
| 1983–84 | 39 | 24 | — | — | 39 | 24 | ||||
| 1984–85 | 17 | 6 | — | — | 17 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 159 | 85 | — | — | 159 | 85 | ||||
| Reims | 1984–85 | Division 2 | 18 | 8 | — | — | 18 | 8 | ||
| Career total | 562 | 393 | 26 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 591 | 426 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Reims | 1 July 1985 | 30 June 1988 | 114 | 53 | 27 | 34 | 046.5 |
| Nice | 1 July 1989 | 30 June 1990 | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 023.7 |
| Vélez Sarsfield | 1 July 1993 | 30 June 1996 | 129 | 63 | 39 | 27 | 048.8 |
| Roma | 1 July 1996 | 7 April 1997 | 31 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 038.7 |
| Boca Juniors | 9 July 1998 | 31 December 2001 | 159 | 89 | 47 | 23 | 056.0 |
| Boca Juniors | 1 January 2003 | 4 July 2004 | 83 | 48 | 20 | 15 | 057.8 |
| Atlético Madrid | 1 July 2005 | 12 January 2006 | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 028.6 |
| Boca Juniors | 1 January 2013 | 28 August 2014 | 53 | 22 | 13 | 18 | 041.5 |
| Total | 628 | 302 | 176 | 150 | 048.1 | ||
Vélez Sarsfield
Stade de Reims
Vélez Sarsfield
Boca Juniors
Argentina squads | |
|---|---|
Awards | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
