 Bilardo as Argentina's manager during the1986 World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Salvador Bilardo | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1938-03-16)16 March 1938 (age 87) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| San Lorenzo de Almagro | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1958–1960 | San Lorenzo | 174 | (12) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1961–1965 | Deportivo Español | 111 | (39) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1970 | Estudiantes | 175 | (11) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 460 | (62) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1959 | Argentina youth | |||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 | Estudiantes | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1973–1976 | Estudiantes | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1976–1978 | Deportivo Cali | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1979 | San Lorenzo | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1981 | Colombia | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1983 | Estudiantes | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1990 | Argentina | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Sevilla FC | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Boca Juniors | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Guatemala | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Libya | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Estudiantes | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dr. Carlos Salvador Bilardo (born 16 March 1938) is an Argentine former physician,football player, and manager.
Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player withEstudiantes de La Plata in the 1960s, and as the manager of the Argentina side that won the1986 FIFA World Cup and came close to retaining the title in1990, where they reachedthe final. As manager of Argentina, he was renowned for successfully employing the3–5–2 formation at the highest level;[1] this formation has been in use for decades, but has never achieved mainstream status.
Bilardo is known by fans and the media asel narigón ("the big nosed one").
Bilardo was born in the Buenos AiresLa Paternal neighbourhood toSicilian immigrants fromMazzarino.[2] He was drawn to football from his childhood, but did not neglect study or work. On school vacations, he would get up before dawn to haul produce to theAbasto market inBuenos Aires.
Bilardo was a promising prospect in the youth divisions of major Buenos Aires clubSan Lorenzo de Almagro, and he was drafted to the juniorArgentina national football team that obtained the 1959 Pan-American title and took part in the1960 Summer Olympic Games inRome.[3]
In 1961, Bilardo was transferred to second-division sideDeportivo Español, where he became the team's top scorer, but he slowly gravitated to the position ofdefensive midfielder. In parallel, he continued his studies in the Faculty ofMedicine of theUniversity of Buenos Aires.
In 1965, Bilardo was transferred toEstudiantes de La Plata, where managerOsvaldo Zubeldía built a team based on theKiller youth divisions (la tercera que mata) and thought of using Bilardo as a more mature anchor for the midfield.
Bilardo became Estudiantes' inside-the-pitch tactician. Over a four-year span, the team won oneMetropolitano title (1967), threeCopa Libertadores titles (1968–1970, defeatingPalmeiras,Nacional andPeñarol respectively at the finals) and oneIntercontinental Cup in 1968 againstManchester United.
After graduating as a physician (together with fellow playerRaúl Horacio Madero), Bilardo retired from play and accepted the job of Estudiantes coach in 1971. For the next years, he divided his time between managing, his family (he married in 1968 and fathered a daughter), and helping manage his father's furniture business. He even found time to researchrectal cancer and practice as agynecologist (Bilardo finally retired from the practice of medicine in 1976, feeling that being a physician requires a full-time commitment that he was unable to provide).
After retiring as a player, Bilardo became Estudiantes coach in 1971. Estudiantes got to the final of the1971 Copa Libertadores, which it lost toNacional. In 1976, he became manager ofColombia'sDeportivo Cali and after a 2-year stint he managed to get the squad into theCopa Libertadores Finals but once again failed to win the title. After failing in the1978 Copa Libertadores Finals, Bilardo had a short stint in San Lorenzo and then becameColombia national team's trainer. When the team failed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup, he was fired from his position, and Estudiantes arranged for his return to Argentina.
The club was enjoying healthy finances due to the transfer ofPatricio Hernández, and accommodated Bilardo's request for reinforcements. The team made the semi-finals of the 1982Nacional and went on to win the same year'sMetropolitano title.
Bilardo's scheme was based on Zubeldía's tactics, and its attacking might (fueled by players likeSabella,Trobbiani,Gottardi andPonce) earned the attention of the media—and of the top brass of theArgentine Football Association, who offered him to manage theArgentina national team.
He held the post from 1983 until after the1990 World Cup. Under his watch,Diego Maradona became the most dominant player of his age, and Argentina enjoyed their best international harvest, winning the 1986 edition and reaching the 1990 final.
Bilardo wrote a book called "Así Ganamos" ("How we won", Editorial Sudamericana Planeta) retelling the story of Argentina's 1986 FIFA World Cup win.
From 1990 and onwards, Bilardo alternated teaching and journalism stints with managing. He would reunite with Maradona inSevilla FC and later inBoca Juniors, and have a brief term as the national coach ofLibya.
Bilardo returned to Estudiantes for the 2003–2004 season. In a publicised episode during that season, Bilardo sat next to the pitch during a game againstClub Atlético River Plate and drank from a bottle ofchampagne. When confronted by media, he maintained that the bottle actually containedGatorade; the contents of the bottle were analysed by a forensic lab, confirming Bilardo's version. Within that season, results improved, and several young players were promoted to the first team, includingJosé Ernesto Sosa, who would later help Estudiantes become a contender; three years later, the team won the League title under coachDiego Simeone, and in 2009 Estudiantes won the Copa Libertadores again, with Bilardo attending the final inBelo Horizonte and receiving a gift from coach Sabella—his "lucky" beige coat.
Bilardo covered the2006 FIFA World Cup inGermany for Argentine TV stationCanal 13 as a commentator. In the aftermath of the tournament, Argentine managerJosé Pekerman renounced the post, and Bilardo's name was floated as a possible substitute. The job eventually went toAlfio Basile, who had earlier succeeded Bilardo as national coach after the 1990 World Cup.
Following the 2007 gubernatorial election, Bilardo was named Secretary of Sports ofBuenos Aires province under governorDaniel Scioli.
A new generation of Bilardo-influenced coaches has taken over many key positions in Argentine and South American football:Brown,Pumpido,Burruchaga,Batista,Russo, andMaradona.
When Maradona was named as national team coach in October 2008, Bilardo was tapped for the post of Argentina General Manager. After the designation, Bilardo agreed to quit his Secretary post.
Individual
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| Achievements | ||||
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| Preceded by | FIFA World Cup Winning Manager 1986 | Succeeded by | ||
| Status | ||||
| Preceded by | Oldest living manager 5 January 2024 – present | Incumbent | ||
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