Daniel Alberto Passarella | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Passarella in 1985 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of River Plate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 December 2009 – 15 December 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | José María Aguilar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Rodolfo D'Onofrio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Daniel Alberto Passarella (1953-05-25)25 May 1953 (age 72) Chacabuco, Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Footballer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine formerfootballer andmanager, who is considered one of the greatestdefenders of all time.[2][3][4] As a player forArgentina, he was part of twoFIFA World Cup-winning teams; he captained his nation to victory at the1978 World Cup which Argentina hosted, and was also part of the winning squad in1986.
Although playing as acentre-back, Passarella was also a proficient goalscorer; at one point, he was football's highest-scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record which was subsequently broken by Dutch playerRonald Koeman.[5] In 2004, Passarella was named one of the125 greatest living footballers byPelé at aFIFA awards ceremony.[6] In 2007,The Times placed him at 36th in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history, recalling that he "tackled with the ferocity of the wild bull of the Pampas".[7] In 2017, he was named as the 56th best player byFourFourTwo in their list of the 100 all-time greatest footballers.[8] As a manager, he coached the Argentina andUruguay national teams, among several club sides.
After his playing and coaching career, Passarella also served as the president ofRiver Plate for four years, after winning the elections in December 2009.[9]
Passarella was born inChacabuco, Buenos Aires. He started his career atSarmiento ofJunín, Buenos Aires, in 1971. He played there until 1973, when he joinedRiver Plate. Playing forLos Millonarios, he was constantly starting to be called up to the Argentina national team.
After his good performances at the1982 World Cup, he joinedSerie A sideFiorentina in the summer of 1982. At the Italian club, he scored 11 goals during the1985–86 season, a record for a defender at the time, although the goal tally was surpassed byMarco Materazzi in the2000–01 season.[10]
In 1986, he joinedInternazionale, where he ended his Italian playing career in 1988. After his successful spell in theSerie A, he returned to River Plate, where he played until his retirement.
He was called"El Gran Capitán" ('the Great Captain', the nickname of the Argentinian independence hero,José de San Martín),"El Kaiser" (an allusion to German defenderFranz Beckenbauer) or"El Caudillo" ('the Chief')[11] because of his leadership ability, his passion, and his organisational prowess on the field. He was a defender who often joined the attack, and helped generate and finish offensive plays. He was the all-time highest-scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record that was later broken by Dutch playerRonald Koeman.[5]
His aerial game was effective both defensively and in attack. Despite his average height of 1.73 m, he frequently scored headers. He was also a notedfree-kick andpenalty specialist. Furthermore, he was known for using elbows against rivals whilst managing to avoid the referee's gaze.
As one of the pillars of theArgentina national football team, he would captain the team during the1978 World Cup held in Argentina. He was the first Argentine player to hold theWorld Cup, as it was handed to him first when Argentina won the final.
During the qualifying rounds of the1986 World Cup, Passarella contributed to the goal which ensured Argentina's qualification in the final minutes of their match againstPeru by allowing teammateRicardo Gareca to score.
A bout ofenterocolitis caused him to miss the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He was replaced in the first team by defenderJosé Luis Brown and failed to regain his place after recovering from illness.[12] Passarella had a fractious relationship with captainDiego Maradona and coachCarlos Bilardo during the tournament. He later claimed Bilardo and Maradona made certain that he was sidelined;[2] although he is thefirst and so far only player to feature in two Argentina World Cup–winning squads,[13] he did not play any of the matches in 1986, not even as a substitute.[12]
After the end of his playing career, he returned to River Plate as a manager and guided them to three national championships, in1989–90,1991 and1993. Thereafter, Passarella was appointed as the coach of the Argentina national team in 1994, replacingAlfio Basile. He was in charge of the team during the1998 World Cup qualification campaign and later thecompetition itself, which was held in France. As the Argentina team head, Passarella had appointed a close friend and a fellow 1978 world champion,Américo Gallego, as his assistant coach. He banned long hair, earrings and homosexuals in the national team, leading to disputes with several players.[14][15]Fernando Redondo andClaudio Caniggia, two of the most talented Argentine players of that generation, eventually refused to play for Passarella and were excluded from his squad.[16]
Argentina's performances never reached the expected heights during the 1998 World Cup; the team was eliminated in the quarter-final after a last minute 2–1 defeat to theNetherlands. After the elimination, Passarella left the post and was replaced by compatriotMarcelo Bielsa. Subsequently, Passarella became the manager of theUruguay national team, the first foreigner to take the job of Uruguay team, but he left the post during the2002 World Cup qualification process. Afterwards, Passarella had a brief and unsuccessful stint as the coach of Italian sideParma in 2001, where, despite success in theUEFA Cup andCoppa Italia, he was ultimately sacked after losing all of his five matches in the league, with the club sitting in the relegation zone.[17]
In 2003, he won theMexican league title withMonterrey. In March 2004, he was named byPelé as one of the125 greatest living footballers. He was then hired as coach ofCorinthians in Brazil, but was fired after a few months after a spell of bad results.
On 9 January 2006, he was appointed River Plate coach again after 12 years to occupy the vacancy left byReinaldo Merlo's sudden departure. On 15 November 2007, he resigned as coach after River was beaten by penalties byArsenal de Sarandí in the semi-final of the2007 Copa Sudamericana.
In the summer of 2018, after publicly expressing interest in returning he was widely seen as the frontrunner to become the new manager of Monterrey for a second stint after the departure ofAntonio Mohamed but the club ultimately decided to appointDiego Alonso.[18]
Passarella was elected as president of River Plate in December 2009.[19] The club was in poor financial shape when Passarella took charge.[20] River Plate were relegated for the first time in the club's 110-year history in 2011.[21] Passarella was alleged to have engaged in fraud during his presidency.[22]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sarmiento | 1971[23] | Primera División C | ? | 0 | — | — | ? | 0 | ||
| 1972[23] | Primera División C | ? | 0 | — | — | ? | 0 | |||
| 1973[23] | Primera División C | 36 | 9 | — | — | 36 | 9 | |||
| Total | 36+ | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36+ | 9 | ||
| River Plate | 1974[23] | Primera División | 22 | 5 | — | — | 22 | 5 | ||
| 1975[23] | Primera División | 29 | 9 | — | — | 29 | 9 | |||
| 1976[23] | Primera División | 35 | 24 | — | ? | 1 | 35 | 24 | ||
| 1977[23] | Primera División | 40 | 13 | — | ? | 1 | 40 | 13 | ||
| 1978[23] | Primera División | 19 | 4 | — | ? | 1 | 19 | 4 | ||
| 1979[23] | Primera División | 38 | 9 | — | — | 38 | 9 | |||
| 1980[23] | Primera División | 41 | 12 | — | ? | 0 | 41 | 12 | ||
| 1981[23] | Primera División | 42 | 14 | — | ? | 1 | 42 | 14 | ||
| Total | 266 | 90 | 0 | 0 | ? | 4 | 266+ | 94 | ||
| Fiorentina | 1982–83[23] | Serie A | 27 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 3 |
| 1983–84[23] | Serie A | 27 | 7 | 7 | 1 | — | 34 | 8 | ||
| 1984–85[23] | Serie A | 26 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 9 | |
| 1985–86[23] | Serie A | 29 | 11 | 7 | 4 | — | 36 | 15 | ||
| Total | 109 | 26 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 139 | 35 | ||
| Internazionale | 1986–87[23] | Serie A | 23 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 38 | 8 |
| 1987–88[23] | Serie A | 21 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 35 | 7 | |
| Total | 44 | 9 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 73 | 15 | ||
| River Plate | 1988–89[23] | Primera División | 24 | 7 | — | — | 24 | 7 | ||
| Career total | 479 | 134 | 41 | 13 | 18+ | 6 | 538+ | 153 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1976 | 6 | 2 |
| 1977 | 7 | 3 | |
| 1978 | 13 | 4 | |
| 1979 | 11 | 5 | |
| 1980 | 9 | 3 | |
| 1981 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 9 | 3 | |
| 1983 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1984 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1985 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 70 | 22 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 October 1976 | Lima, Peru |  Peru | 2–1 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | 10 November 1976 | José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Peru | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | 5 June 1977 | La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  West Germany | 1–3 | 1–3 | Friendly |
| 4 | 18 June 1977 | La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Scotland | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 5 | 3 July 1977 | La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Yugoslavia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 6 | 23 March 1978 | Nacional, Lima, Peru | Peru | 2–0 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 7 | 5 April 1978 | La Bombonera, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Romania | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 8 | 2–0 | |||||
| 9 | 6 June 1978 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  France | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1978 FIFA World Cup |
| 10 | 25 April 1979 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Bulgaria | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 11 | 26 May 1979 | Olimpico, Rome, Italy |  Italy | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 12 | 8 August 1979 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Bolivia | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1979 Copa América |
| 13 | 23 August 1979 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Brazil | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1979 Copa América |
| 14 | 16 September 1979 | Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, Yugoslavia | Yugoslavia | 1–3 | 2–4 | Friendly |
| 15 | 13 May 1980 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  England | 1–2 | 1–3 | Friendly |
| 16 | 12 October 1980 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina |  Poland | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 17 | 16 December 1980 | Olímpico Chateau Carreras, Córdoba, Argentina |  Switzerland | 5–0 | 5–0 | Friendly |
| 18 | 28 October 1981 | Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Poland | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly |
| 19 | 5 May 1982 | José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Bulgaria | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 20 | 23 June 1982 | José Rico Pérez, Alicante, Spain |  El Salvador | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1982 FIFA World Cup |
| 21 | 29 June 1982 | Sarrià, Barcelona, Spain | Italy | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1982 FIFA World Cup |
| 22 | 26 May 1985 | Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela |  Venezuela | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification |
River Plate
Argentina Youth
Argentina
Individual
River Plate
Monterrey
Argentina
Individual
River Plate
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