.jpg) Rueda in 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Reinaldo Rueda Rivera | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1957-04-16)16 April 1957 (age 68) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Cali, Colombia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1997 | Cortuluá | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Deportivo Cali | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Independiente Medellín | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | Colombia U-20 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Colombia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2010 | Honduras | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2014 | Ecuador | ||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Atlético Nacional | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Flamengo | ||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2021 | Chile | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Colombia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2025 | Honduras | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Reinaldo Rueda Rivera (born 16 April 1957) is a Colombianfootball coach. He last managed theHonduras national team.
When he was the coach of theColombia U-20 team, they finished 3rd at the2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. He also led theColombia U-17 team to 4th at the2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship.
After an unfavorable start to the2006 World Cup qualification phase (only 1 point after 5 games) theColombian Football Federation made Rueda the coach of thesenior team. Under him, the team improved, coming from near last to finish 6th, though failing to qualify. Then, he moved toHonduras and guided theirnational team to a place at the2010 FIFA World Cup. Later on, he coached theEcuador national team, taking them to the2014 FIFA World Cup. Afterwards, he managedAtlético Nacional, winning the2016 Copa Libertadores, andFlamengo, before resuming international roles with theChile national team as well as Colombia and Honduras.
Born inCali, Rueda holds a physical education degree. He completed his master's degree at theDeutsche Sporthochschule Köln, Germany, where he also gained proficiency in the German language.[1] He is also a university professor and has taught several courses at the Colombian National Coaches School. He has continued his studies in Europe, attendingFIFA andUEFA coaching courses.
As a footballer, Rueda played for emerging clubs in amateur and college competitions. However, he decided that coaching would be a better way and later became the coach ofIndependiente Medellín,Deportivo Cali, andCortuluá.
As a coach Rueda was in charge of the Colombia U-17, U-20, U-21, U-23 and senior teams. Rueda made the final qualifying rounds with the Colombia U-21 in the Toulon Tournament in France in 2000 and 2001. In the first tournament, During Rueda's tenure, Colombia defeated the Republic of Ireland (1–0), Ghana (4–1) and Côte d'Ivoire (3–1). In the final against Portugal on 3 June, Colombia won the championship onpenalties (3–1).
At the 2003 South American U-20 tournament in Uruguay, Rueda assured his team a ticket to theFIFA U-20 World Cup after a 10-year hiatus. His successes made him the coach of thesenior side in 2004 for the task to qualify for the2006 FIFA World Cup. However, it proved to be a failure and Rueda was sacked after two years in charge.[2]
Rueda took the helm of theHonduras national football team in January 2007, and led the team to qualification for the2010 FIFA World Cup, ending 28 years of qualification failures.[3] However, he came under intense scrutiny following criticism of his tactics as the team exited the World Cup at the first stage. On 28 July 2010, Rueda stepped down as Honduras coach after three years at the helm.[4]
In August 2010, Rueda took charge as manager of theEcuador national team. At the2011 Copa América, the team finished last in a group withBrazil,Venezuela andParaguay. On 11 October 2013 Ecuador secured a crucial 1–0 win over direct rivalsUruguay in the 17th round of the2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Four days later, even with an Ecuador loss toChile and a Uruguay win overArgentina in the final round with both teams tying for points and wins, Rueda's side clinched direct qualification with a fourth-place finish due to a better goal difference.[5] At theWorld Cup, Ecuador exited in the group stage placed third following a 2–1 loss toSwitzerland, a 2–1 win over Honduras and a 0–0 draw toFrance.[6]
On 6 June 2015, Rueda was appointed atAtlético Nacional. In December, the team won the2015 Torneo Finalización, Rueda's inaugural title in charge of a senior side. Atlético Nacional started off the 2016 season with a 5–0 aggregate win overDeportivo Cali in theSuperliga. In theCopa Libertadores, the team had the best campaign in the group stage, with five wins and one draw; in the knockout rounds, they beatHuracán,Rosario Central andSão Paulo, before facingIndependiente del Valle in thefinals and winning the title with an aggregate 2–1 win.[7] They additionally reached theCopa Sudamericanafinals that year, finishing as runners-up as the club's board decided to concede the title toChapecoense. In 2017, Atlético faced Chapecoense in theRecopa Sudamericana and won 6–2 aggregate. Rueda left the club in June, after adding another league title to his tally with the2017 Apertura.[8]
On 14 August 2017, Rueda joined Brazilian clubFlamengo. Under his management, the team reached the finals of the2017 Copa do Brasil and the2017 Copa Sudamericana, finishing as runners-up in both competitions. He left at the end of the season, after securing qualification for the2018 Copa Libertadores group stage with a sixth-place finish in theSérie A.[9]
On 8 January 2018, Rueda returned to international management and took charge of theChile national team. His first match was on 24 March, a 2–1 friendly win overSweden. At the2019 Copa América, Chile finished second place in Group C behind Uruguay; in the quarter-finals, they knocked Colombia out in the penalty shootouts after a goalless draw in regulation time. The team finished the tournament in fourth place following a 3–0 loss toPeru in the semi-finals and a 2–1 loss toArgentina in the third place play-off.[10] His stint with Chile ended short when Chile only gained four points after the four first matches in the2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.[11]
On 14 January 2021, theColombian Football Federation announced Rueda's return to the national team.[12] He made his returning debut in the match againstPeru for the second time in the2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, having faced the same opponent in the same qualification as coach of Chile, and made Colombia reach 3rd place in the2021 Copa América. Again with the qualifications, Colombia managed to defeat Peru 3–0, tied Argentina and Bolivia with a result of 2–2 and 1–1 respectively, to return to the last same scoreline withParaguay, and a 3–1 win againstChile. However, after the game with Chile, Rueda's team fell into a goal drought, drawing 0–0 withUruguay,Brazil andEcuador consecutively, and losing 1–0 again to Brazil. Colombia again drew goalless with Paraguay, and lost the following matches with Peru andArgentina continuing their drought. Colombia finally scored their victories, winning 3–0 against Bolivia and a final victory of 1–0 againstVenezuela, however, due to previous results, Colombia finished in sixth place, being eliminated from the World Cup. Rueda left the Colombian team shortly after.[13][14]
In July 2023, Rueda was re-appointed as head coach of the Honduras national team.[15] Under his leadership, Honduras reached the semi-final stage of the2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, its first return to that phase of the tournament in over a decade.[16] In the subsequent2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Honduras finished second in their group behindHaiti and missed the inter-confederation play-offs on goal difference, failing to reach the World Cup.[17] Rueda was dismissed from his position shortly thereafter.[18]
In 2011, Rueda was naturalized as a Honduran citizen.[19]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Colombia U-20 | 1 July 1992 | 31 July 1993 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 033.33 |
| Cortuluá | 12 May 1994 | 20 April 1997 | 124 | 32 | 43 | 49 | 025.81 |
| Deportivo Cali | 5 June 1997 | 20 September 1998 | 63 | 28 | 15 | 20 | 044.44 |
| Colombia U-20 | 1 January 1999 | 12 May 2002 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 050.00 |
| Colombia | 7 May 2002 | 12 May 2002 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 033.33 |
| Independiente Medellín | 24 May 2002 | 19 September 2002 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 030.00 |
| Colombia U-20 | 20 September 2002 | 5 January 2004 | 19 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 052.63 |
| Colombia | 30 January 2004 | 30 April 2006 | 43 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 041.86 |
| Honduras | 25 January 2007 | 29 July 2010 | 53 | 31 | 5 | 17 | 058.49 |
| Ecuador | 10 August 2010 | 13 July 2014 | 50 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 038.00 |
| Atlético Nacional | 2 June 2015 | 21 June 2017 | 147 | 85 | 39 | 23 | 057.82 |
| Flamengo | 14 August 2017 | 8 January 2018 | 31 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 041.94 |
| Chile | 8 January 2018 | 13 January 2021[20] | 27 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 033.33 |
| Colombia | 14 January 2021 | 18 April 2022 | 22 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 031.82 |
| Honduras | 16 July 2023 | 19 November 2025 | 34 | 16 | 7 | 11 | 047.06 |
| Total | 647 | 281 | 182 | 184 | 043.43 | ||
Reinaldo Rueda international tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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