Óscar Alexander Pareja Gómez (born 10 August 1968) is a Colombian

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manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Orlando City in Major League Soccer. Pareja is nicknamed ''El Generalito'', the Little General, but is now called ''Papi''.

Playing career

Pareja came up through the youth system of

Independiente Medellin Independiente may refer to: *the Spanish word for independent Music *Independiente (record label), a record label formed in 1997 * ''Independiente'' (Dragon Ash album), 2007 * ''Independiente'' (Ricardo Arjona album), 2011 *''Independiente'', an a ...

; however, he began his professional career in 1987, debuting for renowned club

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardo ...

. In his debut, he assisted on the winning goal in a 1–0 victory. He played eight years with the club, from 1987 to 1995, helping them to be Categoría Primera A runners-up in 1993, and leading them to a respectable performance in the 1994 Copa Libertadores. In 1995, Deportivo Cali purchased Pareja from Independiente Medellín; he paid immediate dividends, helping Cali to a championship in the 1995–1996 season, their first in 22 years. He would stay with them four years. Pareja then signed with Major League Soccer (MLS) of the United States. After joining MLS, Pareja was allocated to the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

on 26 May 1998, but was soon traded to the

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

for Mexican forward Damian Alvarez. Although Pareja played little for Dallas in 1998, he earned himself a place at the center of Dallas's midfield for the 1999 season, playing 27 games and scoring four goals and six assists, while coordinating the Burn attack. He remained in this position for six more years, playing in 189 regular season games for Dallas, while scoring 13 goals and 52 assists, and was named to the

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in 2002. He announced he would retire following the 2005 MLS season and remained with the club, now renamed as

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

, as an assistant coach.

International

Pareja also played for the Colombia national football team. In 11 caps, he scored three goals and played in the

1991 Copa América The 1991 Copa América football tournament was hosted by Chile, from 6 to 21 July. It was organized by CONMEBOL and all ten member nations participated. Until the 2021 edition, this was the last time that the tournament consisted of only CONMEBO ...

Coaching career

Pareja spent two seasons as an assistant coach with FC Dallas in 2006 and 2007. He then left the club to join the

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as an assistant coach at the

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in 2007–08.
USsoccer.com 26 November 2007 He then returned to the coaching staff at

as a director and coach in their youth system. He was praised for the system's achievements and was named the U-18 Academy Coach of the Year for the 2010–11 season. For the 2011 Major League Soccer season, 2011 MLS season, Pareja returned to the first team as an assistant coach. He was also head coach for the reserve team. The

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

signed Pareja to his first head coach job on 5 January 2012. After finishing 7th in his debut season, Pareja led the Rapids to the

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in 2013. After two seasons he stepped down as Colorado head coach on 4 January 2014. Pareja was announced as the head coach of his former club,

, on 10 January 2014, after Dallas traded a first-round

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

pick and allocation money to Colorado. Having missed the playoffs the last two seasons prior to Pareja's arrival, FC Dallas made the postseason in his debut season as head coach. In 2015, Dallas topped the Western Conference regular season table, finishing runners-up for the Supporters' Shield to

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. The following year the club did a domestic double winning both the Supporters Shield and the U.S. Open Cup, defeating

4–2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. It was the club's first Supporters' Shield win and second time lifting the U.S. Open Cup having last done so in

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. Amid speculation about interest from Liga MX, Pareja stepped down as manager of Dallas following the completion of the 2018 season. He had a combined 18 years at the club as a player, coach, and manager.

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, commonly known as Tijuana, or simply as ''Xoloitzcuintle, Xolos'', is a Mexican professional Football team, football club based in Tijuana. The club's badge is the founder's (Jorge Hank) hairless xoloit ...

announced Pareja as their new manager on 27 November 2018. After 12 months, Pareja leaves Tijuana under mutual agreement On 4 December 2019, Pareja returned to MLS, becoming the fourth permanent head coach of Orlando City. With the season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic two rounds into the season, Pareja guided Orlando to the

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final on the resumption of play, the team's first final in their MLS era. Orlando finished top of Group A taking 7 points from three matches and notably eliminated reigning Supporters' Shield winners Los Angeles FC in the quarter-final before eventually losing to Portland Timbers 2–1 in the final.

Coaching record

All competitive games are included.

Coaching honors

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since ...

: 2016 ** ''Runners-up'': 2015 * U.S. Open Cup: 2016 Orlando City SC * U.S. Open Cup: 2022

References

External links

*
Deportivo Cali

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pareja, Oscar 1968 births Living people Footballers from Medellín Colombian footballers Colombia under-20 international footballers Colombia international footballers 1991 Copa América players Independiente Medellín footballers Deportivo Cali footballers New England Revolution players FC Dallas players Colombian football managers Colorado Rapids coaches FC Dallas coaches Orlando City SC coaches Categoría Primera A players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer coaches Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States FC Dallas non-playing staff Association football midfielders