Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born 4 October 1955) is an Argentine former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, coach, and the former general manager of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. He is currently working as a commentator for

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its ...

. Nicknamed "The Philosopher of Football", he played as a forward. With the Argentina national team, Valdano took part at the

1975 Copa América The 1975 edition of the Copa América football (soccer), football tournament was played between 17 July and 28 October. The tournament saw many significant shifts to its format, such as changing its name from South American Championship to Copa A ...

as well as the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s, the latter of which Argentina won. He had a major influence in the 1986 win, scoring four goals in the tournament, including Argentina's second goal against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In total, he earned 23

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for his nation between 1975 and 1990, scoring seven goals. Although he initially played for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

, Alavés and

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, his most successful period at club level was at Real Madrid, where he won

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

twice, the

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

and two

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

s. As a manager, he coached Spanish sides

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, Real Madrid and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. Considered a benchmark for the way he addressed various football clubs, Valdano participated in 2013 at the World Leadership Forum and in the World Business Forum in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where he associated the world of sports and business behind it, where he listed the 11 powers of leadership, based on his last book.

Playing career

Club

Valdano started playing when he was 16 years old for Rosario's club

, where he also started playing professionally, as well as with the Argentina national football team, in 1972. In 1975, he was transferred to Alavés of the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, where he played until 1979. In that year, he moved to

of the Primera División, and then to

in 1984, playing with the ''

Quinta del Buitre Quinta may refer to: * Quinta (estate) in Portugal * Quinta (musician), British multi-instrumentalist * In medieval music theory, alternative term for diapente (perfect fifth) * ''Quinta'' (skipper), genus of butterflies * Claudia Quinta, Roman ma ...

''. He helped them win the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and

, scoring once in the 1985 final and twice in the 1986 final. Stricken by

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

, he decided to retire in 1988 and became a sports commentator. His last official match for Real was 4-2 defeat against Red Star Belgrade on 4th of March 1987.

International

Valdano played 23 times for the Argentina national team between 1975 and 1990, scoring seven goals, four of them in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, including one against

in the

, which Argentina went on to win. Other than the 1986 triumph, he also took part in the

and the 1982 World Cup, but missed most of the latter tournament after being injured in Argentina's second game, against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Managerial career

Valdano began his management career as the Real Madrid youth team coach. In April 1992, just before the end of the 1991–92 season, he became head coach of

, replacing fellow Argentinian Jorge Solari. He helped Tenerife avoid

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

at the end of 1991–92, and then the following season helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup. He also twice led Tenerife to final day victories that denied his former club Real Madrid winning the La Liga title (Barcelona winning it instead on both occasions). He then returned to Real Madrid in 1994, now as a coach, and led them to the 1994–95 Liga title. He finally coached

in 1996–97 before becoming Real Madrid's sporting director until his resignation in June 2005. In June 2009, he again returned to Real Madrid as director general and presidential aide. He was sacked from the position on 25 May 2011, however, after his relationship with the coaching staff, particularly head coach

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

, had deteriorated.

Personal life

Valdano wrote the book ''Sueños de fútbol'' ("Dreams of football") and edited the book ''Cuentos de fútbol'' ("Football short stories") by diverse authors. Real Madrid's former captain Raúl named his first-born son in honour of Valdano.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Valdano goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Newell's Old Boys *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Real Madrid *

: 1985–86, 1986–87 *

: 1984–85, 1985–86 Argentina Youth *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

: 1975 Argentina *

Individual

Awards *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

Top Scorer: 1981-82 * La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: 1985–86

Manager

Real Madrid *La Liga: 1994–95

References

External links

* *
Q & A with Valdano
at

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdano, Jorge 1955 births Living people People from Belgrano Department, Santa Fe Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Newell's Old Boys footballers La Liga managers Real Madrid CF managers Valencia CF managers CD Tenerife managers La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Real Madrid CF players Deportivo Alavés players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players 1975 Copa América players Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine Primera División players Expatriate football managers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football forwards UEFA Europa League–winning players Footballers from Santa Fe Province 20th-century Argentine sportsmen

Playing career

Club

International

Managerial career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Individual

Manager

References

Further reading

External links