José Luis Brown (10 November 1956 – 12 August 2019) was an Argentine

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 ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. Most of his 14-year professional career was spent with the

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

-based Estudiantes, for which he appeared in more than 300 official matches and won two major titles. He also competed in Colombia, France and Spain. Nicknamed ''Tata'', Brown represented the Argentina national team at the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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-team format. Colombia had ...

and three

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

tournaments, winning the former and scoring 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 1995, he began working as a manager.

Playing career

Club

Born in Ranchos, Buenos Aires, Brown spent his first years as a senior with

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

, scoring an astonishing 17 goals in a combined 69 matches as the club won the Metropolitano and Nacional in 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 1983 editions of the Primera División, respectively. After two years in Colombia with

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

, Brown played in quick succession for

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

and

Deportivo Español Club Social, Deportivo y Cultural Español de la República Argentina (commonly referred to as Deportivo Español) is an Argentine sports club from the Parque Avellaneda district of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, wh ...

back in his homeland, moving abroad again in 1986 after signing with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Stade Brestois 29 Stade Brestois 29, commonly known as Stade Brestois or simply Brest,''Stade Brest'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a French professional football club based in ...

. The following year he joined Spain's

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

on a two-year contract, making his

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 ...

debut on 30 August 1987 in a 0–1 away loss against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

. Brown retired from football in late 1989 at the age of 33, after some months with

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

International

Brown won 36

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

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, making his first appearance in 1983. He was selected for the

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1989 Copa América The 1989 Copa América football tournament was hosted by Brazil, from 1 to 16 July. All ten CONMEBOL member nations participated. Brazil won their fourth Copa América, and first since 1949, by beating Uruguay 1–0 in the final match at the Est ...

tournaments, helping the national team to third place in the latter. Brown was also picked for 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 ...

by manager

Carlos Bilardo Dr. Carlos Salvador Bilardo (born 16 March 1938) is an Argentine former physician, football player, and manager. Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player with Estudiantes de La Plata in the 1960s, and as the manager of the Argentina side t ...

, as a last-minute addition: in spite of a serious knee injury suffered two years earlier that had not still fully healed, he was chosen to start ahead of ageing

Daniel Passarella Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who is considered one of the greatest Defender (association football), defenders of all time. As a ...

, being informed by the coach on the day before the opener. He went on to play all the games and minutes in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, netting his only international goal, a header in the final 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 ...

after a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

Jorge Burruchaga Jorge Luis Burruchaga (; born 9 October 1962), nicknamed ''Burru'', is an Argentine association football coach and former professional football player. He played both as an attacking midfielder and forward and scored the winning goal in the fi ...

(eventual 3–2 win); in the last minutes he dislocated his shoulder, but refused to be

substituted Substitution may refer to: Arts and media *Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion *Substitution (theatre), an acting methodology Music *Chord substitution, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression *Tritone ...

Coaching career

After retiring, Brown worked as an assistant for different managers, including

Oscar Ruggeri Oscar Alfredo Ruggeri (born 26 January 1962) is an Argentine former professional association football, footballer who played as centre-back. Nicknamed ''El Cabezón'' ("The Big-head One"), Ruggeri achieved success at the international level with ...

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

and Bilardo at

. His first head coach experience arrived in 1995 at the helm of lowly

Los Andes de Lomas de Zamora LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...

, and five years later he was appointed at newly promoted

Club Almagro Club Almagro is an Argentine sports club from José Ingenieros, Buenos Aires, although its headquarters are in the Almagro, Buenos Aires, Almagro district. The association football, football team currently plays in the Primera Nacional, the secon ...

with another former national teammate,

Héctor Enrique Héctor Adolfo Enrique (born 26 April 1962 in Lanús) is an Argentine association football, football coach and former player who is assistant coach at Al-Wasl F.C., Al-Wasl club of UAE Arabian Gulf League. A midfielder, he played for Argentina na ...

. After one season the duo moved to

Club Atlético Nueva Chicago Club Atlético Nueva Chicago is an Argentine sports club based in Mataderos, a neighborhood in the west side of Buenos Aires, formerly called "Nueva Chicago". The club's nickname, ''El Torito'' ("The Little Bull") is an allusion to legendary 1930 ...

, but had to resign after only 11 matches due to poor results. In 2002, Brown was hired by

Club Blooming Club Social, Cultural y Deportivo de Blooming, commonly known as Blooming, is a Bolivian professional football club from Santa Cruz de la Sierra that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1946, its home colours are sky bl ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, again being fired early into his tenure. Brown again reunited with Bilardo in 2003–04, being in charge of Estudiantes' youth sides. In the following years, in quick succession, he was in charge of

Atlético de Rafaela Asociación Mutual Social y Deportiva Atlético de Rafaela, known simply as Atlético de Rafaela, is an Argentine sports club based in the city of Rafaela, in Santa Fe Province. The club is mostly known for its professional football team, that com ...

, Almagro,

Club Sportivo Ben Hur Club Sportivo Ben Hur is an Argentine sports club from Rafaela, Santa Fe Province. The club was founded in 1940 and is mostly known for its basketball and football teams. Other sports practised in the club are aerobics, bowls, chess, field hocke ...

and

Club Ferro Carril Oeste Ferro Carril Oeste, known simply as Ferro Carril Oeste or familiarly, Ferro, is an Argentine sports club from the neighbourhood of Caballito, Buenos Aires. Although many activities are hosted by the club, Ferro is mostly known for its football ...

. In December 2007, Brown became coach of the Argentine under-17 team as

Sergio Batista Sergio Daniel "Checho" Batista (; born 9 November 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former international player for Argentina. As a footballer he played as a midfielder for Argentinos Juniors, River Plate, Nueva Chicago, Tosu Future ...

was put at the helm of the under-20s. As the latter's assistant at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

the country won the gold medal, and the pair later joined

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

's staff at the full side. Brown led Argentina under-17s to the second place at the 2009 South American Football Championship, with the subsequent qualification to the World Cup of the category, which ended with a round-of-16 exit at the hands of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. In March 2013 he returned to Ferro Carril, with the club still in

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 team ...

Personal life and death

Brown was unrelated to the Scottish family of the same surname that produced six Argentina internationals in the early 20th century. His son

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

was also a footballer, who played in Argentina and Bolivia. Brown's club and international manager Bilardo mispronounced his name as ''Bron'', which he never corrected due to his respect towards the man who gave him his debut. He died on 12 August 2019 in

at the age of 62, due to

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Honours

Club

Estudiantes * Primera División:

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

International

Argentina *

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jose Luis 1956 births 2019 deaths People from General Paz Partido Argentine men's footballers Argentine people of Scottish descent Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Boca Juniors footballers Deportivo Español footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Categoría Primera A players Atlético Nacional footballers Ligue 1 players Stade Brestois 29 players La Liga players Real Murcia CF players Argentina men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players 1983 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine football managers Argentine Primera División managers Almagro managers Club Atlético Nueva Chicago managers Atlético de Rafaela managers Ferro Carril Oeste managers Club Blooming managers Argentine expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bolivia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia Deaths from dementia in Argentina Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Footballers from Buenos Aires Province 20th-century Argentine sportsmen