Omar Andrés Asad (born 9 April 1971) is 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of Ecuadorian club El Nacional. As a player, Asad spent all of his career in Vélez Sársfield, winning 8 titles with the club (including both the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

and the Intercontinental Cup). Asad is nicknamed ''el Turco'' (in English: "the Turk") because he has

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n and Lebanese ethnicity. In Argentina, Arabs are usually mistakenly called Turks since they came to the country with

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

documents in the 1900s.

Playing career

Asad played as a striker and was characterised by being strong and quick. His first match in the

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 ...

came in 1992, when he played for Vélez Sársfield against

Talleres de Córdoba Club Atlético Talleres (; ), mostly known simply as Talleres ( in Rioplatense Spanish, Rioplatense accent and or in Cordobés Spanish, Cordobés accent; ), is an Football in Argentina, Argentine professional sports club based in the city of C ...

. He was a determinant player in Vélez' most successful years, along manager Carlos Bianchi and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

an goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert. With Vélez, Asad won the Argentine Primera División title in 1993 (Clausura), and after that the

and the Intercontinental Cup, where he was chosen ''Man of the Match'' after scoring the second goal against

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. Asad later won the Apertura in 1995 and played for the Argentina national team, until he got injured in the end of that season, which stopped his progression as a player.

Coaching career

On 2 January 2010, Godoy Cruz hired Asad as coach to replace Enzo Trossero. The former forward had coaching experience with Vélez' youth divisions and reserve team. During his first season with Godoy Cruz ( 2010 Clausura), Asad led the team to a surprising 3rd-place finish; and led them to a 5th place the following championship ( 2010 Apertura). Due to the good league finishes, Godoy Cruz qualified for the 2011 Copa Libertadores; however, the coach did not renew his contract with the team, citing economical reasons. On 23 December 2010, Ecuadorian team Emelec confirmed the signing of Omar Asad to manahadthe team for the 2011 season. On 11 May 2011, Argentine team San Lorenzo signed with him to take the manager position from 20 June 2011. On 10 June 2013, he was presented as the new coach for Mexican side

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. Asad had pressure on him due to the fact that former coach Tomas Boy took the team to the liguilla with a total of 32 points which gave Atlas an advantage in the relegation fight. Asad team debuted in a 3–3 draw against

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...

, coming back from a 3–1 partial lost, with 2 goals from Vicente Matías Vuoso and Edson Rivera scored the equalizer. After 13 games Asad was fired in Atlas after a 2–1 defeat against Cruz Azul. In 13 games Asad managed nil wins, eight draws and five losses. His worst results with Atlas were both in away games a 3–0 defeat against Club America and another 3–0 defeat against Chiapas F.C.

Personal life

Omar is nephew of Julio Asad, a former Vélez player of the 1960s and 1970s.100 x 100 El Turco Asad", Diego Borinsky, El Gráfico, número 4398, maio de 2010, pp. 2435 His son Yamil Asad is a professional footballer in the USA with MLS side FC Cincinnati.

Honours

Vélez Sársfield *

: 1993 Clausura, 1995 Apertura, 1996 Clausura, 1998 Clausura *

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

: 1996 *

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

* Supercopa Sudamericana:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Individual * Intercontinental Cup Man of the Match:

References

External links