Roberto Fleitas (25 May 1932 – 3 March 2024) was a Uruguayan

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 ...

head coach and player who managed the Uruguay national team and several top level Uruguayan clubs. He is one of the four managers, and the first, to have won both

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 ...

and

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 ...

, along with

Francisco Maturana Francisco Antonio Maturana García, also known as ''Pacho'' Maturana (born February 15, 1949) is a Colombian ex-football player and football manager. Under his management, Atletico Nacional was the first team of the nation to win the Copa Libe ...

Óscar Tabárez Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (; born 3 March 1947), known as ''El Maestro'' (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan former professional football manager and former player. After an unassuming career as a player and after working as a primary school ...

and Tite.

Career

Born on 25 May 1932, Fleitas played as a

centre-back 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 ...

for

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

-based club

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. After retiring from playing, Fleitas started a career as a head coach. He won the

1987 Copa América The 1987 Copa América was the 33rd edition of the Copa América, CONMEBOL's national team competition. It was the first Copa América under the new rotational hosting system. Argentina, as the first country alphabetically, hosted the tournament ...

as Uruguay national team coach, and won the 1992

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

, the

1988 Copa Libertadores The 1988 Copa Libertadores de América was the 29th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. This season's defending champion Peñarol of Uruguay entered the tournamen ...

and the

1988 Intercontinental Cup The 1988 Intercontinental Cup was an Association football match played on 11 December 1988 between Nacional of Uruguay, winners of the 1988 Copa Libertadores, and PSV of Netherlands, winners of the 1987–88 European Cup. The match was played at ...

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 ...

's head coach. He won the

South American Coach of the Year The South American Coach of the Year () is an annual association football award presented to the best coach of a club or national team in South America over the previous calendar year. The award has been presented by Uruguayan newspaper ''El País' ...

award in 1988.

Death

Fleitas died on 3 March 2024, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleitas, Roberto 1932 births 2024 deaths Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Liverpool F.C. (Montevideo) players Uruguayan football managers 1987 Copa América managers C.A. Progreso managers Central Español managers Uruguay national football team managers Club Nacional de Football managers Peñarol managers Liverpool F.C. (Montevideo) managers Copa Libertadores–winning managers Copa América–winning managers 20th-century Uruguayan sportsmen