Sebastián Enrique Domínguez (born 29 July 1980) 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was recently the manager of Vélez Sarsfield. Dominguez' professional football career spanned 19 years during which he played for teams in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, winning titles with all but one.

Early life

Domínguez was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and moved to

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

at an early age with the relocation of his parents'. There, he played in the youth system of

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 ...

. His father coached

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

in the club's youth divisions.

Club career

Dominguez made his professional debut for

in 1998, at 18 years. At an early age he was purchased by a

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

and loaned to

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 ...

along with his teammate

Maxi Rodríguez Maximiliano Rubén Rodríguez (; born 2 January 1981), is an Argentine former professional footballer. Nicknamed ''La Fiera'' (''The Beast'' in English), he was commonly used as a winger on both flanks but could also operate as an attacking mid ...

, but he was never authorized to play for the club and returned to Newell's shortly after. He played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

until 2004, when he was moved to

by coach

Américo Gallego Américo Rubén "El Tolo" Gallego (born 25 April 1955) is an Argentine football coach and former player. As a midfielder, he played 73 times for the Argentina national team during his playing career. Playing career and Information Gallego s ...

and he captained the team that won the 2004 Apertura tournament, thus breaking the club's 12-year title drought. The central defender played 18 games (out of 19) during the tournament, all of them as a starter. After winning the league championship with Newell's, Domínguez was purchased by third-party Media Sports Investment for $2.5 million (US), that loaned him along with fellow Argentine players

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; né Martínez; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. A dynamic forward (association football), forward in his prime, Tevez ...

and

Javier Mascherano Javier Alejandro Mascherano (; born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine Association football, football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian side

SC Corinthians Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian professional sports club based in São Paulo, in the district of Tatuapé. Although it competes in multiple sports modalities, it is best known for its professional men's Association football, f ...

. With his new club, he won the

2005 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2005 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Taça Nestlé Brasileirão 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the 49th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, a professional league for men's football clubs in Brazil. Corinthians cla ...

. During the 2007 January transfer window, Domínguez returned to Argentina to play for

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 ...

, under

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970), nicknamed "El Cholo" (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He has been the manager of club Atlético Madrid since December 2011 mak ...

's coaching. He played with the team the whole year, after which he was signed by

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 ...

side América in January 2008. Although he helped the team to win the 2008 InterLiga and scored in the derby against

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional football club based in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco. It c ...

, he was released from his contract at year-end. On 27 January 2009, Vélez Sársfield signed the defender on a free transfer. He immediately established himself as a starter as center back playing along

Nicolás Otamendi Nicolás Hernán Gonzalo Otamendi (born 12 February 1988) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre back, centre-back for Primeira Liga club S.L. Benfica, Benfica, which he Captain (association football) ...

. Domínguez featured in all 19 games of his first tournament in Vélez, the 2009 Clausura, helping the team to claim the national championship. He was also a regular along Fernando Ortiz as centre back in Vélez' 2011 Clausura winning campaign (playing 16 games), as well as the team's

2011 Copa Libertadores The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2011 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournamen ...

semi-finalist campaign (playing all 12 games and scoring one goal). Domínguez also helped Vélez to win the 2012 Inicial, starting 18 games and scoring two goals. In that year he was also selected by the fans of Vélez on an online poll as the club's best player of the year. In 2013, the defender obtained two further titles with Vélez: the 2012–13 Superfinal (defeating his former team Newell's Old Boys) and the 2013 Supercopa Argentina (defeating

Arsenal de Sarandí Arsenal Fútbol Club (), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí , or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The football team currently plays in Primera Nacional, t ...

), in both of which he was a starter for his team. During that year Domínguez also played his 200th official game with the club in a 1–1 draw with

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Arge ...

International career

On 31 August 2009 Domínguez was called up by coach

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 ...

for the Argentina national team, along fellow Vélez Sársfield teammates

and Emiliano Papa. With Argentina, the defender started the World Cup qualifier games against

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 ...

(both defeats for Argentina). Domínguez was later called by coach Alejandro Sabella for the 2011 and 2012 editions of the friendly competition

Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas (, ), was an annual Exhibition game, friendly association football, football match between the national teams of Argentina national football team, Argentina and Brazil national football team, Brazil. Established ...

, in which he captained the national team. He was also called by Sabella for 2014 World Cup qualifying matches, including the last two against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. However, he did not take part of the squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Managerial career

After retiring, Domínguez worked as a panelist in TV sport programmes before joining the staff of

Hernán Crespo Hernán Jorge Crespo (; born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of UAE Pro League club Al Ain. A prolific striker, Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning ...

at Al-Duhail in 2022. On 5 April 2024, he was appointed manager of Tigre. On 27 December 2024, Domínguez agreed to return to Vélez, now as first team manager. The following 2 March, however, he resigned.

Personal life

Domínguez studied architecture, but did not get far in his career. He plays

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and enjoys

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rock. In 2014, Domínguez graduated as a football coach in Argentina. In November 2020, Domínguez spoke about homosexuality in association football, saying that it is a problem for footballers to not "interpret, understand, and accept" homosexuals and that it was a "debt" that footballers had with the gay community. He went on to say that footballers were "cavemen" regarding homosexuality and said that it did not matter "whether ouare gay to play football."

Managerial statistics

Titles

;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 ...

(1): 2004 Apertura ;Corinthians *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

(1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

;América *

InterLiga InterLiga was an association football competition and the qualification method between eight Mexican clubs to determine two clubs qualified for the Copa Libertadores, it was held from 2004 to 2010. History From 1998 to 2003, the Mexican clubs c ...

(1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

;Vélez Sársfield *

(4): 2009 Clausura, 2011 Clausura, 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal *

Supercopa Argentina The Supercopa Argentina (English: Argentine Super Cup) is an official national association football cup of Argentina organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). The annual football match was played for the first time in 2012, being con ...

(1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at Vélez Sársfield official website * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dominguez, Sebastian Living people 1980 births Footballers from Buenos Aires Men's association football central defenders Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine Primera División players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Liga MX players Newell's Old Boys footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Club América footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine football managers Club Atlético Tigre managers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Argentine sportsmen